Do golf shafts have to be cut?
"When golf shafts are manufactured and shipped to clubmakers and clubmaking companies, they are in what is called a raw, uncut form. From this form, the clubmakers have to cut the shaft, often from both the tip and grip ends, to properly install it into each clubhead." Cutting Golf Shafts and the Effect on Flex
How important is weight when fitting a golf shaft?
Club Champion told us that weight is the first thing they look at when fitting a shaft, and Nippon said, “If a golfer can’t feel a shaft that’s properly weighted, the other factors (flex, torque, bend profile) are moot.”
How much swing weight do you lose when you cut shafts?
The more shaft you cut off, the lighter, more stiff, and effectively flatter the club becomes. For every 1/2 inch you remove, you will lose approximately three swingweight points. You can readjust the swingweight by adding lead tape to the head of the club.
How do you shorten a golf club shaft?
With steel shafts, use a tubing cutter to trim the shaft; with graphite shafts, shorten using a hacksaw. Re-install a grip on the newly shortened shaft. And, most importantly, Wishon says, add weight to the clubhead in some manner to restore the swingweight feel of the club.
How much weight do you gain after cutting a shaft?
Golfers can adjust the swingweight of their golf club by changing the weight of the shaft in their club. Assuming the shaft is not increased or decreased in length, an increase of 9 grams in shaft weight will increase swingweight by approximately one swingweight point (increase from D3 to D4, for example).
Does cutting down a driver shaft make it stiffer?
In most cases, tip trimming a shaft makes it meaningfully stiffer. It also increases torsional stiffness, known as “torque,” which is a shaft's resistance to twisting. On the other end of the shaft is the handle, which is also generally trimmed some amount when building a golf club.
How much weight do you add to club head?
An accepted rule of thumb is that increasing or decreasing the weight of the clubhead by 2 grams will increase or decrease the swingweight by 1 and the same impact would be achieved by adding or subtracting 5 grams to or from the grip and 9 grams to or from the shaft.
How do you add weight to a shaft?
Add lead tape to your clubhead. This is the quickest and easiest method to increase swingweight. Golfers use lead tape because they believe it will help correct swing flaws. For example, adding tape to the clubhead's heel (the portion closest to the shaft) can help reduce a slice, they believe.
What happens when you cut down a golf shaft?
The more shaft you cut off, the lighter, more stiff, and effectively flatter the club becomes. For every 1/2 inch you remove, you will lose approximately three swingweight points. You can readjust the swingweight by adding lead tape to the head of the club. Any amount of cutting will slightly stiffen the club.
Does shortening a shaft increase swing weight?
Swing weight impacts people differently. Do not get confused between altering the balance (swing weight) and actual weight though. A shorter club with lighter swing weight is not necessarily going to increase speed. In fact taking that length away, will in most cases slow the swing down.
Is D5 swing weight too heavy?
If it feels too heavy at D5, you can remove strips of lead tape one by one until it feels right. If your driver is heavier than D5, ask your club fitter to add a heavier grip or a counterweight to reduce swing weight to D5. Get Fitted By A TPT Authorized Fitter.
Does adding weight to a driver increase distance?
It is clear that a heavier driver head can help you to achieve longer distances, however you need to be able to generate sufficient clubhead and ball speed. Lighter driver heads can help you to get the ball airborne and provide consistent carry.
How much does shaft weight affect swing weight?
The general rules are that a two-gram change in clubhead weight will change the swingweight one point (heavier = higher swingweight); a five-gram change in grip weight will change the swingweight one point (heavier = lower swingweight), and a nine-gram change in shaft weight will change the swingweight one point ( ...
Should I add weight to my irons?
From the clubhead, in the cavity of your irons, directly on the shaft, or even underneath your grip. The point of lead tape is to increase the swing weight of a club by adding weight. In theory, it can help you hit it further and straighter than a lighter club.
What swing weight do pros use?
The swing weight of irons probably varies between D2 and D5 for 95% of Tour players. Most will be somewhere in this range. Players with high club head speed like Rory McIlroy or Dustin Johnson tend to be around D5-D6. Players with more average tour club head speed are around D3-D4.
What do shaft tip weights do?
Lead Shaft Tip Weights are epoxied into the shaft tip during assembly to achieve you desired swingweight. Available for steel . 335" wood, steel . 370" iron and most graphite shafts these shaft tip weights fit a maximum .
