Swingweight – The Ideal Swing Reference Point
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.
Tom, Does adding SW predictably move impact toward toe or heel? And vice versa. I added 4gm lead to my iron heads and tempo feels better (tend to get abrupt transition and lose head feel on downswing) but impact moved toward toe – not much with GW but more and more as go to 4 iron. Thus maybe just need heavier shaft rather than increased SW? I read increasing shaft weight 9gm increases SW 1 pt – i.e. need 18 gm heavier shaft? Hahaha I know the comments section is not Trackman but just curious about your opinion if such… Read more »
JON While I have found that nailing down the best head weight FEEL for most golfers contributes to a higher percentage of on center hits, I have not found that either toe or heel impacts are caused or cured by swingweight fitting. It can be so different for different golfers. I’ve seen proper lie fitting improve toe or heel impacts, I’ve seen proper length fitting do that, I’ve seen proper total weight and swingweight fitting do that. But I can’t say that one fitting adjustment is always going to help with either toe or heel impact correction. You’re going about… Read more »
Hi Tom,
I recently bought 775 4 hybrid from Diamond golf, I built the club myself and it sits fantastic. I like the club especially hybrids to sit a little open. I took it to the range and I was amazed at the performance. I was able to shape my shots and hit high and low, such an easy club to hit. That’s the first hybrid I have hit that’s not been a hook machine.
Thank you for your service.
Tom, What access point do you recommend to add hot melt to a driver or fairway head? If I drill through the bottom of the hosel weight bore for access, how do I seal that prior to putting a bore weight in and inserting the shaft. Golfworks has hosel bore plugs to use, but this would be at the top of the hosel weight bore not at the bottom of it.
James That’s a tough question because there are definite drawbacks and potential for problems with both accessing through the base of the hosel weight bore or through the sole. On my driver/wood/hybrid designs, there is a stopper plug at the very base of the weight bore that covers a small hole into the cavity of the head. This hole is there to allow the production factory to inject their own production sticky glue into the head as the usual step for creating a way to potentially capture little welding seam or other particles that may break loose inside the head… Read more »
Tom
I could not find a way to remove the hosel bore plug. However, I found I could slice a thin piece of a pencil eraser that would fit fairly snuggly down the bottom of the borehole. I was then able to drill a hole through the existing hosel bore plug for the hot melt nozzle. Once I got the weight I needed, I then cover the hole with the slice of pencil eraser and keep it there by dripping some epoxy on top of and get the exact weight needed with the hosel weight.
Tom, this is great. Thank you. I have an MOI machine and build all my clubs using it, but the analytical nut in me is always thinking, “what if I changed something…?” Or, when I change shafts or change a set and change MOI by 10 points to play around with it…”did that change how I release the club”? What is a good process for determining if the MOI for someone is absolutely perfect? Thanks
MATT: Ordinarily when you add weight to the grip end of the club, the measured MOI does not increase by all that much. Weight added farther from the very grip end of the club changes MOI more significantly than weight added in the grip. This is because the end of the grip is the axis of rotation for the MOI measurement so anything close to the axis of rotation does not affect the MOI by as much. However, the grip weight change on your club is quite significant so for that reason you of course will see the MOI increase… Read more »
It helps out a bunch. Do you recommend shaft selection tools like the Mizuno Shaft Optimizer as a starting point? Or is there more “art” in helping a golfer select the correct shaft?
MATT If the Mizuno Optimizer were programmed to output data for ALL SHAFTS then it could be a viable way to begin the process of shaft selection. But to my knowledge Mizuno only has this programmed to output data for their shafts that they offer in their clubs. So that is a very limited number of shafts and by no means covers all the possible different shaft design options that could be viable for a golfer. Shaft fitting is kind of more of an art these days because there is zero empirical shaft stiffness data out there that can be… Read more »
Thanks Tom. Do you have a list of fitters that have access to the shaft software? Would like to learn more about it and potentially go see one of them to do so.
