Weight and Feel

In our opinion, the most important intangible in fitting a golf club is the "feel". Many better players describe feel as "knowing where the head is". It is the feel that helps you make the "right swing". It is feel that puts the high draw up in the wind and drops the shot on the pin. You can't manufacture feel. Feel comes from a magical combination of head weight, shaft weight, shaft flex, grip weight, grip texture and overall balance. How's that for science?

It is usually agreed that a light club is "better" than a heavy club. A lighter club is "easier to control" just as a lighter weight is easier to lift. A lighter club permits more clubhead speed and consequently should deliver more distance. The concept of "lighter is better" is well proven with respect to drivers where titanium heads and lightweight graphite shafts have pretty much dominated the market.

There is an anomaly in the way better players choose irons. With irons it is usually assumed that "heavier is better" hence the popularity of S-400 over S-300 in "players' clubs". We think that this is a mistake for most amateur golfers. Because most lightweight graphite irons are built with standard weight heads they end up with very light swingweights - hence, they lack "feel". To promote feel, exactly the opposite is required. The head must be heavier. Swingweights should be in the D-3 range. You can't find such a club on the market.

If there is a potential breakthrough in accepted clubfitting practice in the last year it is the advent of very lightweight shafts and grips. It is relatively easy to remove over two ounces of weight from a golf club built with technologically advanced materials. Two ounces is a huge percentage reduction in club weight. To remove weight without affecting feel is truly the art. The short answer is that it can't be done without providing customized iron heads that are much heavier than standard weights. A more detailed discussion follows.