How to shorten a golf club shaft?
To do that, the DIY golfer will have to: 1 Remove the existing grip. 2 With steel shafts, use a tubing cutter to trim the shaft; with graphite shafts, shorten using a hacksaw. 3 Re-install a grip on the newly shortened shaft. 4 And, most importantly, Wishon says, add weight to the clubhead in some manner to restore the swingweight feel of the club. "If clubs are shortened and no weight is added back to the clubhead, the chances of the length reduction having the desired effect are somewhere between slim and none."
What is the difference between a golf shaft and a tip?
All golf shafts taper; that is, their circumference is greater at the grip end than at the tip end. That means that the grip end is the strongest part of the shaft and the tip end the weakest, which, Wishon says, leads trimming to have different effects: "Cutting more of the tip will have the effect of getting rid of some of the weaker end ...
Should the reduction in length be made from the grip end only?
"If the goal in making the clubs shorter in length is a desire to gain an improvement in accuracy, the reduction in length should be made from the grip end only ," Wishon said.
JinxyJ08
Trying to decide between a 63g or 73g whiteboard and am going to play the driver at 44". wondering how much butt cutting takes off weight wise by pulling off a complete inch. anyone have any idea?
jaskanski
Of the overall weight of the shaft? Not a lot. Effect on swingweight? Huge. Cutting 1" off will reduce the swingweight of the club by 6 points. You'll need 12g in the head restore the original swingweight. Deciding between the two different weight categories of the shaft will have no effect whatsoever by cutting 1" off either.
Bobbers
You can mitigate this somewhat by using a WINN Lite grip which is about half the weight of a regular grip.
JinxyJ08
i dont want to know about swing weight since im fully are of what happens there (thanks though because it is important), im talking about actual grams of the shaft. i dont want a mid 50's gram shaft once i lop a bunch off the butt end, I want more of a low/mid 60's gram shaft.
JinxyJ08
See im looking to see IF what my calculations show would be correct. I would have a 66.5g shaft IF the 73g shaft has uniform weight throughout (after i cut the 3.5" off). My biggest concern is that since the whiteboard is "butt soft" its probably a bit less graphite there then the middle and tip. i just don't know!
JinxyJ08
Yess! See that is perfect! Thanks that's what I suspected. That means I'll be now trying to find a 73g whiteboard or a 70g Ahina!
JinxyJ08
Yes the total shaft length will be 42.5" inches which is why a 73g shaft will put me mid/high 60's in grams for shaft weight.
Weight Adjustment Guidelines (Useful reference)
Here are some useful conversions that will help you when swing-weighting your clubs :
About the Author: Zach Gollwitzer
Hey!! I'm Zach, the founder of The DIY Golfer. I created this site in 2015 while playing D1 collegiate golf to help myself understand the game of golf better and improve as a player. Fast forward a few years, and it has become much more than a journal.
How does shortening a golf shaft affect swing weight?
Shortening the shaft can make the golf club less flexible. If you are going to shorten a golf club, there are a few things to keep in mind. The more shaft you cut off, the lighter, more stiff, and effectively flatter the club becomes. For every 1/2 inch you remove, you will lose approximately three swingweight points.
How many swingweight points do you lose when you remove 1/2 inch?
For every 1/2 inch you remove, you will lose approximately three swingweight points. You can readjust the swingweight by adding lead tape to the head of the club. Any amount of cutting will slightly stiffen the club. It will probably go unnoticed if you take 1 inch or less off the club.
What does a club champion say about weight?
Club Champion told us that weight is the first thing they look at when fitting a shaft, and Nippon said, “If a golfer can’t feel a shaft that’s properly weighted, the other factors (flex, torque, bend profile) are moot.”.
Can high balance shafts be used with standard heads?
As Fujikura explains, “High balance point shafts can be matched with heavier heads or longer club lengths to facilitate club builds with [“normal”] swing weights without having to change mass properties of the head. They can be used with standard heads at standard lengths to simply reduce swing weight.”.
Should slower swingers play lighter or heavier shafts?
One bit of common wisdom is that slower swingers should play lighter shafts and faster swingers should go heavier. This holds up sometimes, but is often wrong. As Fujikura pointed out, a slower swinger will be much better with a heavier shaft if that causes them to have more centered strikes.