MATT We don’t have such a list. And since the old software went defunct from lack of support in 2016, that’s been 3 yrs and some of those who used it would not be using it anymore for the main reason that it does not have any shafts that were introduced new after 2015. While there are a few shafts still being used that were in the data base in 2015, most clubmakers tend to gravitate to using newer issue shafts, especially in driver/wood shafts. So as they discover that a shaft(s) they are looking for is not in the… Read more »
even though I took physics, some aspects of swing weight seem counterintuitive.. This spring I switched to the Enlow reverse taper grips.. they weigh about 140 grams compared to the standard weight of around 60 grams.. this means my clubs are 80 grams heavier than before yet my clubhead speed is way up, and I’ve gained well over 20 yds on my Driver.. obviously this lowers the swing weight and the clubhead feels very light.. this effects accuracy and consistency.. it was frustrating early on hitting both better and further than before and worse and less accurate than before in… Read more »
SCOTT First off, you have to understand that swingweight does not have a proven scientific basis with respect to club performance. It is and always was an arbitrary form of weight distribution measurement based on one decision for where to place the fulcrum on a measurement scale. It is not a good form of club weight FEEL because it is so easily tricked by length and total weight and grip weight. A better way to look at the effects of weight distribution on club performance is to work with the moment of inertia of the whole golf club and an… Read more »
thanks for your thoughtful answer.. I like experimenting and have never believed there is only one way to grip and swing a club.. I think for many players acceleration is underrated compared to club head speed, which gets all the attention.. one of the things I’ve tried incorporate into my swing is increasing the length that my clubhead is on line both before contact and after contact.. so many reasons why golf is the best sport in the world, mentally, physically, athletically, and it tests and exposes your character.. I love it and thanks again for your answer..
Very interesting and helpful information in this thread! It gave me a lot of good advice on how to start doing my own investigation into my “ideal” golf clubs. Thank you Tom Wishon and all contributors!
hi Tom making a new set of Irons swing weights range from d8 for 3 iron to e 1 for pw I want to add some weight and have lead and brass tip weights in .5 to 6 grams when I get the swingweight to e 1 I might have to add a weight that is 1/4 long on the end of shaft now the shaft will sit out of the hosel + 1/4 inch meaning i would have to cut the shaft 1/4 inch to keep the steps similar my question to you is should i use the tip… Read more »
Tom – I am brand new to golf and for budgetary purposes have not been custom fit (and did not purchase “new” clubs). I have just purchased a set of Eye 2’s that have the lighter 106g shaft. Ping says the clubs were made to C6+. My accuracy hitting the ball is all over the place (my main miss is topping the ball). I swung a new set of M2’s and immediately felt the difference (D2 s.w.). You mentioned that liking one swing weight on one club might not translate to liking that weight with another – is there a… Read more »
Brian Fitting for swingweight is very much a trial process but we like to call it more trial and EXPERIMENTATION than trial and error !! Golfers are very different in their makeup of what they feel is heavy, what they feel is light, how heavy or how light. What I perceive to be too heavy for me to swing consistently, you may feel that is just right. There is no question though that when you swing the club and something feels too light, it becomes very difficult to achieve and maintain a decent level of swing tempo consistency – you… Read more »
Dear Mr. Wishon, I began playing golf with a set of 2nd hand Wilson forged irons and laminated woods back in 1964 at the age of 18. At my best I was a +2 handicap. Finally, in my late 30’s, I was convinced to move to set of Ping eye 2+ irons because they were “more forgiving” and with teenage children I rarely had the opportunity to play more than 2-3 times a month. I soon ballooned to a 12 handicap, but I missed the feel of my old forged irons, and eventually went to the Mizuno MP 57 forged… Read more »
Fred: You can line up 100 experienced golfers and ask them all to hit different clubs and rate the impact feel and you likely would come up with 100 different variations on what they sense and perceive. Feel is such a subjective thing among golfers so it is just not possible to accurately predict any golfer’s perception when they hit different clubs. I’ve hit more different clubheads than perhaps most any other golfers because of a 32 yr career in head design and to me, a dead center hit with any of the cavity back irons I have designed feels… Read more »
Hi Tom,
What does choking up (going lower down the grip) do to swing weight, shaft flex, and any other feel/performance of the club? Thanks!
