Help, I cut down my wedge and now anything beyond 60yds is a disaster

[Bomber09]

The ball flight is about the same, maybe a little higher? Not enough to consider a flight change. My biggest issue is controlling the head with the weight loss. Too pick it up it doesnt feel much different but to swing it seems like i maybe a lil lost unless its really slow soft tempo. 

[colin007]

12 minutes ago, rehmwa said:

Have tried just hitting all your drives to within 60yds?

This is clearly the only correct answer.

[Ernest Jones]

24 minutes ago, colin007 said:

This is clearly the only correct answer.

I find the best place to position your drive is at the bottom of the cup. 

[colin007]

1 minute ago, Ernest Jones said:

I find the best place to position your drive is at the bottom of the cup. 

Lol lol Kuuuuuch!!!

[Hacker James]

2 hours ago, RandallT said:

I'm not a tinkerer, so I get a kick out of that line.

I've read that changing the length of a shaft will impact the flex of the shaft:

So what you are experiencing makes sense to me. But you also gripped down on the club, so that would kind effectively change the length of the lever arm-- it wasn't obvious to me that would totally change the characteristics of the club, but it seems to have.

Good luck! Calling @Hacker James who seems to love to tinker with his clubs.

 

wow, I wouldn't touch that with a 36 inch pole!  2 1/2 inches is about a 15 pt change in swing weight. That would mean a lot of weight to add to the clubhead to compensate.  A lighter grip will increase swing weight. I don't know what guidelines you used, but here is one that I consult:

http://www.golf-components.com/swing-weight-calculator.html

I would follow the above advice and get a new shaft and start over. Not many will mess with the length of a wedge. Unless you want to intentionally stiffen the club, always cut from the butt end.

I am not a big fan of counter weights, but before committing you could take three or four nickles and tape to the end of the butt and see how it feels.

Good Luck!

Edited January 27, 2017 by Hacker James

[WUTiger]

2 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

The original swingweight may have been D3, but that kind of assumes that you're gripping it near the end of the grip. ...

Dave hits all the key points on why you're having problems.

I might add, that trimming 2.25" from the shaft would lower the swingweight about 13 points - if you were using a normal, full-swing grip. (a length change of 1/2" shifts the swingweight by 3 points. Add length, SWt gets heavier...)

If you get into Boccieri counterbalanced grips, these come in one inch longer than most grips. But, counterbalancing is a whole separate story.

For future consideration, some grips for use on wedges have two circles down on the lower part of the grip so you can be more consistent on your amount of chokedown. Hogan and Edel (below) offer grips like this.

A couple of other gripmakers offer this, but I don't have my catalogs with me.

[Hacker James]

27 minutes ago, WUTiger said:

Dave hits all the key points on why you're having problems.

I might add, that trimming 2.25" from the shaft would lower the swingweight about 13 points - if you were using a normal, full-swing grip. (a length change of 1/2" shifts the swingweight by 3 points. Add length, SWt gets heavier...)

If you get into Boccieri counterbalanced grips, these come in one inch longer than most grips. But, counterbalancing is a whole separate story.

For future consideration, some grips for use on wedges have two circles down on the lower part of the grip so you can be more consistent on your amount of chokedown. Hogan and Edel (below) offer grips like this.

A couple of other gripmakers offer this, but I don't have my catalogs with me.

I forgot about that. I sometimes put a ring of electrical tape where the edge of my upper palm might be, sometimes 2 if I wanted two different set ups.

The Boccieri grip counter weight is about 16 cents worth i.e. 3 nickles and a penny. (i forget the weight of the counter weight, but at the time I had looked up the weight of coins and came up with the 16c figure.). The principal behind Boccieri has a  bit more to do with it than just weight. 

Edited January 27, 2017 by Hacker James

[Hacker James]

I might add that a short while back I cut seven inches off a shaft, but it was a mid Belly Putter, and therefor, swing weight was not a factor in the traditional sense. I got lucky though, in that the thing still had pretty good (if not better) balance. see thread : "I got to get a cut off wheel".

[Bomber09]

Sorry everybody for some reason I could view everyones responses but i couldnt reply. Those were some great pointers about the dotted grips, and the counterbalance grips. Ive had a couple of wild ideas arise thinking a little outside the box and even tho im set on matchin the wedge shafts to the rest of my set kbs 130g x's, I might just experiment with one of my first ideas. Anyone ever tried pour sand in the shaft to achieve the weight and then shoving an earplug in the shaft to pack it in. Im not talkin about filling the entire shaft just maybe a lil above the hosel cap. Then using a rifle cleaning kit rod to pack in the ear plug and maybe torchin the shaft to melt the ear plug and seal the sand in place? I actually considered it. Lol

 

Edited January 27, 2017 by Bomber09

[Bomber09]

Maybe even some tungsen bb's instead of sand? Like i said im gonna replace all my wedge shafts now to match my irons. Im just curious.

