Swingweight – The Ideal Swing Reference Point

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One of the very first technical points a golfer learns about his equipment is the letter + number designation which describes the SWINGWEIGHT of the clubs. C8, D1, D4 are examples of the letter/number designation which have been used to label the swingweight of golf clubs.

That’s all well and good but just what is swingweight?

First of all, it really is not an actual weight or an actual measurement of a weight or mass. It is not a standardized accepted weight/mass parameter like “grams”, “ounces”, or “pounds.” It is an expression that attempts to describe the ratio of the amount of weight in the bottom 2/3’s to the weight in the upper 1/3 of a golf club. Some golfers like to think of swingweight as an indication of how much they can feel the presence of the weight in the clubhead when they swing the club.

There is no question we golfers need to have our golf clubs built so that the amount of weight we feel in the clubhead is matched properly to our individual strength and our natural sense of swing tempo, timing and rhythm. If a strong golfer with a fast, forceful tempo uses golf clubs with a low swingweight, the golfer will struggle with maintaining a comfortable, repeating swing tempo, will continually fight the tendency to swing too fast, and will suffer from a higher percentage of off center hits.

Conversely if a weaker golfer with a smooth, more passive swing tempo and rhythm uses clubs with too high of a swingweight, they will struggle with the club(s) feeling too heavy and require too much effort to swing. The importance of swingweight is that golfers need to have a point of reference for how head heavy or how head light our golf clubs feel when we swing them – so when we find the right club weight balance that feels the best to our natural swing tempo and timing, we then can know how to duplicate that same weight feel in other golf clubs we may buy.

Unfortunately swingweight doesn’t work quite that way. Let’s say you find a driver that really feels good to your natural sense of swing tempo. You find it has a swingweight of say, D3. You now assume that ALL GOLF CLUBS WITH A D3 SWINGWEIGHT ARE GOING TO MATCH WELL TO YOUR SWING TEMPO.

Sadly, that is not true. If you change the length of your driver, D3 is not going to feel the same as the D3 you liked in the driver of the original length. If you change the weight of the shaft in your driver, once again, D3 is not going to feel the same as the D3 in your driver with the other shaft. Whenever you change the length or the shaft weight in your clubs, you have to go through trial and error testing to determine what swingweight best matches your natural sense of swing tempo, timing and rhythm.

This is what lead tape is for. It is also another really good reason to work with an experienced custom Clubmaker who can not only recommend the best swingweight for your swing tempo, but who can also fit you for all of the other important fitting elements in your clubs as well.

Again, to find a clubfitter near you who can find your best fitting specifications, click on the following link to our FIND A CLUBFITTER locator tool.