KEVIN Technically, gripping down on a club will act as if the club is both shorter and lower in swingweight and like the grip is smaller in the hands. However, there have been many times that people have gripped down on their clubs, like it, then try to cut down their existing clubs to simulate the gripping down, and it does not work the same. To be honest with you, there were times in my career that I thought about doing some serious research both on paper and on the range with golfers to try to crack that nut to… Read more »
I GOT FITTED FOR SRIXON Z765 I HIT THEM GREAT WITH THE SCREW IN HEADS THEY WERE C7 S/W WHEN I GOT MY CLUBS I DONT HIT THEM AS WELL BOTH LEFT AND RIGHT MAYBE MORE PULLS ANY IDEAS
Joseph If you got “fit” in a retail golf store or pro shop, then you did not get fit in the sense of what real fitting is all about. Real fitting is like a tailor to a suit – one very knowledgeable expert fitter working with one golfer at a time to determine what each of the 12 key fitting specs must be for every one of the clubs in the bag. Then each club is built from scratch to have each of those determined 12 key specs in each club. Golf stores that sell big company clubs cannot possibly… Read more »
Hi Tom,
Would using a lightweight grip (25 grams compared to 52 grams) to increase swing weight due to shortening a driver cause swing issues due to losing 27 grams of total weight (290 grams compared to 317 grams)? Thanks!
KEVIN It depends entirely on the golfer and his personal preference for the head weight feel of a driver vs his tempo and swing timing. There is no one set answer to that because golfers can be so different in terms of what weight feel elements trigger better swing timing vs trigger poor swing timing. Some players love to feel a heavy head feel because it helps them time their swing better. Others do not. But I will say that it is more rare for a player to have an adverse reaction to what you talk about with a lower… Read more »
HI Tom, I recently reshafted some irons with DGSL S300 (soft-stepped). Shafts went from about 128g to 105g. They go pretty well but sometimes the clubheads feel quite heavy and I get a sensation of the heads turning over. When I loose-fitted the shafts and grips, the SW was around C9 so I had to add about 8g of tip weights to produce a D3 SW. Is it possible for the tip weights to create an effect where the heel slows and the toe travels faster? Or is the 8g of tip weight not normally enough to cause such an… Read more »
JOHN: No possible way that 8g of weight in the heel side of a clubhead can change any of the rotational parameters of the club on the downswing through impact. it is far too small of a mass to have any effect on that. It only has the effect of increasing head weight feel as you are noticing and a VERY slight effect on moving the CG about 1/16″ to 5/64″ toward the heel side of the face centerline. Too heavy of a swingweight usually shows up either as just plain more work/fatigue after many shots, or it can sometimes… Read more »
Hi Tom, Good to know that somebody knows this stuff properly. I am currently playing irons with DGSL S300, soft-stepped. At 63 I am ready to move into the same shaft in R300. I do like this shaft. Current irons are set at D3 which sometimes feel a bit head-heavy and I sometimes turn the head over and hook it. I know it’s not the flex as my 6-iron swing speed is only around 83mph. I carry my 7-iron about 155yds. What SW would you suggest for the move to DGSL in R300? I know this is a case of… Read more »
Johnno: In all honesty, if the measurement of your 6 iron speed of 83mph is accurate, that is enough speed to be able to play the S3 in this shaft. Only if you were 83mph and very smooth and passive with your tempo would that speed perhaps not be matched up well to the S3 flex. At the sa me time, a 155yd carry with a 7 iron is still enough for the S3. But a lot of this decision has to rest in your FEEL preferences, acquired from many years of hitting shots and reacting to what you sense,… Read more »
I’m learning a lot that’s thanks you your blogs Tom, I recently hit a friends bladed irons. I couldn’t believe how light they were compared to mine (TM mc/mb forged). This got me thinking about my MOI matching attempt by increasing swingweights as the clubs got shorter. I changed the lengths gaps to 3/8″ and made 0.6 swing weight steps with SW increasing towards the shorter irons. It didn’t feel right as my pw was D4 and because of the already sizeable heads on the TM mb short irons were too heavy. So I do see now that overall weight… Read more »
SEAN In trying to do a form of MOI matching by using the 3/8″ increment with 0.6 swingweight point progressive increase, you have to first focus on finding what is the swingweight of your longest iron because every other iron goes up in swingweight from there. You need to find what swingweight with that longest iron is heavy enough that you definitely can feel the presence of the head during the swing, but not too light so you can’t feel the head during the swing. From there you can go up in the 0.5 to 0.6 swingweight increments. I always… Read more »
hi tom, thank you for shaing your wealth of experience and knowledge. i recently tipped a stiff driver shaft and is playing around the 43.7 mark, i have experimented and added lead tape to the club head, the tape is distributed evenly to bring the club to a d3 swingweight it feels perfect producing consistent control and much better distance results than before. now that i have found the optimal swingweight for me, i would like to tidy things up by removing the tape and add the weight elsewhere i.e. where you can’t see it.. so my question is this:… Read more »
ANDREW It depends on how much weight was added to get the club up to the proper level of headweight feel for your swing tempo and timing. Adding weight down the shaft puts all the weight on the very heel side of the head. That has the effect to shift the center of gravity slightly toward the heel side of the head. The more weight in the heel area of the head, the more the CG moves in that direction off the center of the face. And the more the CG moves off the center of the face, the less… Read more »
Hello Tom
I know this is an older article and all that but I just wanted to thank you for your great work, I just purchased a swing weight scale and have started to work on adjusted my set to my needs and with your help and knowledge it was easy, I am amazed at the difference my cut down to 44.5 inch G30 Driver works now with the lead tape added, it is fantastic !! Now I am working on the entire set one club at a time !!
