how much weight to add to G400 driver head after putting 3wd shaft in?

blown93302 · May 15

hey guys -

I have a g400 sft and it is currently 45" with a oban 55g shaft in it. I found that by choking down about 2" I "FINALLY" hit it like im supposed to lol. it was like magic suddenly - straight and just as far as it would go if i happened to hit one correctly without choking down.

Anyway - i bought a 65g GD BB6 shaft that is 42.25" so will measure 43.25 after installing into the driver. I am looking to add weight back to the driver head by getting a heavier stock plate to install and if i did my math correctly - i am going to order the 18g weight from golfworks... does this sound correct in getting the swingweight back to "around" where it is now? i appreciate your help!

rsballer10 · May 15

You're best bet would be to install the shaft first, then swing weight it. There's a couple of issues at play here:

Are you sure the "stock" swing weight is correct for you? When you choked down 2" on your current shaft, you hit the ball better with the stock head weight. Who's to say that you'll hit the ball better with an additional 18g of head weight?
You're math is roughly correct. Each 1/2" of length = 3 swing weight points. So by being 1.75" shorter, that's roughly -10.5 points.
- Each increase in shaft weight by 9 grams = 1 swing weight point. So +1 SW point for the shaft change, MAYBE because the 2 shafts may have different balance points.
- So you "need" to add roughly 18-19g of weight to get the SW sorted out on paper.
My suggestion is to get lead tape and add strips until you get the desired head weight. Once you do, weigh the tape and buy the correct fixed weight for cleaner install/appearance.

Also - if you need to go that short for the driver to work, consider an oversized 2/3 wood or mini-driver. The out of the box build will probably work better anyway, and 460cc heads look massive at 3 wood length in my experience.

Edited May 15 by rsballer10

Stuart_G · May 15

19 hours ago, blown93302 said:

I have a g400 sft and it is currently 45" with a oban 55g shaft in it. I found that by choking down about 2" I "FINALLY" hit it like im supposed to lol. it was like magic suddenly - straight and just as far as it would go if i happened to hit one correctly without choking down.

If you want it to feel and perform the same as it did when choking up - don't add any weight to start. Changing shaft models might effect that feel but we'd need to know how the balance point changed between the two shaft models to predict that. One way to do that is to measure the swing weight and subtract 12 sw pts for the 2" you were choking up - that gives you the effective swing weight you were swinging when the "magic" happened. And then compare that adjusted swing weight against the measured swing weight with the new shaft.

Frankly it's probably easier to just take it to the range and see how it feels and go from there. There is no point in trying to get back to a configuration that wasn't working for you. Instead, bring some lead tape with you to the range if you want to do any experimentation (probably a good idea). That is ALWAYS going to be much better and more reliable than any kind of calculation you can do. Just add it a couple of grams at a time and see what happens.

Edited May 16 by Stuart_G

Magicmarker7551 · May 15

Don’t calculate your way back to what didn’t work, extra weight I s going to soften the flex too. Choking down is making it play lighter and more stiff, your calculations are going to undo that feel and put you back where you started, but with a shorter shaft. jmho