Anyone gone to light irons? C7 swingweight? Thoughts?

[Brooke]

The local shop gives a 90-day return (for credit), so I'm going to try going light.  The irons are JPX 825s, the RL shaft (via the optimizer).  I discovered the lighter SW by accident, trying all the heads. I see lots of people talking about going heavier, at least in SW.  Anyone with experience on my setup? BTW, I'm 54 with a low 80s driver SS and a 14 index.  I'm going to graphite for my elbow pain and experimenting around a bit.  I like how these feel.

[Righty to Lefty]

Originally Posted by Brooke

The local shop gives a 90-day return (for credit), so I'm going to try going light.  The irons are JPX 825s, the RL shaft (via the optimizer).  I discovered the lighter SW by accident, trying all the heads.

I see lots of people talking about going heavier, at least in SW.  Anyone with experience on my setup?

BTW, I'm 54 with a low 80s driver SS and a 14 index.  I'm going to graphite for my elbow pain and experimenting around a bit.  I like how these feel.

A C7 swingweight doesn't mean that the club is lighter than other clubs it just means that the ability to feel the clubhead will be less than say a E7 swing weight.  Total weight is how heavy or light a club is.  You can have a club that weights half as much as the JPX 825's and have an E7 swingweight if you put the weight in the right place.  Or you could have a club that weight twice as much have a B7 swingweight.  You are looking for a lower total weight club but you can still have a swingweight that you prefer to ensure that you feel the clubhead tracking around you as you swing.

[arturo28mx]

I have the JPX 825 with stock shaft Dynalite Gold XP Regular, and they have a D4 swingweight. I wish they were more like D2.

[Brooke]

I understand. My clubs are both light and c7.

[Righty to Lefty]

I guess I'm just making sure that you understand what "light" actually means.  I'm also just wondering just how light a stock golf club can be made in relation to total weight.  I supposed you could shave a good 90 grams off with an ultralight graphite shaft and a ultralite grip but that's about it right.

I'm complete opposite  where I added 75 grams to all my clubs and have swingweights that don't even register but I love the ability to feel the club tracking around me and that allows me to give minimal effort to get max results.

Keep us posted on how it goes.

[WUTiger]

Counterweighting - putting weights in the butt or upper shaft of the club - can end up giving really low swingweights because the balance has shifted to the grip end of the club.

Proponents of modern counterweighting say the end-shaft plugs can help reestablish feel of clubs with light and  ultralight shafts. Basically, it slows down the hands a little.

The counterweight debate is riling some strong emotions over whether it works or not. I guess it works for some people, and you won't know until you try it. Golfsmith did major testing on counterweighting about five years ago.

[Archie Bunker]

They used to sell a test counterweight that you could add to the butt end of your grip to see if counterweighting was right for you. Jack Nicklaus used counterweighted grips in his prime, and claimed that they added speed to his swing. I have seen the new commercials where he is endorsing counterweighted grips. Don't know of anyone else being a fan of counterweighted grips, but it might be something to try.

[Righty to Lefty]

Originally Posted by WUTiger

Counterweighting - putting weights in the butt or upper shaft of the club - can end up giving really low swingweights because the balance has shifted to the grip end of the club.

Proponents of modern counterweighting say the end-shaft plugs can help reestablish feel of clubs with light and  ultralight shafts. Basically, it slows down the hands a little.

The counterweight debate is riling some strong emotions over whether it works or not. I guess it works for some people, and you won't know until you try it. Golfsmith did major testing on counterweighting about five years ago.

But counterweighting increases the total weight.  It really depends on the golfer as to whether or not counterweighting alone will work.  I use weights that are inserted a certain depth within the shaft and they make a huge difference. It is tougher to have both a low total weight and swingweight at the same time unless you can custom order club heads which not many can.  If you use an ultralight shaft and an ultralight grip the swingweight will increase.

[Brooke]

Well, the 825s have arrived. They couldn't do c7 (since the shaft was lighter than before), so the invoice said "light as we could make them." c9 Played 18 with them and love the feel. Have to avoid the over-swing, but that keeps the tempo good. Getting at least 10% more distance - havent hit a 5i (even the 825) 175y in a long time! Also, the RL (60g, adult flex) is much better for me than the R.