Lead tape vs tip weights feel video

[jomatty]

When I started trying to build some clubs I always used lead tape to swing weight the, because I didn’t mind the way it looked and it seemed easier.  As I got better (still not great by a long stretch) I wanted to do more professional work so when I changed shafts (steelfiber to MMT) I used tip weights.  I thought the clubs felt considerably worse but with the shaft variable there was no way to tell with any degree of certainty. I suspected the lead tape was the main difference but who knows.  Went back to using lead tape in my builds though.  
The other day I saw this video which was very interesting.  Plenty of issues if you were looking at it as a scientific study but I find it fairly convincing anecdotal evidence that there is a very noticeable difference between lead tape and tip weights.  It makes me think of what Tiger and JT do with adding tungsten behind the sweet spot in their irons.  For what it’s worth I didn’t notice any performance difference as far as shot dispersion or distance.  I definitely did not find the clubs with tip weights more likely to go left or anything like that.  They just feel better to me with the lead tape. 
They start the testing at around the 8 minute mark.

Any thoughts from more experienced club builders are appreciated.

[PowerCobra98]

Haven’t watched the video yet but just wanted to chime in that I’ve been wondering the exact same thing!  I always have used lead tape but this winter I decided I wanted to learn how to change shafts and do full builds.  So I learned how to do it, bought all the tools/gear and have rebuilt 3 sets of my irons using tip weights.  They all now feel different and if I’m being honest I hate the way they feel now.  They feel more harsh even though all specs are they same, including shafts.  Only bonus is the clubs look nicer without lead tape but honestly I don’t think that’s worth it now.

[NPSpar4]

As someone who builds a ton of clubs and is very OCD about the feel, there is no doubt that lead tape & tip weights feel different.   I have always preferred the feel of lead tape, even though i dont love havin to add tape to a brand new iron…but the tip weights just dont feel as good to me.  The lead tape makes the hit feel heavier, more solid, and just better, imo.    Tip weights certainly make things look cleaner but i have long ditched them for lead tape.     Also easier to make minor adjustments for testing purposes.    I think if you are a person that doest really overthink their gear, then tip weights will be fine.  But for those of us that spend our time HO’ing on here & building, testing, analyzing….the lead tape is where it’s at.    At this point, take pride in the fact that your tools have lead tape all over them.  Haha.  

[Cwebb]

Lead tape can dampen vibration, which on some head designs can improve the sound/feel slightly.  Similar to the effect of some of the cavity medallions that some companies have used.

 

The effect is not from moving enough mass around to change anything or "putting more mass behind impact"

[Socrates]

Two things:

- I don't think he said how much weight he was adding.  Was it 2 grams or 12 grams?  Big difference.

- He didn't give you the total weight of the the clubs.  I'm positive they didn't have the same total weight.

 

They are both related as you will use less weight using lead tape than tip weights (because the weight added is further from the fulcrum) and that will change the heft or feel of the club.  One may feel better to one person and not another, so the test is kind of subjective.

 

That being said, I have always been a proponent of lead tape vs tip weights.  Primarily because it is just easier and can be more accurate.  FWIW, I do know from my own experience in building longer putters out of normal putter heads, that bringing the weight up with tip weights gives me a totally different feel vs using only lead tape on the head.  Lead tape was preferred in that scenario as we are talking about 20 odd grams and it changed the sweet-spot location.  

 

Every OEM now uses tip weights in everything for weighting.  You would be shocked to see how many heads have 8+ grams of weight in the hosel.

[third-times-a-charm]

I'm a fan of tip weights up to a certain extend and in certain circumstances.

 

Let me also preface this by saying I only use tape/tip weights when weighting in the head by screw-in weights is not available. Always use those first.

 

Ex 1;

I had my Scotty refinished for example and it came back at like 328g. I was able to use a 14g copper tip weight and for a putter it makes no difference as its just for feel so it was fine.

 

Ex 2;

I've tried 8-10g tungsten weights in fairway woods before and it was terrible. I will generally not go over 4g in tip weight for woods and hybrids and I'll do the rest if needed with lead tape. I will generally never tip weight a driver.

