Same speed lower head weight = lower ball speed?

[jadedennill]

I’ve heard a few times that if the speed is constant, a heavier head will yield higher ball speeds than a lighter one. 
That makes sense, but I’m curious to what degree it would be. If I dropped the weight in my G425 by 5 grams to lighten up the swing weight, would I be losing a meaningful amount of ball speed? 
It’s either this or go to a CB shaft to drop a few SW points, as right now with the 17 gram weight it feels like a sledge hammer. 

[evoviiiyou]

2 hours ago, jadedennill said:

I’ve heard a few times that if the speed is constant, a heavier head will yield higher ball speeds than a lighter one. 
That makes sense, but I’m curious to what degree it would be. If I dropped the weight in my G425 by 5 grams to lighten up the swing weight, would I be losing a meaningful amount of ball speed? 
It’s either this or go to a CB shaft to drop a few SW points, as right now with the 17 gram weight it feels like a sledge hammer. 

I think which ever set up allows you to find center face contact more often is practically advantageous, regardless of the mass/speed theory. I would try it since you already are doubting the sledgehammer feel and see how it works. If it’s possible maybe start with loosing 2-3 grams first before you goto the 5gram drop. 
 

For more $, CB is an option and for a cheaper than the weight cost, a heavier grip is always a choice for lighter head feel as well. 

[grochol17]

2 hours ago, jadedennill said:

I’ve heard a few times that if the speed is constant, a heavier head will yield higher ball speeds than a lighter one. 
That makes sense, but I’m curious to what degree it would be. If I dropped the weight in my G425 by 5 grams to lighten up the swing weight, would I be losing a meaningful amount of ball speed? 
It’s either this or go to a CB shaft to drop a few SW points, as right now with the 17 gram weight it feels like a sledge hammer. 

 

It is true that a heavier club head will give higher ball speeds than a lighter one assuming the swing speed is the same... in that case the heavier club head has more momentum, which result in higher ball speeds after the collision with the ball.  

 

Comparing a 206g driver head (based on PING G425) with a 201g head, the ball speed drops by less than 1 mph for the lighter club head.  The difference in ball speed increases with club head speed... for a 90 mph driver speed 5g results in a change of 0.6 mph ball speed while a 120 mph driver swing gives a difference of 0.81 mph with a 5g change in weight.  

 

If instead your driver is 200g to start with and you drop it to 195g, the ball speed difference at 90 mph swing speed is 0.64 mph and at 120 mph it is 0.85 mph.  

 

Taking the approximation that 1 mph = 2.5 yards, you're looking at 1.5 - 2 yards of difference between the heavy and light club heads.

 

But, the key assumption here is that all things remain equal in your swing when you change weights and my guess is that, for most people, that will not be the case.

 

For those of you interested in the calculations, I used the equation for Vb in found in the appendix of Dave Tutelman's webpage here: https://www.tutelman.com/golf/swing/accelerateThru.php

[dab]

When I had a taylormade R9 driver (with the 3 weight ports) I tried many different head weights. When I went 5-6 grams lighter in the head the ball flew higher and longer for me. I found my release was better timed and more efficient with the lighter head.

[Stuart_G]

6 hours ago, grochol17 said:

 

But, the key assumption here is that all things remain equal in your swing when you change weights and my guess is that, for most people, that will not be the case.

 

Yes, this is the key.  More specifically, the dynamic loft and spin loft delivered into impact has to be the same and the face impact position has to be the same, and face to path has to be the same.

 

For the OP, unfortunately that will  rarely be the case for one individual swinging two clubs with a different head weights.  So the effect of the head weight on the swing and the delivery of the club into impact will generally have much more of an effect on the results than the equations provided for energy transfer between the head and ball.

 

 

[mgoblue83]

You will most likely swing slightly faster by reducing weight which would nullify any loss of ball speed from reduced head weight. 

[dsmil]

I think you'd lose about 1 mph of ball speed if your swing speed and everything stays the same.