Golf Swing Weight Chart: How 4 Factors Influence Swing Weight

Swing weight measures the relative weight of the butt end of the club – the top 14 inches – compared to the bottom of the club. Swing weight does not measure the total weight of a club, but rather how heavy or light a club feels when you swing it. 

The four variables that influence swing weight are

• Club head weight
• Shaft weight 
• Shaft length
• Grip weight

I’ll cover how to manipulate each of these variables to dial in your preferred swing weight a little later, but for now, here’s the complete swing weight chart. While the swing weight chart spans from A0 (the lightest swing weight) to F9 (the heaviest swing weight), most standard clubs fall in the C-D swing weight range. 

Here are a few quick notes on the swing weight chart above:

• A0 is the lightest swing weight on the scale
• F9 is the heaviest swing weight on the scale
• Most men’s clubs have standard swing weights in the Ds, D1 to D4 is a common range for stock men’s clubs
• Most women’s clubs have swing weights in the Cs

Playing a specific swing weight can improve your consistency and your ball striking. If your swing weights aren’t already dialed in, doing so could help you hit more good shots.

As a general rule, here’s how each of the four variables impacts swing weight:

If you want to increase the swing weight of a club – go from D0 to D2, for example – you, therefore, need to add four grams of weight to the club head, or take 8-10 grams away from the butt. You could accomplish this by using lead tape or tip weights in the head, using a lightweight grip, or a combination of those methods.

It’s important to understand that when you manipulate one variable in a golf club build, there can be a domino effect. For example, adding weight to a club head puts more load into the shaft which makes the shaft play weaker (softer). If you added weight to a club head using a stiff shaft, you would make that shaft play and feel more like a regular flex shaft.

When I cut down a driver by 1.25 inches and sought to maintain the swing weight, I knew I needed to add a hearty 7.5 swing weight points elsewhere, which I achieved through a combination of two variables. 

I started by replacing the stock weights in the driver’s weight ports with heavier weights sold by the manufacturer. I ultimately added five grams to the head, giving me 2.5 swing weight points back.

I made up the rest of the swing weight gap by replacing the standard grip with a lightweight grip designed specifically to help manipulate swing weight. Switching from a grip that weighed 49 grams to one that weighed just 22 grams, I gained about five swing weight points, and achieved my desired swing weight. 

That’s how manipulating two variables helped me build an easy-to-hit short-shafted driver that’s the exact swing weight I prefer.

Okay, so if a golf club’s swing weight is not its total weight, then what’s the difference?

We explained already that swing weight is a measurement of how heavy the top of a club is compared to the bottom. 

To illustrate how where the weight is placed, not how much a club weighs, impacts its feel when you swing it, try swinging a golf club upside down, with the club head in your hands and the grip at the bottom. When you swing it like this, it feels really light. Flip it around and swing it normally, and all of a sudden it feels much heavier, even though the weight of the club hasn’t changed.

This illustrates the concept of swing weight, which is that the heavier the bottom (club head) end of the club is compared to the butt (grip) end, the heavier the club feels when swung. Conversely, the lighter the club head end is compared to the butt, the lighter it feels when you swing it. That’s precisely what swing weight measures.

Adding weight to the butt end of the club (a technique called counterbalancing) reduces its swing weight – because it reduces the difference in head weight compared to butt weight – yet increases the total weight. 

You can also replace a standard grip with a lightweight grip to increase swing weight while reducing total weight. 

These examples demonstrate how swing weight and total weight are independent of each other.

Of course, you can increase or decrease swing weight and total weight simultaneously by manipulating head weight. Adding lead tape or tip weights would increase both total weight and swing weight, for example.

Sure, swing weight is not the kind of thing you need to constantly stress over. Once you find a swing weight that works for you, and make sure your clubs match that swing weight, you don’t have to think about it. However, anytime you manipulate your clubs, whether it’s simply replacing your grips or getting brand new clubs altogether, you should account for what those changes do to your swing weight, and make any adjustments necessary to maintain your ideal swing weight.