 

Ex 3; 

Irons especially wedges I will go up to 6g if needed because lead tape placement on cavity heads can be stupid with all the badging so having them clean is the best bet during the build so no lead tape needed most times between 2-4-6g weights in iron builds and their weight tolerances from the OEMs (also generally dont play irons short).

[jomatty]

Interesting that others have had similar experience and attribute it to dampening.  That makes sense.  Am I missing something obvious about the weight plugs behind JT’s irons?

Edited February 7, 2023 by jomatty

[Ri_Redneck]

I use both tip weights and tape and feel not difference at all. BUT.....

 

I also use graphite shafts and the tip weights are rubber tungsten. I will presume they have a very different feel than metal tip weights in a metal shaft.

 

Regardless, I would FAR prefer adjustable weighting on the head to either of those options. Back in the '90s I had a set of blade heads from Maltby that had a 1/2" wide weight port in the center back of the clubhead. They came with a package of 1g lead discs and a cover for the port. All weight adjustment was directly in the center of the head. A predecessor of the TM Tour Preferred head maybe.

 

BT

[Pepperturbo]

Thanks for the vid, very interesting.   I believe my builder used tungsten power to reach my desired iron swing weight, but not sure.  Need to ask...  I didn't want tape cause, like they said, it's ugly.  But maybe ugly is in... 😛

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by Pepperturbo

[quizzylish]

On 2/5/2023 at 9:25 PM, Socrates said:

Two things:

- I don't think he said how much weight he was adding.  Was it 2 grams or 12 grams?  Big difference.

- He didn't give you the total weight of the the clubs.  I'm positive they didn't have the same total weight.

 

They are both related as you will use less weight using lead tape than tip weights (because the weight added is further from the fulcrum) and that will change the heft or feel of the club.  One may feel better to one person and not another, so the test is kind of subjective.

 

That being said, I have always been a proponent of lead tape vs tip weights.  Primarily because it is just easier and can be more accurate.  FWIW, I do know from my own experience in building longer putters out of normal putter heads, that bringing the weight up with tip weights gives me a totally different feel vs using only lead tape on the head.  Lead tape was preferred in that scenario as we are talking about 20 odd grams and it changed the sweet-spot location.  

 

Every OEM now uses tip weights in everything for weighting.  You would be shocked to see how many heads have 8+ grams of weight in the hosel.

I have searched far and wide on Golfwrx and on the internet to try to answer this question and I don't mean to beat a dead horse but I'm very curious about contamination throughout my golf bag.  I've seen the posts that say, "don't eat it" or "make sure you wash your hands."  However, I have a real question about using a wet towel to clean my irons after every shot like I normally do. 

 

Do i have to worry about lead leeching onto the towel and then taking special care with that at home or on my golf bag, what about washing it (should it be separate)?  Everyone says wash your hands but what about throughout the round while I'm cleaning clubs and then touching my other clubs, grips, rangefinder, my drink, balls, the wet towel, etc?  How much risk is there truly? 

 

They say lead takes forever to clear from your body but is the exposure risk high using the tape and interacting with it throughout my round? 

[Socrates]

1 hour ago, quizzylish said:

I have searched far and wide on Golfwrx and on the internet to try to answer this question and I don't mean to beat a dead horse but I'm very curious about contamination throughout my golf bag.  I've seen the posts that say, "don't eat it" or "make sure you wash your hands."  However, I have a real question about using a wet towel to clean my irons after every shot like I normally do. 

 

Do i have to worry about lead leeching onto the towel and then taking special care with that at home or on my golf bag, what about washing it (should it be separate)?  Everyone says wash your hands but what about throughout the round while I'm cleaning clubs and then touching my other clubs, grips, rangefinder, my drink, balls, the wet towel, etc?  How much risk is there truly? 

 

They say lead takes forever to clear from your body but is the exposure risk high using the tape and interacting with it throughout my round? 

The risk is likely so low, it might not even register on any scale.  Without being facetious, you likely would have to be licking the lead tape to ingest anything harmful.  You are far more likely to be exposed to a harmful substance walking down a street and breathing.  On a golf course, very few, if any chemicals are allowed to be used that are even remotely harmful.  But, it is always a good practice to wash your hands after golfing.  Don't put your fingers in your mouth and don't lick your golf ball (you would be surprised).  Also, some people have sensitivities that are outside the realm of normal.   

