Back Weighting grips

[woodlotjon]

I have been learning about back weighting grips in an effort to keep the total weight of the club more inline with a steel shafted club when reshafting irons with a light weight graphite shaft. Anyone out there with experience or feedback on this. I hit a few clubs that had different amounts of weight in the grip end and the results were interesting. The club with 30 grams of weight in the grip end hit the ball consistently straighter. The swingweight was only C4. Let me know your thoughts.

[buckylasek]

Well i didn't really understand the first sentence. could you explain it?

[woodlotjon]

When you reshaft a club with a much lighter graphite shaft the overall weight of the club decreases if you don't add weight to the head. Backweighting is a method to add weight in the grip end to bring the total weight of the club back closer to the original weight with the steel shaft.

[buckylasek]

Ok, but why do you want to add weight to the shaft if you bought lighter shafts?

[Chieflongtee]

Apparently counterweighting has been around forever. I personally just don't get it. For years manufacturers have been striving to build lighter shafts for golfers to achieve higher swing speeds with the potential for longer distances. Now you are adding weight back to the shaft therefore defeating the purpose of the lighter shaft in the first place. You are also fooling with the balance point of the club. So unless you like graphite because of its dampening properties and the counterweight has helped you find a balance point that is correct for you I just don't see any need for it.

[dbleber]

I was thinking the same thing! If you want the clubs to have the same weight and feel as steel, then just use steel. Isn't the reason behind graphite shafts is to have a lighter club that you can swing a wee bit faster when you start to lose some of your swing speed?

[dbleber]

Apparently counterweighting has been around forever. I personally just don't get it. For years manufacturers have been striving to build lighter shafts for golfers to achieve higher swing speeds with the potential for longer distances. Now you are adding weight back to the shaft therefore defeating the purpose of the lighter shaft in the first place. You are also fooling with the balance point of the club. So unless you like graphite because of its dampening properties and the counterweight has helped you find a balance point that is correct for you I just don't see any need for it.

Wouldn't some sort of sensacore thingy be a better alternative for dampening then using graphite and then adding weight? I agree Andre, just doesn't make sense to me.

[buckylasek]

Sensicore feel isn't like the Graphite feel. But have a look, they are making some heavy weight graphite iron shafts , like the UST RV2 115.

[Chieflongtee]

Sensicore feel isn't like the Graphite feel. But have a look, they are making some heavy weight graphite iron shafts , like the UST RV2 115.

This is different than Sensicore. sensicore does not affect swingweight nor the club's balance point.

http://www.golfsmith.com/products/181750

[buckylasek]

I wouldn't put something like that on my grip..... Is it harmless at least?

[Chieflongtee]

I wouldn't put something like that on my grip..... Is it harmless at least?

The grip is sold as is. You can buy different weight slugs. Cork and tungsten power can also be used to accomplish the same purpose.

[woodlotjon]

The idea of backweighting is to return some feel to the hands area. It is very easy to cast from the top and slice the ball if there is little weight in the hands and grip area. This backweighting idea helps drop the hands into a better position and made all my shots go straight. I don't know if I agree with the logic and I'm not sure how changing the balance point in the club will affect things, I just saw the results for myself and am curious to pursue it further.

[Chieflongtee]

The idea of backweighting is to return some feel to the hands area. It is very easy to cast from the top and slice the ball if there is little weight in the hands and grip area. This backweighting idea helps drop the hands into a better position and made all my shots go straight. I don't know if I agree with the logic and I'm not sure how changing the balance point in the club will affect things, I just saw the results for myself and am curious to pursue it further.

Tell us more about your experiment please.

[woodlotjon]

One of the R&D guys at Golfsmith has been doing this experiment with backweighting grips. There were 15 of us at the week long repair and fitting school and we all had a chance to hit three 7 irons with different weights in the grip end. The shaft was standard length and was a steelfiber. The three clubs had 0, 30 and 60 grams of backweighting. He wouldn't tell us which was which until after we hit a few balls with each. Most of the group that I was with all saw a noticable difference in directional control (on a very windy day) with the club that had 30 grams of weight. The SW was a C4. I play a natural draw with my irons and the unweighted D1 yielded the usual ball flight. The 30 gram weighted club hit the ball dead straight all the time. I can't say I noticed the difference in feel, but the directional control was very noticable. I would be very interested to try a test driver with a 30 gram backweight to see if the directional control is evident there as well.

[buckylasek]

Maybe in the downswing, it keeps to club accelerating on a good plane.

