Should I tip-trim an extra 0.5" to compensate for added 6g head weight?

[BrendanH]

So I'm going into a fitting for a GT2 driver tomorrow (I'm guessing that will be the outcome but we'll see...). Assuming it works well enough to pull the trigger, I plan to order a reduced length of 45" (from stock 45.5") and Titleist allow up to 6g additional head weight which as far as I can tell should bring the swing weight back to where it was before the 0.5" length reduction. 

(If any of the above is incorrect please do tell me!)

 

So my main remaining question is should I also have the shaft tip-trimmed an additional 0.5" to compensate for the added head weight to maintain shaft flex/feel? Or is 6g in the head too little to make any noticeable difference in shaft feel? 

 

If it's relevant, my guess is the shaft will either be a Ventus Blue 6X or Tour AD VF 6X as those have been stand out winners for me so far in other tests.

 

Thanks!

Edited July 23 by BrendanH

[skraly]

I don’t think we have enough info about your swing to really say.  A lot depends on shaft loading, release, etc.  But, in-general, 1/2” tip trim isn’t going to make a huge difference.  It might lower launch by a tad.  That's about all.

[Howard_Jones]

6 hours ago, BrendanH said:

So I'm going into a fitting for a GT2 driver tomorrow (I'm guessing that will be the outcome but we'll see...). Assuming it works well enough to pull the trigger, I plan to order a reduced length of 45" (from stock 45.5") and Titleist allow up to 6g additional head weight which as far as I can tell should bring the swing weight back to where it was before the 0.5" length reduction. 

(If any of the above is incorrect please do tell me!)

 

So my main remaining question is should I also have the shaft tip-trimmed an additional 0.5" to compensate for the added head weight to maintain shaft flex/feel? Or is 6g in the head too little to make any noticeable difference in shaft feel? 

 

If it's relevant, my guess is the shaft will either be a Ventus Blue 6X or Tour AD VF 6X as those have been stand out winners for me so far in other tests.

 

Thanks!

Its your approched here thats wrong.
- You plan to "reset" SW value on a club you aint even tried yet NEVER do that.

To get the strait and clear answer, bring a roll of lead tape to that fitting.
- add 6 grams to the head, place your hands 0.5" lower on the grip than you normally doo...

it will probably feel "heavy", NOT soft, but if it does feel softer than your liking, (and head wgt is just fine for you), then tip tyrim of 0.5 will not make it right, it will take more, since shaft respons is progressove (When we tip trim say 1.0", the last halfs effect for feel is about 2x the first half...)

On the paper, to keep the shafts profile and flex, we can say "Tip trim 1/8" for each 2.5 grams addeed, so 6 grams is right above 2/8" only, and will NOT stiffen up a "soft feel", its like a hair dresser adjustment that mostly makes a visible difference on the paper, not as feel or playability real life.

So DONT shoot for SW values, figure out what HEAD wgt you play the best with at 45" and  go from there, and never mind what SW values that is.

Having that said, for the WORK SHOP, 1 SWP at 45" is only 1.6 grams, and 0.5" shorter = 3 SWP.
Then we have 3 SWP x 1.6 grams = 4.8 grams at the heads COG, but sice sole weights is longer away from our hands than COG, the effect of the added weighjt is larger, READ we DONT reset the OG SW value by adding 6 grams, we make it about 1 SWP higher than OG....

Be open minded to make it correct.
start by lowering your hands on than 45.50" club by 0.5 and try it off as is.
you might not feel the need for added weight at all, but if you bring that lead tape, you can tune in a higher head weight, simply by adding a piece you dont know the weight of, add untill its too much, dial back to the area where it feels and works the best. DONE. (all this test should be done without a clue about how many grams you add, or what SW value that is, we navigate ONLY by our "Human scale" with values like "Too little or too much", untill you find whats the best for you.

Any other approach will NOT give you the club you hoped for, no matter price tag.

Follow impact trends on the face to make sure play lenght and head wgt is good. When that is found, its time to try shaft options, using that PL and head wgt.

You may not read this before that fitting session, but you should, so you know how it should be done.  The risk is large that the "fitting" you get is anything but fitting of specs.
 

 

Edited July 23 by Howard_Jones

[BrendanH]

6 hours ago, Howard_Jones said:

Its your approched here thats wrong.
- You plan to "reset" SW value on a club you aint even tried yet NEVER do that.

