Playing with different shaft weights

Andy,

Now that I own irons sets with different shaft weights I thought I would bring a few of each to the range with me. I had read somewhere that using lighter weight irons for practice helps you stay quick. Thought I would see if there was anything to that since the irons I will be playing this year have heavier shafts than what I used last year.

Today I actually did practice using mixed iron sets. One thing I found was that it seemed to wreck havoc with my balance. Maybe there was some other reason for my balance being terrible today but it was terrible. I expected to have to concentrate on my tempo if I was messing around with different shaft weights in the same session but did not think about the balance issue until I was right in the middle of it.

Would you think it would have an impact on balance or would you think it to be just coincidence?

Interesting, since the driver, 3, 4, 5 wood, hybrids, and irons all are of different weights and are all played throught out a round of golf.

IMO it's a swingweight issue. Different shafts will give you different swingweight, and the club will then feel differently, therefore throwing you off balance.

Threads posted on this section are supposed to be left empty until Andy the resident pro has posted I believe.

JRod said:

Threads posted on this section are supposed to be left empty until Andy the resident pro has posted I believe.

Click to expand...

Oops, newbie mistake.

Jung most irons from the factory will swing weight out around the same. The feel or difference you get with different weights in the shaft is the weight of the head out on the end. A lighter shaft will make the head end of the club feel heavier, while a heavier shaft will make the club feel more balanced in your hands. It is a matter of what helps you feel the club head positions better during the swing. I perfer the heavier shafts and it allows me to feel the club head while making swings. I have tried some of the lighter clubs out there and I just loose track of the club and feel all out of sync.

I wanted to wait for Andy to reply before I added anything to this thread.

First what I was doing was hitting 5i with one shaft and then going directly to 5i with another shaft. I don't think there is much benefit to doing that while I guess I might still buy into the idea that a session now and again with a full lighter set might make some sense.

I found out the hard way that in my case I need the heavier shafts both to feel the club and to help my tempo. With the heavier shafts I can get into a groove with my tempo and my shoulders just pull my arms and the club along. I end up with much improved club head speed. I end up with range ball 5i shots at about 175-180 yards which is a good 5i with range balls for me. All of these physical changes have finally landed in my golf swing over the winter and I cannot wait to get out on the fairways as all I have been able to do of late is hit the heated bay ranges around here.