The Power Fade Golf Blog

This particular article will be helpful for LG, so I decided to go ahead and build up a post about this.

I recently swingweighted my iron set–KZG ZO blades. The shafts were shorter than I was used to, so I decided I wanted them to play at a higher swingweight in order to make up the lost leverage.

First things first, get your supplies in order:

1. Two-part epoxy – depends on size, but enough for this job is $5 or so.
2. ferrules – make sure you get the right size for your irons, which can range from .335 to .370; I bought mine on ebay, and you can really spend any amount of money you want to on them. Approximately $5, we’ll say. Search on ebay for “ferrule .XXX” where .XXX is the tip diameter you need.
3. Swingweights. This part is a little more difficult, and can be expensive. A full set of swingweights isn’t a good idea. I would recommend you figure out what you need first and then go online and buy them. I got brass weights on ebay from a great seller todd1186 (he’ll combine shipping if you just ask, see http://cgi.ebay.com/6-Gram-Brass-Tip-Weights-370-Steel-Iron-1-Dozen-/250722289456?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a60368730).
4. A swingweight scale. These can be anywhere from $20 used up to hundreds. If you’d prefer not to use one, you can always take them to your local golfsmith or edwin watts store and ask them to spec it out for you. If they’re not busy, they might actually do it, especially if you’re telling them you’re considering having them swingweighted.
5. Acetone. $4 at home depot
6. A kitchen/postal scale. $4-$6 on ebay
7. Lead tape (or other weight)

Now, that’s about it for supplies–sans paper towels, newspaper, and other cheap stuff.

Once you know what your current swingweight is, you can decide what you want it to go to. Typically, you will want to increase swingweight because OEM sets are typically a little light on the scale. Typical sets will run D0 or lighter. Most pros like their sets to run about D5. The idea is to have a consistent weighting so that you “feel” like the club is the same. That makes it easier to make a consistent swing. A higher swingweight, the “heavier” the club “feels.”

The first step is to measure the current swingweight of your club on a swingweight scale. I would recommend keeping a log of which clubs have which swingweights so you can keep track.

Decide exactly what swingweight you like by adding lead tape to the head–preferably on the hosel of the club, as this will approximate adding tip weight to your shafts. Make sure you measure the lead tape with your kitchen scale so you know how much you’ve put on. If you can’t find any lead tape, use electrical tape. It will just take a whole lot more. You won’t need to do this for every head.

When you’ve decided you “feel” right, measure the swingweight of the club again. From this, you will know what swingweight you like.

Next step is to measure the swingweight of each club in your set that you intend to swingweight. Keep it in the log. Some of the clubs may have different swingweights; that’s OK–you’re going to fix that.

Use the following link to decide how much weight to add. Keep in mind, if you’re lengthening the shaft or significantly changing the lie angle, that will affect the swingweight, so keep those factors in mind. Swingweight factors by master clubbuilder Joe Kwok http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/44071-swing-weight-factors-in-relation-to-parts/.

Once you’ve determined how any changes will affect the swingweight, you know how much weight you need to get. I ordered 10g tip plugs for my KZG ZOs to get them to play at D6. There are some issues with doing this (as it moves the center of gravity a little bit), but on lesser weights it’s not really a problem. Order your ferrules and tip weights at about the same time so you don’t have one and not the other. If you prefer, you can try to go to a golfsmith store and purchase these items, although they might not have them. Keep in mind: you don’t have to buy a whole swingweight set with a bunch of weights (which may be $60); instead, just buy the weight you need online. The ebay seller mentioned above has both lead and brass weights in many different varieties, so you can surely find what you need. NOTE: iron and wood swingweights are different, as are swingwieghts for different tip diameters. Make sure you get the right size and type of swingweight for your application.

Next, pull the clubheads as described in earlier posts (e.g., https://thepowerfade.wordpress.com/2010/10/17/how-i-do-club-repair-and-you-can-too/). Clean the hosels and the shafts. The tip plug weights should be easy to insert inside the shafts; if you haven’t cleaned the shafts correctly, the plugs may not go in right.

Then, the actual club assembly. You can reassemble your set using 2-part epoxy. First, seat the ferrule (see https://thepowerfade.wordpress.com/2010/10/17/how-i-do-club-repair-and-you-can-too/). Next, spread epoxy over the tip weight. Next, insert the tip weight into the shaft. Next, add epoxy to the outside of the shaft and the inside of the hosel bore. Insert the shaft into the hosel bore and let the epoxy cure. Voila, you now have the correct swingweight.

I always double-check to make sure my swingweight is correct. Other than that, it’s a pretty simple procedure. And, like most of the things we do on the PF, it’s pretty easy to start over if you do it wrong. If you’ve calculated the right swingweight factors, it should come out perfectly.

Comment with questions.