Driver Too Light?

[Waddaplaya]

Hello all, 

This is my first post on the forum. I wanted to get some feedback on the weight of modern drivers. It seems like when going from my irons to my driver I completely lose the feel of the club. I strike my irons pretty solidly and consistently. However when I go to my driver, because it is so light and long, I feel like I lose a lot of feel for the club. In my swing I like to feel the weight of the head swinging like a pendulum. It helps to develop a consistent swing path and to use my muscle memory from my practice swing to my actual swing. Because the driver is so light it is difficult to replicate that same motion. I know this has been discussed before in different fashions but I wanted some opinions on possibly adding some weight to my driver head. Usually the conversation is in connection to re-balancing a driver after cutting it down. I am not necessarily talking about that. I just want to know if adding some weight to the head of the club might help give me some more feel with the club. I am not extremely concerned about distance. If I am putting it out there 230 + I am fine with that. I just want more consistency and accuracy so I actually want to take the driver out of the bag when I am playing on the course. I am currently using a Ping G25 Driver. 

 

Thanks, 

 

Nick 

[RayG]

I have struggled with the new technology since the days of the R7 (my first 'real' "latest and greatest"), so you aren't alone. I tend to lose track of where the clubhead is during the swing. The older clubs were more "dense" feeling, so I could feel it loading up on the transition. I tried to find the smaller versions of the clubs like the 430cc versus the 460cc models. I found a Callaway Tour Octane had the best 'feel' among the recent clubs, I've picked up.

My M6 is okay, but still not where I'd like it. I even tried to go with a R flex during the fitting, but the ball was all over the place. I just picked up some of those 3gram tape weights and will do some experimenting this weekend. 

[Waddaplaya]

Yea... I picked up some lead tape as well on Amazon. I am going to do some experimenting as well. 

 

 

[chicub15]

I've always played with a heavier shaft in my driver than anyone else I've known, for the very reason of 'feeling; the club. When I did a full club fitting at Club Champion earlier this year they tried getting me into a lighter shaft but ended up sticking with my current weight as I was much more erratic with the lighter shafts we tried. From the way the fitter talked there is definitely a balance between light enough for speed and heavy enough to control (within your skill set).  

 

Let us know how the lead tape works!

[Keep It Simple]

Try turning the club around and take some practice swings gripping the driver shaft just below the head.  This will obviously make the club feel super light.  Then when you turn it back around your sensitivity to the driver head weight should be there for you.  

[RayG]

Well... experiment over... for now. Prepped the club by cleaning it, prepping with alcohol, drying with a hair dryer. Pristine surface. Applied the pieces of tape. Let it set overnight. Arrive at the range, go through the bag up to the Driver. First ball, 2 of the 3 pieces of tape came off. The other piece barely adhering. 

It's as if the adhesive is the same as on a post-it note. I shouldn't have to Gorilla Glue or epoxy the weights on.

[Waddaplaya]

I put a couple pieces of lead tape on the top of the driver and I will say I hit more straight.I also played around with the loft settings and lowered my loft to 9.5 which also helped. Pretty interesting experiment.

[Kevlar10]

A few years ago my wife got me a Taylormade SuperFast driver and I hated it.  It feels so light that it didn’t feel like I was swinging a club at all.  What was more frustrating was that I wanted a new club because I had lost about 50 yards on my drives and a golf fitter told me that the face of my Callaway was “dead”, that I needed a new driver.  He suggested a new Callaway or a Ping, both of which were over $500.  Anyway, the point of my story is that even with the new driver, I wasn’t able to hit it over 230.  I read several articles and rebuilt my swing and now I’m consistently at 270 and farther, with the lighter driver.  This year, I took the Callaway out to the range and I was hitting it well over 250 with a nice draw, something I’m not able to do with the Taylormade.  I now carry two drivers, one for straight or baby fade, and one for a draw.  I had to leave my gap wedge out of my bag so I’m not over the limit but I haven’t missed it at all yet. I still am not 100% comfortable with the lighter driver but I’m getting there.

[garyt]

All depends on your swing, I guess. I play one of those ultra light heads that weigh 170 grams. I put a 45 gram shaft in it with a Winn UL grip at 40 grams.. Total weight about 260 grams. Had to put a ladies flex shaft in it to play at about an R flex due to the light weight of the head. I have no problem hitting this club straight and I picked up some yards.