Is Phil and Tiger's drivers backweighted?

[wpfisher]

what does backweighting do?

I noticed Sunday that it seems Phil and Tiger both have their drivers backweighted with lead tape under the grip? Is this true and secondly, what is the purpose of this?

[abewley]

its called counter balancing.. adding weight to the shaft while decreasing swingweight.. its just done to help had feel, temp, etc.

[golfebj]

Did it to my putter and it's the best thing I could have ever done.

 

Added the Balance Certified #9 (90g) weight to my Maltby 350g center shafted putter.

[phil75070]

I'm just curious how you determined that they have lead tape UNDER the grip? I've used the B-C system and that would be obvious.

[golfhawaii]

I'm just curious how you determined that they have lead tape UNDER the grip? I've used the B-C system and that would be obvious.

 

He said below, but means under the grip on the shaft.

[wpfisher]

Its just a guess with Phil, but I have read many times here and there that Tiger has lead tape under the grip.

[Lord Thomas]

It is also somewhat common on tour to have lead tape just above the hozel and right below the grip, which increases the static weight of the club without altering the swing weight.

 

-Thomas

[golfernut78]

i've asked a couple of club fitters about this and all have said that any weight you you add lower on the shaft than your hands will add swingweight. adding weight beneath the grip on the shaft adds swing weight, does not counter balance the shaft. the further the weight is down the shaft, the more swingweight it will add.

[Jetlv25]

Tiger did have lead tape below the grip and above the hosel on his diamana. It was reportedly to just increase the static weight of the shaft. Not sure if he has done something similar with the grafalloy prototype he is using now.

[TightenUpROOKIE]

Retief Goosen & Tiger both have lead tape on the shaft just above the hosel & just below the grip. Look at any Masters pictures of either of these 2 guys swinging their drivers & you'll see the lead tape on the shafts.

[taylormadefan]

i've asked a couple of club fitters about this and all have said that any weight you you add lower on the shaft than your hands will add swingweight. adding weight beneath the grip on the shaft adds swing weight, does not counter balance the shaft. the further the weight is down the shaft, the more swingweight it will add.

 

Not necessarily true. It depends on where the balance point of the shaft is. If you add weight above the balance point, it will counterbalance the shaft. The further away from the balance point the weight is added, the greater the swing weight change will be.

 

Lead tape literally under the grip will decrease swing weight. Try it yourself on a swing weight scale. Also switching to a heavier grip (like going from a Winn to a full cord tour velvet) will decrease swing weight as well. If lead tape added swing weight, then wouldn't a heavier grip?

[golfernut78]

i've asked a couple of club fitters about this and all have said that any weight you you add lower on the shaft than your hands will add swingweight. adding weight beneath the grip on the shaft adds swing weight, does not counter balance the shaft. the further the weight is down the shaft, the more swingweight it will add.

 

Not necessarily true. It depends on where the balance point of the shaft is. If you add weight above the balance point, it will counterbalance the shaft. The further away from the balance point the weight is added, the greater the swing weight change will be.

 

Lead tape literally under the grip will decrease swing weight. Try it yourself on a swing weight scale. Also switching to a heavier grip (like going from a Winn to a full cord tour velvet) will decrease swing weight as well. If lead tape added swing weight, then wouldn't a heavier grip?

 

one of the clubfitters did show me on a scale. like i said its nothing just below the grip but at the hosel its noticeable. he put 5 grams at the grip and there was no change. 5 grams at the hosel and it was almost 2 swingweights different. 5 grams at both the hosel and grip and it was still almost 2 swingweights. 5 grams on the butt and the hosel and it was about a 1 swingweight difference. he did mention it can be affected depending on the club and the balance point, but also that in the swing the club is rotateing about your torso and you hands and not at the balance point. basically, adding overall weight to the club affects the "swingweight" of your arms even though thats not a measurement. on the club itself, in the swing, the pivot is your grip on the club.

