Shaft Weight

Grip Weight
One of the true breakthroughs in golf technology that has been accepted in the last few years is the advent of the ultra lightweight grip, lead by Winn. Part of the Winn "value proposition" was "enhanced feel" because they had the feel of soft leather.

An equally important aspect of ultra light grips is the effect that they have on swingweight. Just as two grams of increased head weight raises the swingweight one point, taking four grams out of grip weight also increases swingweight by one point. This is very important in supporting the trend to lighter shafts, heads and overall club weight. An average Winn grip weights around 40 grams. An average rubber grip weighs around 60 grams. Consequently, simply changing grips could increase swingweight by up to five points. This is a dramatic increase promoting increased feel. It is the way most manufacturers have been able to keep their new clubs with graphite shafts within acceptable swingweight ranges.

Standard weight grips will continue to be acceptable on steel shafted irons for the "heavy hitters". However, if you have not made the switch to lighter grips for all of your graphite-shafted clubs, you should consider making that move. You will feel the clubhead better, and the overall weight of your club will be lighter. This would be a very good experiment to try if you are trying to "remodel" your current set of clubs without spending a lot of money.