Re: ShopTalk: Component weights.

[Dave Tutelman]

At 02:03 PM 2/8/03 -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

Here's another practical question.  From my reading, I take it that iron head
weights generally increase about 7g for each lower numbered club.  What is
considered acceptable for deviations from this or from the sets
specifications when constructing a set of irons.

Good question!
The suppliers I have seen actually quote a spec used +-3 grams. So your components would be in spec.

When I weighed the components they
came up like this:

club    weight  spec  err
3       246     246    0
4       251     253   -2
5       262     260   +2
6       267     266   +1
7       270     272   -2
8       279     279    0
9       288     287   +1
P       297     294   +3

Is this deviation from the specs typical or is this indicative of a low
quality component?  None of them are more than 3 grams off of spec, but the 4
and 5 iron are now 11 grams apart.

The way I look at it, I want all the clubs in the set to be within a 1 swingweight-point band. That means a +-1/2 point tolerance on swingweight. That means a +-1 gram tolerance on head weight.

So if I were making the set, I'd aim at doing a little head weighting. I usually use tip weights when I know the variation at construction time, but lead tape is perfectly OK for already-constructed irons. (Golfsmith is currently having a sale on lead tape. I ordered a few rolls.)

I added a column to your table: the error in grams. I'd build the set to the 5-iron, two grams heavier than nominal. I'd add tip weights to any club whose error is 0 to -2 grams, and leave the +1 gram heads alone.

Also, how far apart should identical uncut shafts be as far as weight?

Probably even closer than the heads. And they have less impact on swingweight than the heads. You might try matching heavier shafts to lighter heads. But it's more important to have a smooth flex transition than to have swingweights closer than the 1-point band that I mentioned above. So I'd sort the shafts by raw frequency rather than by weight.

I wouldn't be surprised to see other ShopTalkers weigh in with other opinions. None of those opinions is likely to be crazy, just reflect different experiences and different clientele. The tolerances could certainly be more critical for a tour player than a low handicapper.

Hope this helps.
DaveT