Swing weight - How did you figure out yours?

McLovin

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I did a search and didn't see this specific question answered. Apologies if there's already a thread.

I have done multiple fittings at the more boutique places like Club Champion, True Spec, etc. Never once have we tested different swing weights to find what works best for me.

So my question is if you have a specific swing weight in your clubs that you like, how did you arrive at it? Trial and error? Fitting? Guessed and got lucky?
 
Truth be told Ive never had it done, never figured it out nor really cared to. I tend to just stock it out.

It was also never something discussed in any of the fittings Ive ever had (maybe 4 or so ever)
 
Fittings. I’ve been to Club Champion for 3 full bag fitting over the years and all 3 times they spent a decent amount of time testing swing weights. It’s part of their model, so I’m assuming your fitter was aware and you ended up being close to standard SW for what you were fit into. I have been in a few fittings where it wasn’t discussed.

I do best with what seems to be most companies standards - D2 or D3 in irons (steel), D3 in fairways, D4 in driver. Anywhere from D4-D6 is fine with me for wedges.

The only club I haven’t really tested is the putter, but I’m not sure it really matters as much considering it’s not a club you really “swing”. Though, I do think head weight is really important. I want as heavy as I can get without losing distance control on longer putts (375-400 grams).
 
Mine was a bit of trial and error, but more my goal was to get to where I could feel the head in the swing. That, combined with LM numbers, I arrived at my best consistency being D5
 
Also played around with weights during my fitting.

Already knew I like heavy, but when the club felt perfect in hand, is when I found out exactly what that was.

Ended up D5 in irons, D7 Driver.
 
Can't say its ever come up in any fitting I've done. Only time I ever noticed it was going to a counterbalanced shaft where the head felt really light so needed some weight added back to the head
 
I've had a swingweight scale for almost as long as I've been playing golf.

It's mostly useful when I buy a (used) set of irons. Quite often a couple of them will be substantially underweight, maybe the rest of the set are all D1 and D2 while the PW is C9 and the 7-iron is C8. I'll use a little lead tape to make them all consistent.

But in recent years I've found I can do the same thing just by weighing them on my gram-weight kitchen scale. The clubs that are C9 instead of D1 or whatever will usually weigh several grams less than what you'd expected from the pattern of the others.
 
I’ve never had it done, I just know what I like when I pick up a club. Irons I’ve been in the D2-D3 range and Woods usually the same
 
Club Champion is where I figured it out. We definitely tested out swing weights both times I've had fittings there. It was basic use of lead tape on the end of the club, but still a good measure I think
 
I order the clubs with the shafts and grips I like. I play the clubs. I have no idea what any swing weight on any of my clubs.
 
I'm not sure if I ever have discussed it. I did try out a ton of shafts on a fitting and got comfortable with the feel and performance but other than that it has been trial and error.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 
SW is a feel / weight suited to the golfer. Women and Seniors have a lighter SW. Stronger golfers have a heavier one. Good club builders take into account the golfers strength and abilities, tempo and total club weight. They 'should' have a SW recommendation for a player also taking into account the shaft weight being played.
For example a senior 'player who is a great ball striker playing DGR300 (130g) will do better with a SW of C9-D1, which will slightly negate the total weight. That same player who swings a sub 50g driver shaft will like the feel of SW a few points higher at D2 to offset the ultra light shaft. SW improperly paired with shaft weight and the golfers abilities will feel too heavy and cant get it around or to light and has tempo issues. Too answer your question if they don't discuss SW, or test your existing sets flex & SW they are missing vital feel information, and the new set may not gel with the players muscle memory. SW is the biggest change a golfer finds it hard to get used to. So there are ways to make SW changes +/- around total weight should the new set be a lot different. Obviously SW with said components is hard to change. Its takes weights, lead tape, length, grip weight etc. This is were the customers club build gets 'very' difficult (blueprinting) also with varying wrist to floor measurements on build length. Quite often this is way too much work, components don't balance out were you want them, and its another issue making the sale difficult. This is were big box stores quit. They don't sort & weight out components to the gram, do dry builds, spine, Flo then test and adjust afterwards...they would make less money. FWIW I have played the exact same progressive SW's in my irons for years, not to mention bagging the same irons 4yrs. So I have not thrown a monkey wrench to my muscle memory. As Mr Palmer said get a good set and stick with them.
I like progressive SW's D1 3i, D1.5 4i, D2 5i, D2 6i, D2.5 7i, D2.5 8i, D3 9i, D3 PW, D3 Gw, D4 SW, D3 Lw, Driver D4, 3w D3, 5w D3 for my 190lb if your stronger and heavier add a point, lighter 1/2 to 1pt less. Swingers like 'slightly' heavier too. FWIW not many get around a 130g 3i at D5.
 
