Saturday, April 03, 2004
Not All Grips Are Created Equal
Grips Are Not All Created Equal
It's not unusual for a student to tell me, "I had new grips
put on my clubs, and they just don't feel right anymore."
The problem often turns out to be that the new grips don't
weigh the same as the old ones. When this happens, it can
significantly change the swing-weight of the clubs, and that
makes them feel very different indeed. Here's why. "Swing-
weight" refers to the relationship between the length of a
club and the weight in its club head. The weight of the grip
counterbalances the weight in the head, so replacing a grip
with one of a different weight changes the weight distribu-
tion and therefore the feel. Suppose I substitute a standard
51-gram grip with one of the same diameter that weighs only
42 grams on a driver that measures D3 (men's medium) on the
swing-weight scale. This makes the club head effectively
heavier as a percentage of the overall weight, raising the
swing-weight to about D6 -- a significant change. Conversely,
changing to a heavier grip will make a club feel lighter.
Grips of the same diameter come in many different weights,
from 51 grams all the way down to 35 grams. Be sure your
club repair man uses grips that allow you to retain the
swing-weight of your set. -- T .J. To masi
Thanks Today 's Golf
To SUBSCRIBE visit: http://www.gophercentral.com/sub/sub-golf.html
It's not unusual for a student to tell me, "I had new grips
put on my clubs, and they just don't feel right anymore."
The problem often turns out to be that the new grips don't
weigh the same as the old ones. When this happens, it can
significantly change the swing-weight of the clubs, and that
makes them feel very different indeed. Here's why. "Swing-
weight" refers to the relationship between the length of a
club and the weight in its club head. The weight of the grip
counterbalances the weight in the head, so replacing a grip
with one of a different weight changes the weight distribu-
tion and therefore the feel. Suppose I substitute a standard
51-gram grip with one of the same diameter that weighs only
42 grams on a driver that measures D3 (men's medium) on the
swing-weight scale. This makes the club head effectively
heavier as a percentage of the overall weight, raising the
swing-weight to about D6 -- a significant change. Conversely,
changing to a heavier grip will make a club feel lighter.
Grips of the same diameter come in many different weights,
from 51 grams all the way down to 35 grams. Be sure your
club repair man uses grips that allow you to retain the
swing-weight of your set. -- T .J. To masi
Thanks Today 's Golf
To SUBSCRIBE visit: http://www.gophercentral.com/sub/sub-golf.html
