Iron heads from graphite shafts

[Happy Gilmore]

Hi There,

Does anyone know what the weight difference is between iron heads that are installed on graphite shafts as opposed to those installed on steel shafts?

I was told a long time ago that the heads on the graphite shafts were heavier to offset the total weight of the club because the graphite shafts were lighter then steel. I don't know if this is true or false about the heavier heads, but I do know that graphite shafts are lighter than steel.

I was thinking that if the heads on graphite were heavier, then the swing weights would also be higher, but that may hamper the playability of the club having a heavier swing weight to control.

I have a set of old Mizuno irons on graphite shafts and was told that to reshaft them with steel would make the clubs too heavy because the heads were heavier than standard.

Am I out in left field or just mental.

(Probably just mental, but going to the range at lunch for some therapy)

[el tigre]

I have an Adams ST 363 Titanium driver, which looks identical in every way to the Adams GT 363 driver. I sent an email to Adams asking them what the difference was (if any), and this was their response:

It is identical except for the head weight. Because the BiMatrx shaft is a little heavier than our stock shaft for the GT 363, we had to get slightly lighter heads for the BiMatrx clubs. This head is identical to the GT 363 but about 4 to 5 grams lighter.

Interesting, huh? I don't know whether or not this is standard practice, but I don't think you're out in left field.

[BC MIST]

Does anyone know what the weight difference is between iron heads that are installed on graphite shafts as opposed to those installed on steel shafts?
7 grams. Some OEM's and component manufacturers make their heads heavier to accomodate graphite shafts, but it is not a general practice. Graphite clubs are frequently made 1" longer to account for same weighted heads, however, guys like Tom Wishon who designed heads for Golfsmith and now for his own company, drill weight ports down the hosel which can accept up to 9 grams of weight, so increasing length is not necessary.

I was told a long time ago that the heads on the graphite shafts were heavier to offset the total weight of the club because the graphite shafts were lighter then steel. I don't know if this is true or false about the heavier heads, but I do know that graphite shafts are lighter than steel. A typical steel wood shaft weighs in the neighbourhood of 120 g while a typical graphite shaft is 60 to 70 g. That huge difference is not normally considered when manufacturing heads to be put in graphite shafted drivers.

I was thinking that if the heads on graphite were heavier, then the swing weights would also be higher... The swingweight of a 37" graphite shafted 5 iron is much lighter than a 37" steel shafted 5 iron, say C6 versus D2. To move from C6 to D2, 12 grams of weight would have to be added to the head, 1" would have to be added to the length, or the grip would have to be lightened by 24 g.

I have a set of old Mizuno irons on graphite shafts and was told that to reshaft them with steel would make the clubs too heavy because the heads were heavier than standard. Taking one apart would answer that very quickly. I'm curious, too.

[Happy Gilmore]

By the sounds of it, the golfstore wanted me to buy a new set of irons as opposed to just getting these ones reshafted to better fit my swing.

I now know why they were trying to sell me that story.

Hmmmm? Reshafting a set of irons for a cost of about $200 plus tax (with little profit margin), or buying new OEM clubs for about $1G with HUGE profit margin. I wonder??? :shake

Thanks again for the info.

[Happy Gilmore]

Just for the people how were interested and wanted to know.

I had the 3 iron head pulled off my Mizuno's and weighed by BC MIST, and it weighed in at 249gr, thanks BC MIST.

Therefore, based on this information I see that these heads are heavier for the graphite shafts.

3 iron 249g measured
4 iron 256g 7 gr spread (Calculated)
5 iron 263g "
6 iron 270g "
7 iron 277g "
8 iron 284g "
9 iron 291g "

The Snake Eyes FMC-1 RH Iron heads at Golf Smith are listed as:

3 iron 241g
4 iron 247g
5 iron 253g
6 iron 260g
7 iron 267g
8 iron 275g
9 iron 282g

It also appears that from the available information in this thread that 2 grams of additional head weight will increase the swing weight by 1 point.

All things being equal, if I assumed that these heads were standard weight (241gr for a 3 iron), and then re-shafted them with a standard steel shaft, instead of measuring D2 as the Swingweight, would they measure about D6 or D7?

Could this be counter balanced by adding weight under the grip, or does the weight of the club then become uncontrollable?

Does anyone know the maximum swing weight that a player can comfortably swing?
My guess about the maximum swing weight is that it is as individual as each golfer and I won't get one answer for this one.

And finally,
How much wood, could a woodchuck really chuck? Oops, wrong thread.

Thanks,
Happy.

[BC MIST]

In the 1999 Criterion(Dynacraft)catalogue, there are headweights listed for their Dynacraft Oversize heads for both steel and graphite shafts.

3 243 / 253
4 250 / 260
5 257 / 267
and so on by 7 gram increments for each head, until,

SW1 304 / 314
SW2 298 / 308