Golf club counterweighting can significantly impact golf club feel and golf club performance!
The term "golf club counterweighting" relates to putting extra weight in the butt end of a golf club. It has been known for a long time that this can – for some golfers – have a significant influence on how a specific golfer "feels" the golf club. For some, it can help them improve the performance of their clubs, often resulting a a different ball flight and sometimes a reduction in the dispersion of golf shots hit with clubs.
Jack Nicklaus was known to use counterweights in his golf clubs. Also, Sergio Garcia is known to have counterweights installed in all of his golf clubs.
Recently, a company has marketed a golf grip that has a fixed counterweight in the end cap of their grip. Mr. Nicklaus has done a short video for this company on the performance of this counterweighting, it is a very interesting video that anyone interested in improving club performance should watch – here it is….
Adding a counterweight to a golf club affects the Club Balance Point. More weight in the butt end of a club – the Balance Point moves more toward the butt end of the club. This can have an affect on how the club feels, and so how it performs.
While many of my professional club fitting friends have used Counterweighting in irons and drivers to achieve improved club performance, I have not done much with it in the past. But this is something that I want to change in the future, and hope that some of my readers can help me collect some performance data in this area.
I have made a set of 5 test clubs with 115 gram steel shafts – same flex, length, and club MOI at the start. One club has no counterweight, the others have counterweights of 12, 20, 30, and 40 grams.
I am also working this week to create an additional set of test clubs – this time with 80 gram graphite shafts – again 5 test clubs with varying counterweights from 12 to 40 grams.
If any of you reading this newsletter are interested in helping me by hitting these clubs and providing feedback on the feel and performance of these clubs with different counterweights, please get in touch with me. I would love to get your help to learn more about how Counterweighting can improve and optimize golf club performance – and help golfers shoot lower scores.
The Fit Is IT!! – Helping Golfers Get "Lucky!"
Tony