[bladehunter]

I loathe the feel of tip weights on anything.  The the point that when I ordered my ping blueprint set way back when they first came out , i inexplicably  hated the 4 and 6 irons.  Till I finally pulled the heads to weigh and autopsy/blueprint the entire set , only to find tip weights on the 3-4 and  6 only.  Rebuilt them using no tip weights , and feel adjusted them with lead tape and poof. 6 iron is favorite club.  It does something to the shafts feel. I don’t care what anyone says. Now that I play mmt.  I’d never - ever consider a tip weight.  Tape rules the day.  

[FirstFlight]

I agree with Socrates above...

I'll add that vitamin C is supposed the help lower the uptake of, and removal of lead from our bodies. Therefore, always have a strong screwdriver nearby!

[Phabs]

Don’t forget about the steel reinforced epoxy.  Makes a difference right … @kb7

[Stuart_G]

51 minutes ago, Socrates said:

The risk is likely so low, it might not even register on any scale.

 

Yes.  Leaching requires a permeable substance to occur.    Both the steel and the epoxy are water tight and non-permeable as long as there are no cracks and enough epoxy was used when the head was glued up.   And if either of those were are a problem, I'd be more worried about loosing the head.

 

And on top of that, at least from what I've seen/read, except for maybe  2 and 4 gm lead tip weights for graphite shafts, the use of brass or tungsten for tip weighting is much more common than lead - particularly for factory builds.

Edited April 19 by Stuart_G

[quizzylish]

32 minutes ago, bladehunter said:

I loathe the feel of tip weights on anything.  The the point that when I ordered my ping blueprint set way back when they first came out , i inexplicably  hated the 4 and 6 irons.  Till I finally pulled the heads to weigh and autopsy/blueprint the entire set , only to find tip weights on the 3-4 and  6 only.  Rebuilt them using no tip weights , and feel adjusted them with lead tape and poof. 6 iron is favorite club.  It does something to the shafts feel. I don’t care what anyone says. Now that I play mmt.  I’d never - ever consider a tip weight.  Tape rules the day.  

I'm surprised they did that, I thought weight adjustment was done with the weight screw?  Maybe they needed more weight than what the screw could provide or they were splitting the difference vs. other heads in the set.  

[quizzylish]

52 minutes ago, Socrates said:

The risk is likely so low, it might not even register on any scale.  Without being facetious, you likely would have to be licking the lead tape to ingest anything harmful.  You are far more likely to be exposed to a harmful substance walking down a street and breathing.  On a golf course, very few, if any chemicals are allowed to be used that are even remotely harmful.  But, it is always a good practice to wash your hands after golfing.  Don't put your fingers in your mouth and don't lick your golf ball (you would be surprised).  Also, some people have sensitivities that are outside the realm of normal.   

I figured honestly since it is so ubiquitous throughout any professional, college, or elite player that the risk was low.  I just had to ask because I didn't see if mentioned anywhere about the specifics related to washing your hands but yet all you touch before washing your hands throughout the round.  I always do wash my hands after golfing because of the fertilizers, pesticides and my golf ball's strong attraction to goose poop!!

[Socrates]

9 minutes ago, quizzylish said:

I figured honestly since it is so ubiquitous throughout any professional, college, or elite player that the risk was low.  I just had to ask because I didn't see if mentioned anywhere about the specifics related to washing your hands but yet all you touch before washing your hands throughout the round.  I always do wash my hands after golfing because of the fertilizers, pesticides and my golf ball's strong attraction to goose poop!!

Ah, goose crap.  It's like dandelions around here.  Everywhere.

 

I grew up in an age where I worked on my uncle's farm and manure was everywhere.  Nothing more exciting than hand milking a cow that has manure all over their teats.  Might have been the only time we actually washed anything to the point of sanitary.

[Socrates]

20 minutes ago, quizzylish said:

I'm surprised they did that, I thought weight adjustment was done with the weight screw?  Maybe they needed more weight than what the screw could provide or they were splitting the difference vs. other heads in the set.  