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A little bit of trial and error combined with a little bit of luck when building a set landed me at D4 for my irons. Confirmed later with a fitter and have been gaming that ever since.
 
Have no idea what mine is or should be. I really want to go do a fitting someday and get dialed in.
 
Trial and error with a lot of lead tape put on and taken off of clubs. Still have no idea if what I play them at is optimal for me, but it seems to fit my comfort level best and I see better results over the other alternatives I have tried. D2 for woods, hybrid and iron set down to 9 iron. D3 for PW and GW, D3.5 for 54° and D4 for 58°. All measured on my home value swing weight scale so those mumbers may not be perfect but at least I know that consistency exists from club to club.
 
The Cameron " red tour dot' came about when Scotty Cameron was assembling Tiger's famous putter and realized it was swing weighting higher than Tiger's desired D2 swing weight. So Scotty removed a bit of head weight by milling a dot within the putter's cavity. He painted it red because he knew Tiger liked that color. And the finished putter had a swing weight of D2. I think its specifications are 35.5" shaft length, 318 gram head weight, Pingman smooth 52 gram grip.
 
When I went in to get fitted for clubs at the superstore, in addition to the 4-5 iron models I tested they had me swing progressively heavier shafts with the same stiffness. it didn't take long to determine where my spread went from "novice ok" to B.A.D. So even with a very inconsistent swing of someone like me, the new club and ball monitoring systems can help guide you to appropriate equipment that will help give you the best chance at improving. As a result, for the first time in my golf experience, when I'm "on", I get a wow did I just hit it like that? feeling.
 
When I went in to get fitted for clubs at the superstore, in addition to the 4-5 iron models I tested they had me swing progressively heavier shafts with the same stiffness. it didn't take long to determine where my spread went from "novice ok" to B.A.D. So even with a very inconsistent swing of someone like me, the new club and ball monitoring systems can help guide you to appropriate equipment that will help give you the best chance at improving. As a result, for the first time in my golf experience, when I'm "on", I get a wow did I just hit it like that? feeling.

shaft weight is definitely crucial true, as is overall static weight of the club. jb just posted a new thread discussing this with club champion. but swing weight is a little different. swing weight is about weight distribution between the different ends of the club. a lighter swing weight has less weight in the head, heavier swing weight the opposite. as i understand it, swing weight is about maintaining the golfer's awareness of the club head throughout the swing to optimize repeatable delivery.
 
but swing weight is a little different. swing weight is about weight distribution between the different ends of the club. *snip* golfer's awareness of the club head throughout the swing to optimize repeatable delivery.

Interesting. Thanks for the clarification. It clearly makes sense. I'm going through something trying to find some resemblance of a good swing. Normal miss is a pull draw to a major hook. What gets me out of this is to focus on swinging like I would for a wedge (not chip). hyper aware of the weight at the end of the club and accelerate through. when i do it correctly, I hit a nice straight shot.
 
swing weight is about weight distribution between the different ends of the club. a lighter swing weight has less weight in the head, heavier swing weight the opposite. as i understand it, swing weight is about maintaining the golfer's awareness of the club head throughout the swing to optimize repeatable delivery.


