Truth or Fiction

[BG458]

My friend talk to a pPing rep. today about shafts. He was told that you should never change graghite shafts to steel because of the head weight. Say you have the ping i3s in graghite the weight of each head is more than the weight of each head in a set of i3s with steel shaft. By changing a graphite shafted head to steel you would be creating a club that weights too much. Is this true?

[jvincent]

Perhaps a little truth to what he's saying.

If in fact the I3 heads that come with the graphite shafts are heavier than the ones that come with steel, then the swingweights would probably be higher if you replaced it with a steel shaft.

This all assumes that the graphite shaft is lighter than the steel replacing it. And that the steel shafted club isn't made shorter, and that the resulting SW with the steel shaft isn't more suited to the player, etc.

In short, lots of variables, no 100% set in stone answer to this question.

[BG458]

Thanks for your response. But say I took the head off an i3 in graphite and took the head off of an i3 in steel, same club. On a scale do you know if there would be a difference in the weight of the two heads? Also has anybody out there change their clubs from graghite to steel, if so can you tell me about your experience? Thanks

[jvincent]

Thanks for your response. But say I took the head off an i3 in graphite and took the head off of an i3 in steel, same club. On a scale do you know if there would be a difference in the weight of the two heads?

That's the real question. My guess in no.

[BG458]

Thats what I thought, but according to the rep I am wrong.

[kbaba]

I'd probably guess no as well. There are so many other variables that account for swingweight that it doesn't make sense to make 2 heads of different weights to compensate for only 1 variable (especially since graphite shaft weights themselves vary considerably).

["Richard"]

The club head itself is the same but that little rubber (or whatever it is) in the cavity of the heads is a different weight for the heads that are going on graphite shafts and less on the heads going on steel shafts. For ping, they say its the worst thing you can do.

[Chieflongtee]

The club head itself is the same but that little rubber (or whatever it is) in the cavity of the heads is a different weight for the heads that are going on graphite shafts and less on the heads going on steel shafts. For ping, they say its the worst thing you can do.

Is the rubber easily removable? I am pretty sure it has to do with swingweight. There are many other ways to fine tune a club for swingweight. i.e shaft pins, lead, tungsten, etc.

[Chieflongtee]

Since you got my interest. A lot of people are now backweighing their clubs and Golf pride has just come out with a new grip for that purpose. See for yourself.



Product Details
You've heard how weight distribution affects the Moment of Inertia (MOI) of the head. Now counter-balance technology changes the distribution of weight in the entire club, improving both distance and accuracy. The patent-pending Tour Lock™ technology gives the C Force grip interchangeability of weights without having to remove the grip.

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Each grip comes with an 11-gram aluminum weight and 10-gram screw totaling 21 grams. Additional weights (sold separately; steel or tungsten) also available.

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[BG458]

Now that is wayyyyyyyyyyyyy cool. So I guess if you have an R7 and this grip, would be better off with a tool box, who needs a golf bag!

[BC MIST]

My friend talk to a pPing rep. today about shafts. He was told that you should never change graghite shafts to steel because of the head weight. Say you have the ping i3s in graghite the weight of each head is more than the weight of each head in a set of i3s with steel shaft. By changing a graphite shafted head to steel you would be creating a club that weights too much. Is this true?

While the total weight of a club is a factor in how fast SOME people can swing the club, to infer that the club would not be hittable is, IMO, untrue. Also, if you shouldn't change from graphite to steel because of the head weight, then doing the opposite should be true as well, as the headweights would be too light.

It is quite possible that the headweights were increased a few grams to accomodate the lighter graphite shafts, to ensure the the over rated in importance swingweights, were not too far off what is considered standard. Wise club head manufactureres(Tom Wishon) would just build into the head, a weight port that takes lead or tungsten pieces, without going to the huge expense of designing heavier than normal headweights. Converting to steel shafts would mean just drilling out the extra weight.

There are very few graphite shafts over 100 grams and very few steel shafts under the same, so converting back to steel would increase the total weight anyway, and if you wanted a specific swingweight, then the backweighting mentioned above would work.