[Pretzel]

3 minutes ago, Bomber09 said:

Maybe even some tungsen bb's instead of sand? Like i said im gonna replace all my wedge shafts now to match my irons. Im just curious.

I wouldn't recommend it, just because of the potential for it to come loose. If you wanted additional weight near the head of the golf club, one of the more common techniques to get that is by placing lead tape on the back of the sole of the wedge, which is easy to replace if it ever comes loose (though I haven't seen it happen) and adds enough weight to get the job done with the right number of layers.

You could also mess with the flex and vibration of the shaft by packing full, and it would certainly make it feel different from how you're used to (in terms of when you hit). I'd avoid this idea if possible.

[Bomber09]

Yeah i calculated how much leadtape I would need and it was a good bit. 3 layers to be exact with and extremely tedious method which would involve close spec measurements. It can for sure be done i just wanna see how thick this tape is before i attempt. The tape should be in the mail today. Been waitin on it. 

[Hacker James]

reminds me of the post by Mr Desmond (I think) awhile back on a training aid he was using that had some sort of slide inside the shaft that would slide to the end during the backswing as a trigger when to initiate forward swing.

2 minutes ago, Bomber09 said:

Yeah i calculated how much leadtape I would need and it was a good bit. 3 layers to be exact with and extremely tedious method which would involve close spec measurements. It can for sure be done i just wanna see how thick this tape is before i attempt. The tape should be in the mail today. Been waitin on it. 

about 30 grams?

[Bomber09]

I was thinkin to get it completely back to what it was with the heavier grip it would be around 18pts. 36grams. Im gonna try 3/4 the weight then dial it in.

I was chokin down over 2.25 inches or lower on all shots tho. Just chokin down that much should make the swing weight lighter( 2.25 of shaft plus grip above my hands. If i could do it again i would have weighed those parts so i would have an idea of what i was up against. Now i have nothin but guesses as to what those weights were.

[Hacker James]

sounds as if you are on the right track, not to mention the satisfaction of DIY. Another guy to follow would be Tom Wishon. He has since moved to the UK, but probably still has a web site up.  

[Bomber09]

Ok so i did some searchin and i found that shaft piece and the grip i cut. I shoved the shaft piece in the grip and cut the grip down to match the shaft length, representing the counterbalance i once had of 32g. I know the old grip totaled 46g and this one is i believe 8g heavier(std to midsize weights). Even thou the grip is evenly distributed under my hands taking away the counter balance the shaft piece itself weighed 8g, ideally making the grip end for the most part even with what the shaft weight was, but taking the length and the old grip also took the whole weight down. I dont remeber the point ratio from grip-shaft-head pt conversions, but i do remember that the heads are 2g per point. Taking the 8g from the 32g (grip and shaft counter weight vs bigger grip) would leave me with 24g to distribute to the butt-shaft-head. I know the shaft is around 9g's per oint i believe (which im not adding any shaft weight) the butt i cant remember, the grip is already calculated. Im not adding to the butt either. Since the head affects the swing weight the most im gonna start with 10pts and work my way up. By no means do i think i should get past 12 pts or 24g. Does that sound right?

[Hacker James]

21 minutes ago, Bomber09 said:

Ok so i did some searchin and i found that shaft piece and the grip i cut. I shoved the shaft piece in the grip and cut the grip down to match the shaft length, representing the counterbalance i once had of 32g. I know the old grip totaled 46g and this one is i believe 8g heavier(std to midsize weights). Even thou the grip is evenly distributed under my hands taking away the counter balance the shaft piece itself weighed 8g, ideally making the grip end for the most part even with what the shaft weight was, but taking the length and the old grip also took the whole weight down. I dont remeber the point ratio from grip-shaft-head pt conversions, but i do remember that the heads are 2g per point. Taking the 8g from the 32g (grip and shaft counter weight vs bigger grip) would leave me with 24g to distribute to the butt-shaft-head. I know the shaft is around 9g's per oint i believe (which im not adding any shaft weight) the butt i cant remember, the grip is already calculated. Im not adding to the butt either. Since the head affects the swing weight the most im gonna start with 10pts and work my way up. By no means do i think i should get past 12 pts or 24g. Does that sound right?

plug your numbers into the formula box in the link I sent and you should be in the ball park. Just remember, its not an exact science, and a lot has to do with individual's feel and preference. At best, its a learning experience. Who knows, perhaps some day you will be the authority. (not being a wise ass, it is entirely possible this could motivate you and that's a good thing).

[Bomber09]

Im not too sure about the head or shaft weight. Mainly because i have a club mizuno doesnt carry any more (mp-t4) and the shaft because i cut it...