[PHOTO: David Berding]
Question: I heard on a recent CBS TV broadcast that Emiliano Grillo uses a driver with a C4 swingweight. How does he get it that low and is that something everyday players should consider?
Answer: I’m sure CBS will be happy to see you’re paying such close attention.
That said, that comment from Colt Knost perked our ears up, too. We’re also never shy here at Team Digest to give a hat tip to the competition when they have some good information worth sharing. In this case, golf.com’s Johnny Wunder, who used to work at Callaway, had some good inside intel on Grillo’s driver that he shared on Instagram.
Apparently Grillo built his own 9-degree Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond driver with a 53-gram Mitsubishi Diamana WB shaft and a head that weighs about 180 grams, about eight to 10 grams lighter than typical.
So that’s Grillo. As for everyday players, well, proceed with caution.
Although lightweight shafts are in, that doesn’t mean you should use a club with a lighter swingweight. Most golfers switching to a lightweight graphite shaft probably should employ a swingweight two points higher than what they were comfortable with when using a heavier shaft. That’s because the change to a lighter shaft will reduce the total weight of the club, which in turn can cause tempo to quicken. You need to increase the head weight feel to get your tempo back into a smoother condition. A good rule of thumb is that for each 20 grams you decrease the weight of your shafts, increase the swingweight by one point over what was a comfortable one for you with your previous clubs.
Contrary to popular belief among consumers, it is always better to err on the side of a higher swingweight than a lower one. If your swingweight is too low, you will increase the percentage of off-centre hits, most often by hitting the ball more on the heel. If your swingweight is too high, the worst thing that will happen will be a tendency to push the ball a little more.
So how do you know when you have the right swingweight? By feel. If the swingweight is too light for you, you will sense you’re having a harder time controlling your tempo and the number of times you hit the ball on the heel or top it will increase. If the swingweight is too high, you will find yourself pushing the ball more, and the club will feel too heavy and more laborious to swing.
“When it comes to swingweight it really comes down to timing and tempo,” says Avery Reed, owner and master fitter at Fairhope Golf Works in Alabama and a former PGA Tour rep for Mitsubishi. “I find with heavier swing weights (D5 and above), the head feels very heavy in transition, and I always use the example of swinging a sledge hammer. It causes the player to use more hands and wrists in order to transition into the downswing (almost a casting effect), instead of allowing the club to transition smoothly. This makes timing very difficult and it’s hard for the player to square the clubface on a consistent basis.
“On the other hand, I find a really light swingweight (C7 and below) makes it very difficult for the player to feel the head. The transition becomes quick, which can cause timing and tempo to be off and cause an inconsistent impact location. There is also less mass at impact, which can create lower ball speeds especially on mis-hits. That is one reason that counter-balanced shafts became so popular. We were able to add more mass in the head, giving the player more feel in transition while maintaining a good swingweight.”
Overall, when it comes to a lighter swingweight, it can speed up a players tempo, be easier to square up the face and the player may prefer a shorter driver for control, in return creating a lighter swingweight. However, if it gets too light and the player can’t feel the head then it will create timing issues, inconsistent impact locations, slower ball speeds and wider dispersion.