Head weight is only one factor which determines swing weight. For example, a club with a light head but long shaft may have a heavy swing weight. Or, a club with a very heavy head but short shaft may have a light swing weight. Mostly a golfer's "awareness of the club head throughout the swing" is related to the grip technique he/she uses, especially grip pressure.
Swing weight is a measurement factoring head weight, shaft length, and grip weight; and swing weight essentially identifies whether a club is "balanced" when swung.
Traditionally, most players have found that golf club's within a range of about C8 to D5 "feel balanced" when swung.
Some players like to have all of their clubs, from putter thru driver, match a particular swing weight, such as D2. Other players prefer their putter and wedges have a D4 swing weight, while their longer clubs have a D2 swing weight.
I think what matters most is that no club is outside of the normal swing weight range of about C8 to D5, because (for most players) a club outside that customary swing weight range will "feel out of balance" when they swing it. There are exceptions, such as the player I know who won 6 LPGA events, including a Major, while while swinging a C6 swing weight putter. And I know that in the past Ernie Els has played tournaments using an E0 swing weight driver.
Related to swing weight is the dead weight of a club. About 10 years ago Cleveland Golf came out with a series of super light clubs, and (to offset this super light dead weight) Cleveland's club engineers designed into the club's extra long shafts and extra light grips (which created a relatively heavy D4 swing weight). So, their concept was that super light dead weight is o.k. so long as swing weight is relatively high, and I agree with that.
The putter industry today is filled with very heavy heads of 350, 360, 370 and up weights. Unless those heavy heads are paired with a very short shaft of 30" to 32", the swing weight of the putter will be very high, up in the E and F range. As most players like to play 34" or 35" putters companies have been producing super heavy 100 plus gram grips and, or, extra grip weights . This heavy weight at the grip end counter balances the heavy head weight and produces a more reasonable D5 to D8 putter swing weight. The down side to a putter with so much dead weight (heavy head plus heavy grip), is that a player's sense of touch and control of the putter may be diminished.
 
Trial and error got me to D4 in my irons and a little heavier in my wedges. Lately, I've been experimenting with a heavier swingweight, in the D6-D7 range, for my 3wd and Driver. Not sure what my 5wd is at. I picked it up used and I hit it so well, I'm afraid to measure it to find out it's way off because then it'll be in my head and I'll never hit it well again.
 
Not sure what my 5wd is at. I picked it up used and I hit it so well, I'm afraid to measure it to find out it's way off because then it'll be in my head and I'll never hit it well again.

Lee Trevino used to decline having any of his clubs measured for swing weight, loft, lie etc.... His preference was to strike his clubs , watch the ball flight, then make adjustments such as bending lie flatter or more upright, adding lead tape etc....until each club in his bag produced the shots he wanted. His reason for wanting to avoid measured numbers was the same as yours, that he did not want those numbers in his head.
 
Interesting. Thanks for the clarification. It clearly makes sense. I'm going through something trying to find some resemblance of a good swing. Normal miss is a pull draw to a major hook. What gets me out of this is to focus on swinging like I would for a wedge (not chip). hyper aware of the weight at the end of the club and accelerate through. when i do it correctly, I hit a nice straight shot.

Search the web - tons of info on there on the subject, yet golfers are continually misinformed on the subject. It can essentially be irrelevant in a fitting since it's about finding combo's that work and feel "right", with discovering the SW as trivial afterwards. Rather than it always coming up as "heavy" or "light", it should be thought of as something that can be increased or decreased, since total weight is not always the main issue. Your issues may be loft and lie related and have nothing to do with SW...

Lee Trevino used to decline having any of his clubs measured for swing weight, loft, lie etc.... His preference was to strike his clubs , watch the ball flight, then make adjustments such as bending lie flatter or more upright, adding lead tape etc....until each club in his bag produced the shots he wanted. His reason for wanting to avoid measured numbers was the same as yours, that he did not want those numbers in his head.

Awesome!
 
RE: the Trevino quote

It always makes me wonder when people custom order a set of irons, of a model they've not used before, and they specify two degrees weak or one degree strong or whatever. Can't you bend an iron AFTER trying it just as easily as it would be bent at the factory before shipping to you? How do you know you want exactly -2 or +1 degrees on every club in the set until you've played a few rounds?

You might just as easily end up wanting the 7 and 8 two weak, the 9 only one weak and the 5, 6 and PW stock lofts. You can't really predict gaps and trajectories for seven or eight different clubs, sight unseen can you?
 
RE: the Trevino quote

It always makes me wonder when people custom order a set of irons, of a model they've not used before, and they specify two degrees weak or one degree strong or whatever. Can't you bend an iron AFTER trying it just as easily as it would be bent at the factory before shipping to you? How do you know you want exactly -2 or +1 degrees on every club in the set until you've played a few rounds?

You might just as easily end up wanting the 7 and 8 two weak, the 9 only one weak and the 5, 6 and PW stock lofts. You can't really predict gaps and trajectories for seven or eight different clubs, sight unseen can you?

Paralysis by over-analysis is a real thing imo.
 
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