golfrewind.com

Sorry about that guys.

I'll try to never do this again.

I've been reading more in this, and it seems to me that there is significant evidence that for some golfers it can make a big difference. The evidence seems to be golfers that unhinge their wrist cock very early have the best success along with people that have overactive hands. If you don't have these issues, then it probably won't be a help and may even be a harm.

I guess part of me doesn't like to just see a "band-aid" thrown on a swing fault to fix it. This is very similar to why I don't like to see drivers and other woods with very closed faces and lots of draw weighting to fix a chronic slice. I'd rather the person spend their money with an instructor and fix the reason they are slicing rather than just try to patch the swing with equipment. And I kind of see early-release and handsy players in a similar boat. I think that it may be better to fix the swing fault than to patch it with equipment.

But, at the same time, I know that enjoyment is a big part of the game too, and everyone enjoys hitting the ball better. And not everyone has the time or ability to fix their faults, and if this helps, then I can see the benefit.

I think there is one sentiment we can all agree on, and that more research is needed to be able to identify what golfers would benefit from back weighting. I don't think that all golfers will be helped by it, because not all golfers have early releases or overactive hands, but I know a lot do!

Bignose,

Good points and I agree with the practice and swing flaws. You have to understand that sometimes no matter how much practice the person has they just don't have the best hand eye coordination so some extra weight to help with timing or more weight for loose hands helps a golfer make better contact.

Keep inmind that Balance Certified is also used alot on tour. I find it works well when fitting a golfer for the precise swingweight - Its a search for the perfect balance in a golfers swing to hit the ball more consistantly.

Your also right that its not always the solution....just worth considering.

If back weighing is being used a lot on tour, then I think this pretty much eliminates the theory that back weighing in only helpfull for golfers that release early. I think most of us will agree that most tour players don't release early, they release quite late in fact. As I stated before, the best thing to do would be to test it for a few golfers of different styles and skill levels and see what happens. Nothing like some good old fashioned facts to clear the air.

Agreed but sometimes a golfer would like to know the facts before he starts testing anything to ensure it wasn't just a gimmick all along. I think that is what Bignose was discussing.... on a discussion board.

Hey I think I was ground into the dirt a few months ago for talking about Tour Lock and all it has to offer the fitting world, and now here are promoting an over priced under thought product that people don't even use. Tour Lock is currently in 5000 YES putter on tour, this system must be doing something right. Give it a shot.

ummm what!?!?

I get this weird feeling of Spam being posted... but hey I could be wrong.

Don't just push a product add something to the conversation! Oh and Balance Certified is what Tour Lock is trying to duplicate per what I've seen. Give credit where credit is due.

Here's some more of what I've been reading on this fascinating subject:

http://www.wishongolf.com/twforum/to...50&whichpage=3

This is a thread at Wishon's forums (I think you'll have to register to view the thread).

But, the really startling posts show up around 5 posts down on the 3rd page. It is the continuing story of a guy experimenting with his own backweighting. He tried 20 or 30 g in his driver, and it actually made his swing worse. Someone else posted about putting 100g (a mass typically reserved for putters) in their driver and it working well. Despite being skeptical, the author of that post tried it out and worked amazingly well. Then, also through trial and error, finding the best backweighting for his 3 wood and 5 wood and 7 wood, it turns out that all four clubs, with what the author thought were the best backweights, had total weights almost all exactly the same, right around 376 g.

Similar tinkering with the author's shorter irons, and he found that he liked his 6 iron through wedges with a total weight right around 422 g.

His theory on this is that having the same total weight adds some consistency to the swing and to the set. That is, the 7 wood is going to weight the same as the driver, so they should perform similarly.

Obviously, over at the Wishon forums, they are big on MOI matching, but the neat thing about back weighting is that adding mass to the grip doesn't change the MOI very much at all. This is because MOI is a mass*length^2, and since the length from the backweighting mass to the grip is small, the length squared term makes the MOI contribution from the backweight very small.

Well, I guess I can say I'm coming around to it. I am still skeptical, but I can see also how having the same total weight for large groups of the clubs can be beneficial.

How difficult would it be to try some of this on my own, Christian? I haven't done any clubmaking in anyway whatsoever ever. I've seen those backweights where you open a hole in the grip, slide the weight in and tighten it with an Allen wrench, but how hard is it to put a hole in the grip? How do I make sure I get the hole where the shaft is? This might be a fun winter project, since the ice isn't going to melt any time soon here in Iowa.

Thanks for the link and the useful info on backweight and MOI matching... Going to have to look into the same overall weight theory myself.

If you want to leave the grip on then your going to have cutt an nice hole in the center of the butt cap on the grip and use some type of weight ports to slide down the shaft area. That would be the most effective/inexpensive way to try this out. The ports I posted a link to earlier in the thread can be found at Golfsmith or Golf Galaxy and only for a few dollars. Then you can use whatever you want to put down the ports as you test out different weights.

Note: the ports are usually bigger then most shaft butts so I sand them down slightly and tapp them in with a hammer. You can cap them with a thick peice of tape as your testing it out.

Hope this helps and let me know if I explained this correctly...

I do not consider backweighting a driver a band-aid for a swing flaw in the same light as an extremely closed-face for example. It is, however, an important part of the fitting the process. If you went to a fitting session and the pro did not look at face contacts with different amounts of backweighting then you have been shorted on your experience. It has the potential to increase the feel and promote more on-center face contacts. Its a simple process and the evidence can be quite compelling. For me, time and time again, the 30g powerring attached to the back of 2 of my 45" drivers have reproduced better results. There is no negative to the 30g weight that is now in the butt of my driver. I still have the same decent swing with more confidence that I have fitted my driver to the best of my ability. It just feels better. Everyone is different and it is correct to say that it will not benefit everyone, but it should definitely be explored in any fitting agenda.

Sorry guys I seemed to have done it again, didn't mean to spam tlp on your favorite forum, just when I see a guy spaming Balance Certified and not get called for it I take it a little personal. weight is weight who cares where you get it from, just as long as your using it fit the club to you for weight.

Its not considered spam when you come on a forum and talk about everything from your swing to your round and balance certified. Especially if you don't work for them or don't sell them.

Its considered spam when you only come on a forum to push a product, your company's product, without being a sponsor.

There is a clear difference and no one wants an arguement we just want to discuss and educate.

I hope you and your family have a Wonderful Christmas.

Christian

Guys this thread has really been educational for me and I am sure most of its readers, but because of the lack of good clubmakers here in my country, I doubt I can get a good "overall" fitting experience, like agoodwalk said.

If I do it on my own, with the help of a local club assembler, it could cost me a whole lot of money experimenting here and there.... Right now I can only afford lead tape for experimentation...

Christian, too bad I was not able to add some of those plastic tubes on my last order arrgh hehe....

AGoodWalk, where did you get those power rings? are they legal during play? seems easy to install?

This seems very logical to me and the most compelling argument in this thread as to why a person ought to at least try backweighting...tonight after work I'm bringing my digital gram scale home and logging the total weight of all my clubs...

...another reason for my wife to click her tounge at my obsession...