# Gripping down?



## JustOne (Jan 12, 2012)

Does it change the swing weight? Can't see what difference gripping down is to having the club cut down? Isn't it the long end you need to worry about?


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## SGC001 (Jan 12, 2012)

No it doesn't change the swingweight. The swingweight is how heavy the club feels about a balance point 14 inches from the butt end of the club. It doesn't matter where you grip as far as swingweight goes as it is calculated about this point.

It will however affect how the club feels (to you), how it plays and swing plane amongst other things.


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## JustOne (Jan 12, 2012)

If you normally grip down and decide to have the 1Â½" of the 3" at the back of the club removed how would that affect the plane?


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## SGC001 (Jan 12, 2012)

If you're gripping it in the same position as before it won't. If you're gripping down further your spine angle is likely to be altered affecting plane.


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## Intel (Jan 12, 2012)

A while back I toyed with the idea of gripping down on every club to see what difference it made.  I had lost a few yards but the accuracy was better.  After a few weeks of playing like this, I took 1.5 inches off every iron(to where I was gripping down to).  The difference was huge.  I could no longer hit them with any consistancy at all.  The feel of the club had completely changed.


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## Mattyboy (Jan 12, 2012)

Intel said:



			A while back I toyed with the idea of gripping down on every club to see what difference it made.  I had lost a few yards but the accuracy was better.  After a few weeks of playing like this, I took 1.5 inches off every iron(to where I was gripping down to).  The difference was huge.  I could no longer hit them with any consistancy at all.  The feel of the club had completely changed.
		
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Plus Intel, you would then be holding the club in the normal (fatter) part of the grip which would result  less 'hand action'..... 

Ive tried it and what I liked was being able to hit low punches as I found it alot easier to keep my weight forward. In that way its a bit like S&T.


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## JustOne (Jan 12, 2012)

.... just got this from Tommo's post about shorter drivers...




			"Cutting 2â€³ off the shaft *will dramatically lower the swing weight* of your driver (with our sample head, the difference was about 7 swing weight points). Some golfers will actually find they prefer the lighter feel, some may find the club harder to control, and many probably wonâ€™t care one way or the other(especially if you become 28% more accurate)."
		
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## Miles (Jan 13, 2012)

Intel said:



			A while back I toyed with the idea of gripping down on every club to see what difference it made.  I had lost a few yards but the accuracy was better.  After a few weeks of playing like this, I took 1.5 inches off every iron(to where I was gripping down to).  The difference was huge.  I could no longer hit them with any consistancy at all.  The feel of the club had completely changed.
		
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Hi Intel, as the post above mentioned, did you add any weight to the head using lead tape or tip weights when cutting off an inch and a half? If not, that's why your club felt different. You loose 3 sw point's for every 1/2 inch so your club's will have been around c3 on the swingweight scale without adding any weight. That would dramatically effect the feel of the club.
To get it back you need to add 2g's of weight for each sw point. I cut down my driver to 44" and 5w to 42", I tested them before I added the weight back to the head and they felt far too light.

HTH,
Miles


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## Region3 (Jan 13, 2012)

Intel said:



			A while back I toyed with the idea of gripping down on every club to see what difference it made.  I had lost a few yards but the accuracy was better.  After a few weeks of playing like this, I took 1.5 inches off every iron(to where I was gripping down to).  The difference was huge.  I could no longer hit them with any consistancy at all.  The feel of the club had completely changed.
		
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As well as the other suggestions above the results of this, you are also altering your lie angles.

Just using my own 5 iron as an example because I have the specs for them...

Length 38"
Lie angle 61Â°

If I cut 1.5" of it to make it 36.5" that's the length of my 8 iron, which has a lie angle of 63Â°

So if you needed a lie angle of 63Â° on a club 36.5" long, but you're now holding a club 36.5" long with a lie angle of 61Â° you playing irons 2Â° more upright all of a sudden.

(It made more sense in my head)


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## Miles (Jan 13, 2012)

Region3 said:



			As well as the other suggestions above the results of this, you are also altering your lie angles.

Just using my own 5 iron as an example because I have the specs for them...

Length 38"
Lie angle 61Â°

If I cut 1.5" of it to make it 36.5" that's the length of my 8 iron, which has a lie angle of 63Â°

So if you needed a lie angle of 63Â° on a club 36.5" long, but you're now holding a club 36.5" long with a lie angle of 61Â° you playing irons 2Â° more upright all of a sudden.

(It made more sense in my head) 

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Yes length does affect lie angle. I grabbed this off another forum....

1/2 Inch = 1 Degree

For every 1/2 inch you cut a club down the lie angle will be 1 degree flatter.

For every 1/2 inch you and to a club it will be 1 degree more upright.


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## Intel (Jan 13, 2012)

Thanks guys for the advice but, my post was for the benefit of the forum to show that shortening clubs DOES affect the swing/shot.

I tried adding weights/lead tape but it just never felt the same.

The point is, that shortening the club makes a huge difference when compared to simply 'gripping down'.


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## JustOne (Jan 13, 2012)

Thanks for the replies but I still don't get it... surely gripping down affects the swingweight in the first place, so if you're used to it you might as well chop off a few inches... same goes with it affecting the lie although i'm not sure how that can be either.. put your 5-iron on the ground then grip down..how did the lie change?


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## Intel (Jan 14, 2012)

JustOne said:



			Thanks for the replies but I still don't get it... surely gripping down affects the swingweight in the first place, so if you're used to it you might as well chop off a few inches... same goes with it affecting the lie although i'm not sure how that can be either.. put your 5-iron on the ground then grip down..how did the lie change?
		
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I don't know why it's different.  All I can tell you is that, it was.


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