Driver weight and club grips questions

[fRzzy]

Hello everyone, I listened for you guys here and finally bought a mint set of clubs with cart bags, Wilson Staff Dd5 driver, Taylormade Burner 5-P, A, S all for $230, which is a great deal for me, they all come with graphite flex R shaft, nice, saved me lot of money. I already have a putter so I'm set.

But there is this one problem that is bugging me, I tried out the driver and compare to my brother Cobra ZL which I used to borrow, it feel much heavier, I need to put more effort into the takeaway/backswing to get it up, at the top of the backswing, it weights down, and my wrist tends to hinge... not stable, inconsistent drives. I have better consistency with my brother Cobra ZL.

I looked up on the manufacturer site and the Cobra ZL is having even heavier swing weight (longer shaft maybe?), D4 compare to D3 of the WS Dd5, but I tried to blind test to make sure I'm not imagining things, I can tell which one I picked up 100% of the times.

I'm new to golf so I will just guessing here, but from the look of the shafts, I think the shaft of the WS Dd5 is bigger (tip diameter is 0.428", isn't it huge?) so maybe it make the whole club heavier?

So I'm searching for another driver (if I can't get used to this one), can you recommend me one that need less effort swinging? I read around and seem like Nike VRS, Callaway RAZR X Black, Taylormade RBZ are ok for beginner and can be found on Ebay for around $120-$140. But I'm open to all suggestions.

Another thing is all the clubs has been stored in the bag for 2-3 years, previous owner quit golf after 3 sessions at the range, the grips are all dried out (I think so, cause I haven't touch a lot of clubs so I'm not sure how a good grip feel like), do you think I should have all the grips changed? I tend to grip the club hard, it make my hands hurt after practicing, but I feel very insecure gripping lighter, haha...

[Bullitt5339]

It's highly unlikely that you can feel the difference between a D3 and D4 swingweight, you're only talking a couple grams.  However, the overall weight may be entirely different, but one swingweight point is a very small change.  More than likely the culprit is a heavier overall club, especially the shaft weight, but swingweight is an entirely different animal.

[cooke119]

If you like your brother's Cobra, why not try a Cobra? I purchased the S2, which I love, for $90 second hand (it looked brand new). If you buy one second hand make sure you get the Key so you can fool around with the head position (closed, neutral, or open).

Yes get your clubs re-gripped. I do mine once a year (but I play and practice a lot).

Your hands should not hurt after practice, you are gripping way to hard. I hit between 150 to 200 balls during one practice session and my hand never hurt.