Thanks Wayne, we’re very pleased that we could be of assistance in your work with fine tuning the swing feel and length of your clubs.
TOM
Hi Tom, I need your expert advice since i read a lot of blog from everywhere. I used to grip down on my Driver like two inches, i always have a good contact hit it on the sweet spot most of the time like hitting fairways 90% most of the time… Then I decided to have a butt cut on the shaft ( from 45″ to 44″) which on the first few hits i cannot find the right tempo until lately after a couple of hitting more on the driving range i finally dialled in and i think i hit… Read more »
KEITH Anytime you shorten the length of an existing club, you have to head to the driving range with a roll of lead tape to hit test the club as you add a little weight at a time. What you are trying to do is to get to the point that you can feel the head weight presence during the swing enough that it is not too light and it is not too heavy feeling to you. This can sometimes be done in one hit session on the range, sometimes you need to come back a 2nd day to see… Read more »
Hi Tom , thank you very much for your response and for having to cross upon your blogs rather than reading and listening every piece of advice from people or even golf store staff trying to be “knowledgeable” but instead of making good it makes things even worst. Anyway your really right, that at the end of the day every golfer is different from one another, it’s realllly how you feel it that gives you the best swing tempo, timing, rhythm. I tried adding putting weights (vice versa) from factory swingweight set which is D2 and little by little deducting… Read more »
Tom I came across your 12 myths and was really impressed with it. I have recently been fitted for a set of Callaway XR OS irons with an Recoil 760 F2 shaft. I am short and stocky (overweight) and my average swing speed with a 8 iron on trackman is around 70mph (range is between 68 – 75 ). The fitter said he felt I needed to move to graphite as it is lighter and I will get a better flight. I previously played Ping I3 OS with a stiff shaft. I’ve got the new clubs and I cannot feel… Read more »
ROBERT: It sounds very much that the original clubmaker who installed the graphite shafts into the Ping irons was not very experienced and did not know that he would need to add weight to the clubhead to bring the swingweight up high enough to allow you to feel the clubhead when you swing the clubs. Anytime that any golf club undergoes a change from a heavy shaft to a light shaft, the swingweight automatically drops at a rate of 1 swingweight point for each 7 to 8 grams that the graphite shaft is lighter than the previous shaft. To make… Read more »
Tom, After wasting $900 on a useless set of irons, Jamie F in Delray Beach gave me your “12 Myths” pamphlet to read and I will never, ever, buy another golf club in one of those big box stores again. My golf buddies used to laugh at my 12 degree driver…not any more!! Jamie made me [each of] a Wishon driver and 3W and I LOVE them. Hybrids are on the way! Thanks so much for educating all of us as to what really matters. Hit ’em long and straight! JJ
JJ
Very glad to hear that you found Jamie to work with for your fitting needs. He’s a real professional, really knows the craft and the knowledge and is a real credit to the profession of custom clubmaking and fitting. It’s a LOT of fun for me to be able to hear from you and know that you are enjoying this great game a little more thanks to having taken the leap of faith to work with a clubmaker like Jamie. Thanks much !!