 

i makes a lot of sense to me. i will confess, that i had never had any experience with a swing scale at this point and for all i know this is improper, but with the physics knowledge i do have it makes sense to me.

[taylormadefan]

 

 

one of the clubfitters did show me on a scale. like i said its nothing just below the grip but at the hosel its noticeable. he put 5 grams at the grip and there was no change. 5 grams at the hosel and it was almost 2 swingweights different. 5 grams at both the hosel and grip and it was still almost 2 swingweights. 5 grams on the butt and the hosel and it was about a 1 swingweight difference. he did mention it can be affected depending on the club and the balance point, but also that in the swing the club is rotateing about your torso and you hands and not at the balance point. basically, adding overall weight to the club affects the "swingweight" of your arms even though thats not a measurement. on the club itself, in the swing, the pivot is your grip on the club.

 

i makes a lot of sense to me. i will confess, that i had never had any experience with a swing scale at this point and for all i know this is improper, but with the physics knowledge i do have it makes sense to me.

 

I see exactly what you're saying now. I agree completely. Since the balance point isn't exactly in the center of the shaft, if you add the same amount of grip to the hosel and some right below the grip, since the hosel weight is so much further away from the balance point, it will have a greater effect on the SW than the weight added to the grip.

 

Gotcha. :)

[ForTourUseOnly]

i've asked a couple of club fitters about this and all have said that any weight you you add lower on the shaft than your hands will add swingweight. adding weight beneath the grip on the shaft adds swing weight, does not counter balance the shaft. the further the weight is down the shaft, the more swingweight it will add.

 

one of the clubfitters did show me on a scale. like i said its nothing just below the grip but at the hosel its noticeable. he put 5 grams at the grip and there was no change. 5 grams at the hosel and it was almost 2 swingweights different. 5 grams at both the hosel and grip and it was still almost 2 swingweights. 5 grams on the butt and the hosel and it was about a 1 swingweight difference. he did mention it can be affected depending on the club and the balance point, but also that in the swing the club is rotateing about your torso and you hands and not at the balance point. basically, adding overall weight to the club affects the "swingweight" of your arms even though thats not a measurement. on the club itself, in the swing, the pivot is your grip on the club.

 

i makes a lot of sense to me. i will confess, that i had never had any experience with a swing scale at this point and for all i know this is improper, but with the physics knowledge i do have it makes sense to me.

 

 

Um ya that’s exactly what should happen, swingweight is measured on a 14" fulcrum point scale.

 

Any weight that you put from the butt end to 14" from the butt end will lower the swingweight, of course the closer the weight is to the very butt end the less weight you will need to reduce swingweight, 4 grams of weight right at the butt end of the shaft will decrease the club by 1 point.

 

Now if you add weight to the other side of the shaft anything over that 14" mark it will increase swingweight, again like the last one the closer to the very end of the head the less weight you will have to add a swingweight point, 2 grams of head weight = 1 swingweight point, you need less weight on the head to make the swingweight increase and that is because the head is much further away from the fulcrum point that the butt end of the grip (it is 31" from the fulcrum point on a 45" driver where the butt end is only 14") which is about double and why it take half the weight on the head to increase swingweight as it does to decrease swingweight on the butt end

 

if you wanted to add total weight to the club and not change swingweight at all you have to add 2 grams to the butt end for every gram you add to the head end (2:1 ratio)

 

Therefore you adding 5 grams of weight to the just under the grip will decrease the swingweight by 1 point but then adding 5 grams just above the hosel will add 2 swingweight points, therefore giving you a result of 1 swingweight point heavier.

[tylerbrowder8-4]

tiger also has a strip of lead tape on the heel of the driver so he can square that big driver!

[ForTourUseOnly]

tiger also has a strip of lead tape on the heel of the driver so he can square that big driver!

 

also true, it will also add swingweight as it is on the head, i am sure that was taken into consideration when they swingweighted his club to exact specs he wanted, i have been told that some of tigers drivers are also hotmelted slightly in the heel to make it slightly easier to close, not sure if his current one is like this but some of the ones he has are like that