Happy Monday, Golfers! This week’s blog topic is about ‘Tinkering With Your Equipment.’

There is something quite satisfying about tinkering with your equipment, whether it’s re-purchasing an old trusty from eBay that you drove your best with or changing the grips on your current clubs. As golfers, we can be very reluctant to look at ourselves for the bad shots we hit, so it can be quite fun searching for that perfect club build that’s going to get the job done.

Grip Changes

Have you ever had your grips changed to either a smaller or larger size for them to feel very odd and have difficulty in striking the ball? When clubs are made, they are built to a swing weight which is consistent throughout the set. The club head, shaft, and grip are combined to meet the necessary swing weight. When we add grips that are lighter or heavier/bigger than the ones they were built with, it can change the swing weight by up to 5 swing weights, which is a considerable amount. A jumbo grip can weigh up to 10 grams heavier than a std grip and adding an undersized grip can also be around 10 grams lighter.

Changing The Length Of Your Clubs

Before you jump into this, you want to take into consideration the effects it will have on your clubs. When we alter the length, we affect the dead weight and swing weight of the club. The swing weight, in its simplest explanation, is how heavy or light the head feels when we swing the club. C1 would be very light, and D8 would be very heavy. Most standard Men`s irons will be D3/D2, and ladies will tend to flutter around the C8/C9 swing weight. When we shorten the shaft, we cause the swing weight to be lighter, and when we add length, we will cause the swing weight to be heavier.

These alterations can make the clubs feel different, and timing can be heavily affected. When altering the length, we also affect the effective lie angle of the club. For every ½ inch we change the length of the club, it will cause the lie angle to play either 1 degree flatter or upright, which in turn can affect the strike and how the club interacts with the turf. Before you decide to make alterations to the lengths of your clubs ensure you consider these areas. A proper club builder will be able to alter your clubs and help ensure they play close to the original swing weights and lie angles.

If you found these tips helpful and want to know more about club building, send me a message, and we can dive deeper into how FUN tinkering with your equipment can be! -Coach Tim