Swing Analyzers: Think "weight" before you attach to your club
15 Jul 2013
by Pete Wlodkowski of AmateurGolf.com
see also: Equipment Reviews
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- amateurgolf.com photo
If You’re intrigued by the wave of new
electronic devices that attach in some fashion
to the golf club or putter, and which send data
to a smart phone or computer in order to
analyze various aspects of the golf swing. But
before you order one, you
should keep one thing in mind.
No matter how light any of these gizmos
feel in your hand, when you attach them to a
golf club they change that club’s swing weight.
So what you’re measuring isn’t exactly the
same as what happens when the device isn’t
attached to the club.
I’m not going to call out any brand by
name, but suffice it to say that there are
several products out there that attach to the
shaft either at the butt, or just below the grip.
They weigh somewhere between half and
ounce and an ounce.
There are approximately 28 grams in an
ounce.
If you know anything about club dynamics
you know -- that's a lot of weight to add to
the
club!
Club making books will tell you that 2
grams in the head changes the swingweight by
a point. You’ll need about 4-5 grams to do the
same thing when adding weight through a
heavier grip.
I have always been sensitive to changing
swing weights on my clubs, which is one of the
reasons I own an industry standard Mitchell
Equipment swingweight scale (read
review). So in order to test the effect
that clipping an electronic device onto a club
might have on swing weight, I took out a 5
iron, measured out 20 grams --
splitting the difference between ½ ounce and
1 ounce -- and attached it (in the form of two
triple A batteries below the grip). Go figure,
the swing weight changed from D2 to C9. A full
3 points.
|
GolfSense attaches
to your glove |
Much more dramatic, when putting the
same amount of weight at the butt of the club
the swing weight is lowered even more, to C5.
That's nowhere near what you're actually
playing.
The wafer-thin, and "so light you don't
even know you're wearing it" GolfSense
device is unique. It attaches to the velcro of
your golf glove, providing information on your
swing plane, hand position (and much more)
through a blue tooth
connection to an iPhone, iPad, or Android
smart phone/tablet.
It doesn't change the weight of your club,
provide any visual distraction or wind
resistance. To learn more and watch an
amateurgolf.com video review, click here.