Club Weighting

I believe the ones they did for me was a powder that mixes in with the glue to set and stay in place… not sure exactly how much they need or can add but I think they put enough in to bump my set up about 3 swingweights for 3-7…5 swingweights for 8-PW and approx 8 swingweights for wedges

I was trying to bring the swingweight of my 8 iron down from D9 to D6. I removed the grip and wrapped 12 inchs of thin lead tape around the butt end of the shaft, put a wrap of tape to the lower part of the grip, then a full wrap of tape over lead and the first wrap of tape and popped the grip back on. It brought the SW down to D7, so 2 SWs.

I was also trying to bring the SW of a 3 wood that i have flattened down from D7 to D5. I repeated the above process hoping it would also bring it down by 2 SWs, but it brought it down by 3. I guess the fact that the deadweight 3 wood is less than the 8 iron means that the same weight added to the grip would have more of an affect.

Neil,
You’re probably the first one here who tried this! Did you do it to get swing speed up or is it just because they felt too heavy for your liking?
Cheers, IoZ

IoZ,

I was just trying to bring the SW of the 8 iron in line with the rest of the set, for some reason it was really heavy.

With the woods, i am trying to get both heavy SW and dead weight. A typical 43 inch persimmon driver that you make D5 seems to be about 13 ounces and i am making some heavier than that (DW), so you have to do a bit of fiddling with weight at both ends.

NRG

Just completed my first go at adding shaft length and deadweight, and rectifying swing weight discrepancies in a set of irons.

They were an inch short of standard and already really heavy (considering how short they were), D5 on average.

I used cut down bits of an old shaft for the extentions and butt weight ports to add a bit of strength and to secure some weights to bring the Swing Weights back down.

As a rule of thumb I used this as my calculation for deciding on how much weight to add to the butt.

1/2 inch extra length will add 3 SWs.
An additional wrap of tape will bring the SW back down by about 1 SW
Each 5 gms of weight added to the butt will bring the weight down by 1 SW

On average I was trying to go up to D6, so +3 SWs with the additional length -1 for the tape and -1 with 5 gms of weight to the butt.

Its a bit more complicated than that because to need to add more weight to the shorter heavier clubs than you do the longer lighter ones, (as per the last few posts).

On the whole I was pretty successful, only out on 3 clubs, 1 by 1/2 a SW an 2 by 1 SW.

If anyone wants me to post the spreadsheet I used with starting weights, how much was added, how they came out ect, let me know.

NRG,

You are one hard working, persistent dynamo, fella!
Please post your spreadsheet if convenient.
I look forward to reading a future post on how you find they play for you.
This is very interesting.

Best,
1teebox

1Tee,

Not so much hard working, more obsessive. :slight_smile:

MTIs_SWS.png

The bit on the left was the theoretical part of it, the bit on the right what I actually did, it changed as I went along.

I figured I wasn’t going to get the 8 iron down to D6 so went for D8 as that seemed like it was going to be easy with 9 & 10 as well.

I reckoned on a couple of gms for the extra shaft and the butt port.

Will post how they play, but 6 inchs of snow here right now.

All the best. NRG

NRG,

Whether hard work or obsession, either way, it’s respected.
Thank you for posting your spreadsheet.
Best,
1teebox

agreed—thanks for posting…

bent

Hi NRG,

Can you post a picture of the weight you put in the butt end? Interestingly I have a set of MacGregor Split Sole irons where the 8 iron is off in the a similar direction.

Thanks.

Impact,

I use one of these kits.

SW_kit.pngSW_kit_2.png

You get loads of different lead weights that are designed to slide into either the tip of the shaft or into a port that you hammer into the butt end.

Port_&_extension.png

Weight.png

Fitted.png

The only downside to the kit is you get loads of weights for graphite shafts (which i melt down into the Persimmons) and i am struggling to find somewhere to buy replacements parts to the kit in the UK (have run out of ports).

Lag uses cork, fishing weights and epoxy to do the same job.

NRG
My favorite iron set , MacGregor M75s are also 1/2 " shorter (5 iron 37"). How were u able to cut such short pieces from the shafts and how did it fit. I have tried that before but it keeps sliding (those were 3" plastic extensions for my kids clubs).

Macs,

I use a pipe cutter to trim the end off an old shaft.

Then slide it onto the weight port before hammering the port it the shaft. It fits in there really tight, am sure you could easily add an inch without any wobble.

Something you can consider about ports is using dowel rods…and they can simultaneously be used as extensions as well. A little more labor intensive at first, but easier with practice, and you can make up a bunch real cheap. Have used this before at the range in the old days. Took a dowel rod just oversized for the ID of the butt. Put the dowel into a lathe and got the OD of the dowel to fit snugly into the butt end of the shaft. If extending 1/2 inch, I would have about 2" inside the shaft and the 1/2 outside as the extension.

For the port aspect. Once the dowel is in place, or before, you can drill out the middle of the dowel to whatever depth or dimension you need to plug the weight in…or, like you say, melt and pour. If you have a lathe you can make up bunches of them very cheaply. Just a thought :slight_smile: RR

Easiest to cut an old piece of shaft after you have removed the grip… cut it up top, then find the step that fits snug into
the shaft you are extending… then file or roughen up the surface, clean out the inside of the shaft you are extending, then epoxy it in there. Level the extended piece with tape, then re grip and you are good to go.

Thanks Rat & Lag, top advice again.

I had come across a club that had an extension with a dowel just a couple of days ago.

Dowel.png

Will have to get a lathe now, that will look good on my kitchen table. :slight_smile:

Thanks guys
I missed this one on the first look.
Fitted.png

Lag,

What’s the most weight that you would add to the tip of a shaft?

I’ve been working on 10gms max, and trying to split about 50/50 between tip and lead tape on the back.

I still prefer to put the weight on the back of the club… behind where I hit the ball ideally.

With the persimmons, it’s just easy to drill a hole in the wood, in the back of the club, and melt in a couple fishing weights,
then cover them with a bit of epoxy.

Problem is I like the shafts about 1/2 an inch short, which means you need to add about 6 gms extra. Bringing the SWs up about 5 points is about 10gms. If you are back weighting to bring up the DWs then even more is required to the heads, which ends up being a whole load of lead tape on the back of a shiney blade, eventually it falls off.

I am sure that Two said that he had a set made where they put all the tungsten powder in the tips, so it can’t be too bad to put a bit in the tips.

It’s not a problem with the persimmons, I have 3 holes drilled in my Titleist 3 wood, as I have continued to shorten it and have to keep adding extra weight to the head.

I suppose that this just puts a premium on the old stuff which is already heavy, bit of a downer cause I now have a whole load of sets which aren’t really worth doing this sort of thing to.