Equalization of "total weight" by butt weighting my irons

[Steve Long]

I added home-made butt weights to my irons so as to create the same total weight in each club, for pitching wedge through 2-iron.  I added a two gram weight in my pitching wedge, a seven gram weight in my 9-iron, 12 gram in the 8-iron, etc, until a 43 gram weight in my 2-iron.  They are inserted into the end of the shaft and held by the grip.  The weights get heavier as the clubs lengthen because standard unweighted clubs get lighter as they lengthen.  It’s a simple matter of weighing the pitching wedge and using that weight (plus two grams) as the target weight for the other clubs.  Then a butt weight is calculated, constructed, and added to each club to bring it up to the target weight.  The result is that the total weight or dead weight of all the irons are the same.  Why did I do it?

Normal club weighting gives a faster acceleration of the longer (lighter) clubs, at least in the first half of the downswing.  This means adjustments to the swing have to be made.  I want to have only one acceleration rate for all my irons.  I don’t want any adjustments in my swing.    I’m not going to weight my driver because the butt weight in a driver would be very heavy, much heavier than the butt weight in the 2-iron and I don’t want to sacrifice distance in my driver.  I’m not sure what I’ll do to my 3-wood yet; I’ll probably try a weight just to see what happens.  I don’t know yet if I lost any distance with my butt-weighted irons.  I don’t see why it should be more than a few yards with the longest iron, and less for each shorter iron.  Actually I don’t have any exact data on the carry of my old irons other than the rough numbers I use to pick the right club for approach shots.  I have only tried my modified irons on the range so far.  And so far they seem to do what was intended—make the irons feel and act more alike.  The true test will be in the playing when spring arrives.  With a flight monitor I could do a comparison test using any normal 2-iron and then adding a 43 gram weight to my wrist and comparing the carry.  But I don’t care really if I lose a few yards.

 I wonder who has tried this weighting idea before.  It’s seems pretty obvious as something to try.  Also, why it didn’t it catch on.

(p.s. normal swingweight matching makes the longer clubs release more slowly than the shorter clubs.  MOI matched clubs have the same release, so I used MOI matching instead of swingweight matching.)  

(p.s. 2, Swingweight scales don't work with butt weights installed, but MOI is measured with butt weights installed.)   

Edited March 1, 2020 by Steve Long

[Kor.A.Door]

Interesting concept. I have never thought about that before. Essentially you are counterbalancing the weight of the club, but you are doing it so that they are uniform in total weight. It’ll  be interesting to hear the results from on course play. I know there is a grip called the secret grip that is weighted, but I don’t think they are progressive to make all the irons the same weight. This is a bit interesting though. I’ll be watching to see any comments by some of the fitters or club makers in here. 

[Quigleyd]

interesting. 

[puttnfool]

I'm interested to hear how you adjusted to the (nearly) non-existent swingweight in the longest irons.

[paperclip]

On 2/25/2020 at 1:39 PM, Steve Long said:

I added home-made butt weights to my irons so as to create the same total weight in each club, for pitching wedge through 2-iron.  I added a two gram weight in my pitching wedge, a seven gram weight in my 9-iron, 12 gram in the 8-iron, etc, until a 43 gram weight in my 2-iron.  They are inserted into the end of the shaft and held by the grip.  The weights get heavier as the clubs lengthen because standard unweighted clubs get lighter as they lengthen.  It’s a simple matter of weighing the pitching wedge and using that weight (plus two grams) as the target weight for the other clubs.  Then a butt weight is calculated, constructed, and added to each club to bring it up to the target weight.  The result is that the total weight or dead weight of all the irons are the same.  Why did I do it?

Normal club weighting gives a faster acceleration of the longer (lighter) clubs, at least in the first half of the downswing.  This means adjustments to the swing have to be made.  I want to have only one acceleration rate for all my irons.  I don’t want any adjustments in my swing.    I’m not going to weight my driver because the butt weight in a driver would be very heavy, much heavier than the butt weight in the 2-iron and I don’t want to sacrifice distance in my driver.  I’m not sure what I’ll do to my 3-wood yet; I’ll probably try a weight just to see what happens.  I don’t know yet if I lost any distance with my butt-weighted irons.  I don’t see why it should be more than a few yards with the longest iron, and less for each shorter iron.  Actually I don’t have any exact data on the carry of my old irons other than the rough numbers I use to pick the right club for approach shots.  I have only tried my modified irons on the range so far.  And so far they seem to do what was intended—make the irons feel and act more alike.  The true test will be in the playing when spring arrives.  With a flight monitor I could do a comparison test using any normal 2-iron and then adding a 43 gram weight to my wrist and comparing the carry.  But I don’t care really if I lose a few yards.

 I wonder who has tried this weighting idea before.  It’s seems pretty obvious as something to try.  Also, why it didn’t it catch on.

(p.s. normal swingweight matching makes the longer clubs release more slowly than the shorter clubs.  MOI matched clubs have the same release, so I used MOI matching instead of swingweight matching.)  

(p.s. 2, Swingweight scales don't work with butt weights installed, but MOI is measured with butt weights installed.)   

What did you use to make your weights and how did you do it?

[Steve Long]

I have been playing for a few months now with my butt weighted irons which as described above were all given the same total weight.  I can report that the experiment has results.   I cannot tell any difference in the performance or feeling between the clubs, except of course my swing plane is inclined differently for each club, which creates some differences.  But the downswing resistance to acceleration seems the same, and the release pattern seems the same.   It should be noted that my irons (and woods) were all adjusted for equal MOI, by adjusting the shaft length.  The equal MOI also contributes to the feeling of sameness.   I can't say for sure which is contributing more, the butt weighting or the MOI, but they both have an effect.  

[cnosil]

I have been playing for a few months now with my butt weighted irons which as described above were all given the same total weight.  I can report that the experiment has results.   I cannot tell any difference in the performance or feeling between the clubs, except of course my swing plane is inclined differently for each club, which creates some differences.  But the downswing resistance to acceleration seems the same, and the release pattern seems the same.   It should be noted that my irons (and woods) were all adjusted for equal MOI, by adjusting the shaft length.  The equal MOI also contributes to the feeling of sameness.   I can't say for sure which is contributing more, the butt weighting or the MOI, but they both have an effect.  

Have your scores improved and has your distance/dispersion become more consistent?

[Steve Long]

On 4/13/2020 at 7:11 AM, paperclip said:

What did you use to make your weights and how did you do it?

The weights were made from a stainless steel shaft cut to the right length for the needed weight, and a washer welded to the end so as to keep the weight from sliding down inside the shaft.

[Steve Long]

5 minutes ago, cnosil said:

Have your scores improved and has your distance/dispersion become more consistent?

That's difficult to answer.  I didn't play for some months and I changed the iron's  "swingweight" and I changed my swing and I practiced more than usual and I changed my putting stroke.  Nevertheless,  I did have some lowest scores since many years.

Edited August 7, 2020 by Steve Long