Swing Weight vs. Swing speed?

[Cabphoto]

Hi-

 

  New to golf.  Have been using a set of Ping eye 2 + irons.  Specs I can find say they are C9 swing weight.  I put some Mid size tour wraps on them which I think brings them down to C7.

 

On a Trackman my swing speed is about 81 average.  

 

So C7 as I have found is in the ladies category which doesn’t matter so much to me but am I sacrificing anything with the low swing weight?  Seems swing speed is most important?  My accuracy is really good.  I hit a ping eye 2 plus 6 iron between 150-160
 

 

[Stuart_G]

12 hours ago, Cabphoto said:

Hi-

 

  New to golf.  Have been using a set of Ping eye 2 + irons.  Specs I can find say they are C9 swing weight.  I put some Mid size tour wraps on them which I think brings them down to C7.

 

Not really.  True swing weight is always based on a 50 gm grip so changing grip weight doesn't really change swing weight.  That's one of the failings of the swing weight scale.   It was never intended or designed to manage grip weight changes.

 

12 hours ago, Cabphoto said:

On a Trackman my swing speed is about 81 average.  

 

So C7 as I have found is in the ladies category which doesn’t matter so much to me but am I sacrificing anything with the low swing weight?

 

There is a potential to sacrifice some things if the swing weight gets too light for an individual.  Usually (but not always) it's more related to consistency and accuracy.   BUT where that point might be where that starts to happen, and if it happens at all, can be different for different individuals.  The ONLY way to figure that out, is to go out the range with some lead tape and play around with adding it to the head incrementally and see what happens to the ball flight, feel, and numbers if you can get them.  It's just too subject so there are no useful generalizations that can be used to predict what might happen or what might be a good fit.  It's pure trial and error testing.

 

 

12 hours ago, Cabphoto said:

 Seems swing speed is most important?  

 

Important to what swing weight might be a good fit?  No, not even a little bit.  It's much more about how the change in head weight feel effects the rhythm and temp and release timing for an individual.  Or how it effects their sense of where the club is and what it's doing during the swing.

 

But can swing weight effect swing speed?   Yes, and not always in the way one might think.  Lighter doesn't always mean faster.   There is the potential that going from too light to a head weight to a better fit can actually increase the swing speed in some cases.

 

 

 

Edited June 27, 2022 by Stuart_G

[Cabphoto]

2 hours ago, Stuart_G said:

 

Not really.  True swing weight is always based on a 50 gm grip so changing grip weight doesn't really change swing weight.  That's one of the failings of the swing weight scale.   It was never intended or designed to manage grip weight changes.

 

 

There is a potential to sacrifice some things if the swing weight gets too light for an individual.  Usually (but not always) it's more related to consistency and accuracy.   BUT where that point might be where that starts to happen, and if it happens at all, can be different for different individuals.  The ONLY way to figure that out, is to go out the range with some lead tape and play around with adding it to the head incrementally and see what happens to the ball flight, feel, and numbers if you can get them.  It's just too subject so there are no useful generalizations that can be used to predict what might happen or what might be a good fit.  It's pure trial and error testing.

 

 

 

Important to what swing weight might be a good fit?  No, not even a little bit.  It's much more about how the change in head weight feel effects the rhythm and temp and release timing for an individual.  Or how it effects their sense of where the club is and what it's doing during the swing.

 

But can swing weight effect swing speed?   Yes, and not always in the way one might think.  Lighter doesn't always mean faster.   There is the potential that going from too light to a head weight to a better fit can actually increase the swing speed in some cases.

 

 

 

Thank you for this info.  Very helpful.  

[Zena]

Stuart as usual has absolutely nailed it.

 

Consider your irons as a C9, not C7. If you want to experience the feel of a heavier iron I suggest the following (what I did):

 

Get a roll of 1/2” lead tape and some heavy duty scissors and bring them to your next range session. Warm up and pick your favorite iron. Mine is my 8i. Take your lead tape, cut and apply a 1in strip on the back of the club head, low and centered. Plenty of threads here explaining where. Hit it 5-10 times. Do you like how that felt? Add another 1in strip on top of the original. How does that feel? Repeat until you don’t like it anymore, you feel like you’re getting stuck or hindered, or you lose distance. Then reverse the process, removing one strip at a time and seeing how it feels going the other way. It’s all quite subjective.

 

My irons were D1 and found I liked them best exactly as they were. Then I found progressive swingweighting and never looked back, but that’s a different story altogether.

[juddrussell]

On 7/2/2022 at 1:32 PM, Zena said:

Stuart as usual has absolutely nailed it.

 

Consider your irons as a C9, not C7. If you want to experience the feel of a heavier iron I suggest the following (what I did):

 

Get a roll of 1/2” lead tape and some heavy duty scissors and bring them to your next range session. Warm up and pick your favorite iron. Mine is my 8i. Take your lead tape, cut and apply a 1in strip on the back of the club head, low and centered. Plenty of threads here explaining where. Hit it 5-10 times. Do you like how that felt? Add another 1in strip on top of the original. How does that feel? Repeat until you don’t like it anymore, you feel like you’re getting stuck or hindered, or you lose distance. Then reverse the process, removing one strip at a time and seeing how it feels going the other way. It’s all quite subjective.

 

My irons were D1 and found I liked them best exactly as they were. Then I found progressive swingweighting and never looked back, but that’s a different story altogether.

Agree completely here, testing at the range until you go to far, then back tracking has always been the best to me.  I’ve always been more consistent with higher swing weight setups, usually have my irons at d3 or d4.  I don’t mind the look of lead tape though, if it works, it works.