To get the strait and clear answer, bring a roll of lead tape to that fitting.
- add 6 grams to the head, place your hands 0.5" lower on the grip than you normally doo...

it will probably feel "heavy", NOT soft, but if it does feel softer than your liking, (and head wgt is just fine for you), then tip tyrim of 0.5 will not make it right, it will take more, since shaft respons is progressove (When we tip trim say 1.0", the last halfs effect for feel is about 2x the first half...)

On the paper, to keep the shafts profile and flex, we can say "Tip trim 1/8" for each 2.5 grams addeed, so 6 grams is right above 2/8" only, and will NOT stiffen up a "soft feel", its like a hair dresser adjustment that mostly makes a visible difference on the paper, not as feel or playability real life.

So DONT shoot for SW values, figure out what HEAD wgt you play the best with at 45" and  go from there, and never mind what SW values that is.

Having that said, for the WORK SHOP, 1 SWP at 45" is only 1.6 grams, and 0.5" shorter = 3 SWP.
Then we have 3 SWP x 1.6 grams = 4.8 grams at the heads COG, but sice sole weights is longer away from our hands than COG, the effect of the added weighjt is larger, READ we DONT reset the OG SW value by adding 6 grams, we make it about 1 SWP higher than OG....

Be open minded to make it correct.
start by lowering your hands on than 45.50" club by 0.5 and try it off as is.
you might not feel the need for added weight at all, but if you bring that lead tape, you can tune in a higher head weight, simply by adding a piece you dont know the weight of, add untill its too much, dial back to the area where it feels and works the best. DONE. (all this test should be done without a clue about how many grams you add, or what SW value that is, we navigate ONLY by our "Human scale" with values like "Too little or too much", untill you find whats the best for you.

Any other approach will NOT give you the club you hoped for, no matter price tag.

Follow impact trends on the face to make sure play lenght and head wgt is good. When that is found, its time to try shaft options, using that PL and head wgt.

You may not read this before that fitting session, but you should, so you know how it should be done.  The risk is large that the "fitting" you get is anything but fitting of specs.
 

 

 

Thank you so much Howard. That is extremely useful. Also, thanks @skraly, you make a good point about not knowing enough about my swing. I didn't want to bother you all with an essay about my swing and fitting journey over the years, lol.

 

So, to better illuminate where I'm coming from...

 

About 6 years back I had a surprisingly successful fitting at Club Champion, where I ended up in the Callaway Mavrik head at SW D6 with a Ventus Blue 6X, 45.5" length, standard tipping. At the time that was a huge surprise to me. My swing speed was around ~102mph (On TrackMan) so I did not expect a 6X shaft to work best, but that shaft combined with the higher SW was an absolute revelation in terms of strike consistency. I'm guessing it was helpful as I have a limited range of motion and cannot get the club back anywhere near parallel. So that 102mph speed happens in a relatively short downswing with a fairly aggressive load on the shaft. At least that's my theory anyway 🤪

 

In time though I started to feel like the head was not the most forgiving and it was a bit fatiguing to swing that setup over 18 holes, partly as I have had some back issues. Nothing serious, but it was getting in the way, so maybe a year or so later I went back in to test the newer heads and ended up in the Epic Max LS at D5 with the same shaft. That seemed to be a little easier to manage and that is what is still in my bag today.

 

These days I am fatter and a little slower (~100mph) and my back continues to be angry at me. All of that has resulted in a loss of driver distance. I'm also no longer really enjoying this driver as much as I used to, and the feel of off center strikes is particularly unsatisfying. Since that head is 5 years old now, my hope is to find something that at least feels a little better to me, maybe improves my dispersion a tad and if I get a higher average distance then that'll be a nice bonus.

 

The Epic Max LS does a great job when hit well but misses can be low spin and more wayward than I would like to see. I'm hoping a head like the GT2 can move me into a better window.

 

As for the build itself (and I know I'm getting WAY ahead of myself here since I haven't even tried the club yet), based on my past preferences I would be nervous about dropping the SW much lower than D5. I recently went through a PXG fitting for the Black Ops driver and again I responded better to a heavier than standard SW (again, D5 during that fitting). I'm not married to that, but it seems likely that will be important to the build and so I wanted to know how to best go about it. Complicating matters is my desire to drop the length to 45" as the 45.5" length is feeling a little unwieldy to me right now so I'm hoping a drop in length will be more comfortable and maybe improve consistency a little more.

 

I'm very glad to hear that the +6g weight option will actually increase the OG SW value by 1 as that could well turn out to be exactly what I need.

 

Thanks again @Howard_Jones for the timely advice and reminder to keep an open mind during the fitting. That is just what I needed to hear this morning 👍