Should driver head weight affect shaft selection?

[hardcaliber]

I recently picked up a Adams Speedline Tech 12.5 with stock Matrix RUL 54 on the cheap through ebay. I bought this primarily to try out the whole high loft thing. I want to try out a few different shafts in it, perhaps either the Arthur Xtreme 6 or Tour Superlite I recently picked up. I am a smooth swinger who is usually stuck between R and S on most typical OEM offerings (an inconvenient place to be).

 

I have heard that this is a light head, 198 grams according to Adams website. Should the weight of the head affect my choice of shaft? For example, should i pick a heavier shaft to keep the swing weight up? Will a light head on a heavy feel stiff and boardy? Am I overanalyzing this because I am a bogey golfer who reads WRX way too much? I know you can always change the weight of the head with hot melt, however I am trying to keep this as a fairly low budget side project and hot melt sounds expensive. I was originally hoping to go with a shorter shaft, however it seems that will definitely give me swing weight issues. Thanks in advance for sharing your expertise.

[Howard_Jones]

a driver head of 197-203 grams is normal, so unless you plan for a shorter club where you must reset swing weight, its how it should be. If the clubs total weight is fine for you, there is no reason to go for another shaft, and if you cut it down, you can follow up flex wise by some tip trimming to handle the weight you add to the head.

If we for the sake of example say the club is 45* inch long now, and you wants to play it at 44, then this shortening will make a drop in SW value by 6 points, who is equal to about 12 grams.

If you look on the shaft manufacturer web page, you will find tip trimming info for drivers and woods, so what you have to do is "read between the lines", because this info tells you how much you should tip trim due to head weight. Many but not all, has a slope of 0.5 tip trim on 3W, and then 1 inch on 5W and 1.5 inch on 7W

IF, and ONLY IF, this is the case for your shaft, you should judge the info like this.

Driver head plus/minus 200 grams = No tip trim
3W is 10 grams plus from a driver = 0.5 (check yours)
5W is 20 grams plus from a driver = 1.0
7W is 30 grams plus from a driver = 1.5

IF tip trimming instructions for your shaft is just like the above, then you know that for each 2.5 grams you add to the head, you should tip trim 1/8 to stay in flex as before you started.(10 grams is 4 x 1/8 or 0.5 inch)

So the driver we cut down from 45 to 44 and we wants to reset the hole of the SW value, then its 12 grams or close to 5 x 2.5 grams who equals to 5/8 of tip trim, the rest 3/8 from butt side.

BUT start on the shaft manufacturers web page, and make your own "chart" of how much you should trim if you add weight to the head, because there aint no standard for this, and no shaft respond equally to tip trim, so you have to rely on the manufacturers tip trimming instructions, unless you let a professional do the job for you.

[jaskanski]

You won't find a better answer than HJ had just posted.
Alternatively, the simple answer would be 'no'.

[hardcaliber]

Thanks so much for the info. Sounds like i was basically over thinking it and as long as i go with a typical length such as 45", i shouldn't have to worry too much about swing weight adjustment issues. I constantly amazes me how generous the members on here are about sharing expertise with noobs like me.