[clubfixer]

I was at the school with Woodlotjon also and could not believe how this technology altered my draw in the 2 club hook wind to a penetrating straight shot. I believe the deal is the back weight allows you to hold the angle a little longer going through the ball. If one tends to release early, this would be a great fitting tool for that individual.

[buckylasek]

Yes but is 30 gram enough?

[Chieflongtee]

I was at the school with Woodlotjon also and could not believe how this technology altered my draw in the 2 club hook wind to a penetrating straight shot. I believe the deal is the back weight allows you to hold the angle a little longer going through the ball. If one tends to release early, this would be a great fitting tool for that individual.

Was the testing done on a robot? Of course you might get more distance since the shot has been straightened but logically a heavier club won't send it as far. 30 grams is not much though. I just put a carriage bolt on my scale and it weights 25 grams, Anyway I will give it a try in the spring

[clubfixer]

The test was performed by the attendees of the class. Judging by their swings, I would estimate the handicaps were between 3 and 15.

Speaking to the heavier club, I would agree that heavier total weight is a major factor in distance. That is why this is done with graphite shafts which are considerably lighter than steel to start with. Then, when increasing by back weighting, you don't get to heavy. However, I believe missing the sweet spot by .5" is also a major factor when considering distance. That being said, I believe one of the main purposes of back weighting is to allow more consistent center face contact which yields more constant distance.

I plan on using a 6" long 1/4" carriage bolt with 10 hex nuts that weigh around 60 grams to start with. With just a couple wraps of electrical tape it fits securely in the butt end of my Rifle 75's perfectly. There was a day not all to long ago when I could handle a 130 gram shaft ;-). Additionally, this extra weight might help me slow down my tempo a little.

[buckylasek]

130 gram is enough weight, but the optimal weight for a shaft would be 115 grams, you can either choose between steel and graphite depending on feel. I won't backweigth my clubs until i totally loose my swing, people have been playing for years without backweigting, why should i now?

[woodlotjon]

I think we have hit the optimal reason this backweighting works. It potentially slows down a too quick tempo and it does allow the hands to drop into a better position in the downswing and not come over the top. The experiment will continue for me in the spring too.

[buckylasek]

I'll have to try it, but it won't be here in france for long...

[Chieflongtee]

I plan on using a 6" long 1/4" carriage bolt with 10 hex nuts that weigh around 60 grams to start with. With just a couple wraps of electrical tape it fits securely in the butt end of my Rifle 75's perfectly. There was a day not all to long ago when I could handle a 130 gram shaft ;-). Additionally, this extra weight might help me slow down my tempo a little.

Won't that move? Are you going to shove it down as far as it will go? What if you want to remove it. I am toying with the idea of using corks and tungsten powder.

[clubfixer]

No, it will not move. Blow off the grip and save it, no loss there. The OD of the head of the 1/4" carriage bolt is slightly larger than the ID of the Graphite Shaft. The OD of the hex nuts are slightly smaller than the ID of the Graphite Shaft. A couple of wraps of electrical tape around the nuts snug them tight so there is no rattle. Blow the grip back on and your in business. When you want to remove it, simply pull it out and you are back to where you started. I can't think of an easier, less expensive way to test this theory. You can utilize different length bolts and # of nuts to come up with any weight you want to test. Try it with one of the butts you have cut off for final length so you can see from both sides how nice the fit is. Additionally, use a larger size bolt and nut for steel. Maybe 5/16", I have not tried it with steel.

Once you find the weight needed then you could use the cork and tungsten powder method if you desire.

[dbleber]

Highjack:
Why does using a compressor to put a grip on with no tape doesn't cause the grip to twist or slide. Could you not take something that would evaporate and use that as a lubricant to slide the grip on a bare shaft (that sentance has comments from the peanut gallery all over it!)?

[clubfixer]

I'm not sure I completely understand your post about blowing a grip on or off, and the reference about "no tape".

[dbleber]

When you install grips with an air compressor you don't use tape. The grip just goes on over the shaft. I found my own answer today when I went to Artisan golf. The tape and solvant are really just there to slide the grip onto the shafts, you need same thing with an air compresser except it slides on a bed of air so no tape needed. Anybody know where to find an adapter for an air compressor to do this with? Something like this:

[clubfixer]

My $89 Sears air compressor came with that exact tool. It works great. I also took a tube from an old golf bag and cut it to grip length and wrapped it with duct tape to put over the grip when removing them. It helps keep the grip from blowing up and splitting. Air just makes it effortless to do the job...

[clubfixer]

Dbleber, check out this link and go to tapless instalation.

http://www.stargrip.com/

[dbleber]

The one you got from sears, it came with pin and plastic nozzle arealy attached?