There always will be some weight in the hosel.  They use both to obtain the SW.  The larger amount is going to be in the hosel vs the toe weight.  Which is why Ping is a PITA to work with now if you need to adjust the SW in a substantial way (or just reshaft).

[Howard_Jones]

Lead tape has a dampening effect on vibrations.

All of you who have used lead tape on your drivers, would have noticed that the sound gets slightly muted, just like it does when we use hot melt, while for a iron head, we might not be able to hear a sound difference, but vibration frequency has changed, and by that, how impact feels.

its also true that physical mass directly behind the ball "improve" feel, just like a flushed blade iron feels more solid than a cavity back does.

Combine the two, no matter how small the contribution is with only a few stripes, it does "improve" feel, (weight addition itself improves it too), so lead tape is fantastic stuff, and those who don't like the looks of it, don't know their own best, and what they are "loosing" of benefits due to their eyes, who don't even see it from address.

Edited April 19 by Howard_Jones

[AdamMH]

3 minutes ago, Howard_Jones said:

Lead tape has a dampening effect on vibrations.

All of you who have used lead tape on your drivers, would have noticed that the sound gets slightly muted, just like it does when we use hot melt, while for a iron head, we might not be able to hear a sound difference, but vibration frequency has changed, and by that, how impact feels.

its also true that physical mass directly behind the ball "improve" feel, just like a flushed blade iron feels more solid than a cavity back does.

Combine the two, no matter how small the contribution is with only a few stripes, it does "improve" feel, (weight addition itself improves it too), so lead tape is fantastic stuff, and those who don't like the looks of it, don't know their own best, and what they are "loosing" of benefits due to their eyes, who don't even see it from address.

One interesting way to experience the change in sound -- I picked up an Adams XTD Ti fairway with the slot on top of the face. Previous owner had two layers of lead tape pasted in the velocity slot. I thought it sounded off, didn't seem right, so I took the tape off the slot and the club is entirely different without it.

[quizzylish]

On 4/19/2024 at 3:31 PM, Howard_Jones said:

Lead tape has a dampening effect on vibrations.

All of you who have used lead tape on your drivers, would have noticed that the sound gets slightly muted, just like it does when we use hot melt, while for a iron head, we might not be able to hear a sound difference, but vibration frequency has changed, and by that, how impact feels.

its also true that physical mass directly behind the ball "improve" feel, just like a flushed blade iron feels more solid than a cavity back does.

Combine the two, no matter how small the contribution is with only a few stripes, it does "improve" feel, (weight addition itself improves it too), so lead tape is fantastic stuff, and those who don't like the looks of it, don't know their own best, and what they are "loosing" of benefits due to their eyes, who don't even see it from address.

Maybe to do both!!  A small tip weight, say 2-4 grams, and then use the rest of your weight with lead tape to get the dampening effect.  That will save you maybe and extra strip or two on the back of your club if you don't want to paste too much on there.  1 or 2 small strips may be better than 3 or 4, but then again it is already on there so maybe it doesn't matter.   

Edited April 21 by quizzylish

[jah7838]

I've pulled heads and rebuilt each of my last 4 sets of irons.  Long story short, through trial and error, I figured out the desired head weights I need for each head, saved the numbers in my phone, and then would use tip weights to get as close to that desired head weight as possible.  Sometimes that required using a 10g iron tip weight in steel shafts, and if that wasn't enough weight, I would then add some lead tape to finish it off.  The heads that only have a tip weight play fine, and I don't notice anything negative with how they feel at all, including the ones that have the 10g weights.  It hasn't affected how my irons play, and distances in any negative way.  I like the consistency in the heads and feel throughout the set.  As for graphite and tip weights, those are different in terms of how the shaft plays.  I try not to go more than 4g with the tip weight and then add lead tape for the desired feel. 

 

I've had people try my clubs over the years, and don't tell them about the tip weights in the irons, and nobody has said anything to me about them feeling "weird" or "off" with the clubs that have the heavier tip weights.  I get everyone is different with feel, so there are some that won't like a club based on how it's weighted using tip weights, but I haven't had anyone mention not wanting them in their irons.