TOM
Dear Tom, My tempo has always been quick, yet I am not strong and long. My 7 iron goes for about 155 yards and driver goes for about 240 yards. The funny thing is, I prefer woods with much higher swing weight than irons: driver, 310g, SW D3.5; 4 wood, 338g, SW D5; hybrid, 372g, SW D5; irons, NSpro 950, SW D2; wedge, DG s200, SW D4. My fairway wood and hybrid have swing weight even higher than wedges. I don’t think this set up comply with the MOI fitting at all, and the pro I know told me this… Read more »
Stan
Absolutely what you describe for your weight feel preferences is very normal and correct for you. The golfer’s swing tempo/force is the most important factor to determine what the weight feel of the clubs should be. And it is very true that no matter the golfer’s clubhead speed, if their tempo is quick and fast, they usually will do better with swingweights tht are higher than normal. You’re doing the right thing because you have arrived on this decision for a higher swingweight by experimenting to see what feels the best to you and your swing tempo.
TOM
Tom, Very helpful as always. I just received a set of Ping i25s, was fit into s300, 1/4″ short. Was between s300 and x100 soft, but I’m not getting any younger so I errred on side of softer. (7i SS 87, fast tempo, late release). I’m losing a lot of distance – 7 iron is 150 vs 160- and 4 iron is 175 vs used to hit 5 iron 180-185 (so almost a two club loss on long irons). Good news is I am striking it well, but so short. I checked the swing weight of the Ping and they… Read more »
RON The first and most critical point to check in any investigation of why one iron set hits the ball shorter for any golfer is to check the loft angles of the heads in both sets. This of course is much easier said than done because it requires both specialized equipment to do that accurately coupled with proper training to know how to fixture the heads to measure their lofts. There are no standards in golf for any specs on clubs including loft. Add to that the fact that all clubheads have a +/- tolerance for every spec in their… Read more »
Hi Tom, I a 45 years old recreational golfer, driver speed 102, and I struggle with an early release (I can only hold it to 8 o’clock) I have been taking lessons for the past 6 months to correct the issue with little improvement. I have been fit a few years ago with custom clubs, my 6i is 37.50″, 66.0″ lie, 29.0 degree loft, + .128 offset, 2 swing weight. Cobra 2300 I/m, Cobra TT dynamic F115 Stiff, 1/32 oversize grip. I am obsessed with correcting my problem and it occurred to me that maybe my swing weight is too… Read more »
FRANK: First off, a release at 8 o’clock is not really an early release. Early release is more like 10 to 9 oclock so you are midway to ever so slightly later than midway for your release if you do begin that release at the 8 o’clock point. From the research I have done in this area, I can’t tell you the definitive “this is the way it is for all golfers” information on this, but I can tell you that it is possible for golfers who are trying to hold the release later in the downswing to get a… Read more »
Hi again Tom-
So- if I understand you, I could switch from my PX 6.0 (120g) w a swing weight of D2 to the DG S300 SL (106g) and up my swing weight to a D4 and have an overall lighter club with the stronger swing weight. If so, I’m thinking that just might be the ticket.
Thanks again for your time,
Randy S.
Yes for sure, but do realize that a difference of only 14g in the shaft weight would end up being only a 10g drop int he total weight once you added the extra weight to the head to get the swingweight up to D4. 10g is a very slight change in the total weight that not many golfers can detect as being lighter feeling during the swing. However, the move to the D4 swt with the lighter shaft should lower the balance point on the club so you should sense that there is a greater headweight feel during the swing.… Read more »
Hi Tom- I’ve got a question for you. Let me give you a little background. I’ve got a quick swing speed (driver- 105, 92 for my 6 iron) and a fast tempo. I’ve currently using irons rated at D2. I don’t have a good feeling for the head location during my swing. Do you think it would be beneficial to go a D3 or possibly D4. I don’t want to go overboard cuz I’m not getting any younger (I’m 56). Thanks for your time, I appreciate your input and look forward to hearing from you.
RANDY Based on the lengths of the clubs being good for you, most definitely when you can’t really find or feel the clubhead during the swing, especially from the transition though the downswing, that is a definite indicator that the headweight is not high enough to match to your natural sense of timing, tempo, rhythm. But increasing the swingweight by only 1 point is not typically enough to deliver an improvement in head weight feel for better timing. A 2 pt increase is considered the starting point. So get the lead tape, head to the range and with one mid… Read more »