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I bought new set of irons with lighter shafts....I don't know if this contributed to a lower swing weight but my new 7iron is about a C-8, my old 7 was a D-1....Is this a big difference?

What should I do?
Is the SW something that I will get used to or adjust to? How do I know if SW is not right for me?

or do I have to fix and adjust it to my swing, like the lie? Like adding lead tape or something?

Is there such a thing as the SW is to light or too heavy? Or is it just a preference?

and lastly if I need to fix SW what are the ways to fix it? the only fix I know is to add lead tape at the back of the club or face.

Thanks guys! I'm still learning about all these stuff so please bear with me...

Have you hit them? Are you unhappy with them?

Before I had them checked, I felt that everytime I hit it solid I was hitting a cut shot...I don't know if it was because of the swingweight or the lie...

I changed the lie yesterday and made it flatter, 2 degrees, added lead tape to my 7 iron to see if SW made a difference....

I have not gone to the course or the range yet but I hit the 6 iron w/o tape and 7 iron with tape...


Both had better feel than when the lie was not yet adjusted...I felt the "butter" feel of how a forged iron should feel when hit solidly, this I did not feel before the lie was adjusted....

I noticed that the ball marks of the face of the 7 iron were more compact or more in one place than the 6 iron which was a little more dispersed...

could this be because of the added lead tape on the 7 iron or just because 6 iron is harder to hit than a 7?

as for the "feel" of the heavier SW (7) vs. lighter (6 iron) I really couldn't tell the difference that much solid shots were solid but I felt that there were more "cut shot feelings" for the lighter club but not that bad anymore....

What do you think?

Thanks!

Golf is a mental enough game, that you may never feel comfortable with this doubt in the back of your mind. I think that you should probably have them swingweighted back to what you had so that they will be comfortable to you again.

Now, as to the physics of the situation, 3 swingweight points is actually pretty small. The average amateur usually wouldn't be able to tell just 3 SW points. (That is, give them two identical clubs (same length, lie, outside appearance, etc), one with just 3 more SW points, and most amateurs wouldn't be able to pick the heavier one more often than just luck.) Even most pros cannot tell the difference when you get down to about 2 points. So, really, the clubs shouldn't perform very different at all being 3 SW points lighter. The lie angle is really much more important.

But, again, all that said, you have these doubts in your mind now, and I really think that it would be best to get them weighted back to what you want. You can't really play golf too well if you have any doubts about your equipment.

You're right Bignose....even just for the psychological/mental purpose it might be worth it....Thanks, and thanks for your SW explanation too....

One question...if I add lead tape to my heads where is the best place to put them on? back of the head? I heard that some put the tape on the hosel, what is the benefit of this?

Thanks again

Where you put the tape really doesn't matter, unless you put a lot -- and I mean a lot a lot. Yes, you will change the distribution of mass depending on where you put the tape. For example, if you put the tape high on the back, the ball flight will be lower. But, even a big glob of tape is very small in weight compared to the iron head, that it doesn't really matter. For example, a 6 iron head weights in the neighborhood of 260 g. Even if you put 10 g of tape on the head, which is a lot, that is still an increase of mass less than 5%. The distribution of mass in the head really isn't going to change.

Just as another example, Wishon heads are made with a port near the shaft where the assembler can place weights of different mass so that the swingweight is where the customer wants it. All that extra weight is in the hosel, but really doesn't change the ball flight much. If you had a perfectly repeatable robotic arm, maybe you could discern the change in ball flight, but I don't think that any human can.

So, the best place to put them is where ever you want. It probably comes down to whether you want to hide the tape or not. That is, whether you want to see the tape at address or not. If you don't want to see it, then the hosel is obviously a bad idea.

IMO, the swingweight of most clubs is too light. The following is a quote from an instructor.

"SWINGWEIGHT AND TOTAL WEIGHT: Swingweight is a relative measure of how much force is required to swing a club. Most clubs are made to conform to a very narrow swingweight range. That is wrong. While it is necessary to make the clubheads progressively lighter for the longer clubs, they should not be made light enough to keep the swingweights in a narrow range. Centrifugal force and momentum are extremely important in the classic golf swing. The amount of centrifugal force and momentum created depends on the total weight of a club and on clubhead speed.
In my opinion, the swingweight for the pitching wedge in a man’s set should be at least D2 for regular flex shafts and at least D4 for stiff shafts. For women’s clubs, it should be at least C6. For each ½ inch longer club, the swingweight should go up by 0.25 point. So if your pitching wedge is 36 inches and D2, your 44 inch driver should be D6. Would you then need stiffer shafts in your metalwoods? Maybe, but probably not. 4 points is not a huge increase in swingweight. The timing and extension would be easier with the longer clubs, and they would feel a bit more like your short irons. With the increased centrifugal force, your clubhead speed would probably not be reduced at all."

I went a little further with that idea. My irons range from D5 (short irons) to D8 (longest). My fairway metals and driver are E1. Much of the increased swingweight comes from the 1 inch extra length. They are tipped to be just a bit stiffer than regular. They work great for me, but I suppose some players would need stiff or extra stiff for these swingweights.

I had a tune up at the beginning of the year where I increased my standard length irons and 44" driver, hybrids and 3 wood to D5 and my wedges to D8...I noticed an immediate improvement in my play

You should look into Wishon's MOI matching. That's the primary goal of MOI matching, so that every club feels the same when you swing them. That is, the 4 iron feels, and should be swung, just like the 9 iron.

Now that said, I think that your quote has a few points that should be clarified. Just because a club is heavier, doesn't mean you get "increased centrifugal force" for free. That centrifugal force is really inertia, and that comes from your swing. Heavier club means it will take more force to swing it. Now, it is interesting how different people react to a heavier club. There are some who swing at around the same speed no matter what -- they won't lose any speed, but may find themselves more tired or sore after a round because they are swinging harder than they used to (because of the extra mass). Some people will swing with the same force as before, which means they will lose speed. Same force acting on more mass means lower velocity.

Also, extending the length an inch, for most people, even with a heavier head or total club weight, is probably a bad idea. I am glad it worked for you BG1, but most people have significantly more trouble controlling the club with a longer shaft than a shorter one. Look at the touring pros. Many pros play a 44" driver, I think that the tour average is 44.5", yet, you cannot buy a stock driver that is less than 45", many are sold at 46" today. Wilson's new Spine driver is listed at 46.5" stock. This is insane -- if the pros know they can't control a driver that is that long, what chance do us amateurs have? So, if people want to try this, extending the length is probably not the ideal way to go, the clubs will be significantly harder to control, even with the extra weight.

Finally, adding weight to a head will make the shafts play weaker. The general rule of thumb is 6 swing weight points = 1 flex weaker.

I think that it is very worthwhile to experiment with adding weight. Most people don't consider it when getting fitted. But, I don't think that just having the shaft extended is a good idea for most people. I think that trying a heavier shaft is probably the way to go. That way the length is still good, but you get the extra weight. It also allows you to have extra weight without changing the flex of the shaft too much, like adding tape to just a clubhead would.

I need 5 degrees upright lie angle, so the 1 inch extra length gave me 2 degrees of that as well as increasing the swingweights. The longer lengths work well for me, but I would not recommend it for shorter players

Very good input guys...I'm learning a lot! I would also like to experiment on heavier SWs I just feel that I can't feel the head or get the right tempo in my present clubs maybe heavier SWs will do the trick?

From a personal "feel" aspect, I would rather heavier swing weights in the wedges (D6 or D7) and somewhere in the D2, D3 range in my irons and fairway woods. I don't check my driver swingweight unless it feels odd.