Feeling the clubhead and fitting - what is this?

[golferguy27]

Hi All,

Am going through a bunch of reading now and have seen reference to using that ability to "feel the clubhead" as an indicator of correct swingweight. Tom Wishon talks about it quite a bit in my current read, "Search for the perfect Golf Club".

What does this mean? How do I know when I can feel the clubhead? Does anyone have a way or method to describe this to me that I can understand more fully?

All snide, rude, immature or otherwise offside comments will be ignored :-) Unless they really are funny of course.

Regards, Chris

[TourIQ]

Re: Feeling the clubhead and fitting - what is this?

Hi All, Am going through a bunch of reading now and have seen reference to using that ability to "feel the clubhead" as an indicator of correct swingweight. Tom Wishon talks about it quite a bit in my current read, "Search for the perfect Golf Club". Regards, Chris

I never read the book but I have seen guys waggle a club for degree of heavyness and stiffness. Probably easier for someone who plays feel oriented rather than having a more technical approach to learning and playing. Some golfers feel very little, some have highly developed sense of feel and what they like / don't like. I know a player who could feel the angle of the shaft throughout his swing. He also knew where on the clubface he hit the ball without looking at it.

For a funny I will quote Scott from a different thread, and I quote, "Thank goodness you didn't say fleshlight."

[Rough Ranger]

Re: Feeling the clubhead and fitting - what is this?

Hi All,
........
What does this mean? How do I know when I can feel the clubhead? Does anyone have a way or method to describe this to me that I can understand more fully?
......
Regards, Chris

Hey Chris,
to give you an idea of what they are talking about, the easiest way for me was with a driver. I found some drivers (when swinging), the head of the driver "felt" very large and fuzzy, kind of like a big softball sized marshmellow. I was never really sure just where the head was in the swing....
Others "felt" more like the size of a golf ball, and I had a much better feel for where the club was (during and top of back swing, during the swing path, and also impact.
From my playing around, the shaft had the biggest impact on this feel, which is why I am suggesting you usea a driver to see about the feel.
Once you have an idea of this feel thing, then you can look for it in the other clubs...

I am not sure this is directly related to swing weight though...
Swing weight and the way a club feels when you swing it are not the same.
I other words, 2 clubs can have the same swing weight, and when you swing them, they will feel completely different.
(as an example, the same club can be counterbalanced, shortened & head weighted to keep the swing wt, but for sure, the clubs will feel different!)

Hope this helps..
Dale

[Weirfan]

Re: Feeling the clubhead and fitting - what is this?

It is really a personal preference an dcomfort thing.

swing weight is NOT a fitting parameter but an outcome or consequence of club assembly.....from a clubbuilding and fitting persppective it is an archaic and essentially useless alphanumeric parameter that has seen it's day. all it is is a measure of the balance point of a club about a 14 inch fulcrum.

as has already been stated two clubs with the exact same swing weight can be radically different in feel and performance. Two clubs with very different swingweights can also heve the same head feel so alone sw is meaningless

now that said , where Tom is coming from is that a driver with a low swingweight could provide less feedback as to where the clubhead is in the swing as the lower the swingweight means that the more the balance point is towards the grip end......if a person likes to have a good feel of the head in the swing...which most do, then more weight in the club towards the head end might be a good thing.....

an increas in swingweight can be achieved many ways....the most impact is through a heavier shaft, but a longer club, a shaft with a lower balance point and more head weight all can increase swing weight.......but not all these changes to increase swingweight will impact head feel ...........99.999% of golfers cannot discern 2 sw points difference and most cannot discern 4 sw pointswhy because an increase in sw does not directly correlate to with how head heavy a club feels

I can build a club at c8 and one at d8 that dont really differ in their head feel........


then as already staed above there is the whole concept of counterbalancing, and counterbalanced shafts....this concept is gaining great momentum. Many pros, LD guys and recreational golfers are now using in their clubs ( particularly the driver) with great results of improved performance

BUT if I am adding 20, 30, 40 or 50 grams to the butt end of my club via counter balancing ......then if I want a certain " desired or normal" swingweight I have to add that much or more to the head, compltely ruining the club and rendering it unhittable,,,,,,,,,,

so just be cautious on the concept of swingweight and it;s importance and relevance....it has very little......but as Tom was eluding to, make sure that you can feel the club in your swing for feedback


then there is the whole impact of shaft stiffness on club and clubhead feel...that I wont get into