Winn to Know What Grip Weight to Use

Winn Grips is introduced several new grips for 2018, but I would like to single out the new Winn DriTac Lite Grip.

This is a “lightweight” version of the Winn DriTac family, which have been widly popular for the past several years. This gives two options to clubmaker’s and golfer’s alike, but with two different purposes.

What is a “Standard” weight grip?

You might be wondering what the H E double hockey sticks is a standard weight grip. For years, “standard” (at least for men) is a grip that tips the scales between 50 and 52 grams. If you look across the majority of men’s rubber grips, they would fall in this range. However, all of them would be men’s standard sized grips. When you go to matching men’s rubber grips in midsize or jumbo the weight increases proportionately as more material is required to create the larger sizes. Winn Grips are different as they are constructed from two pieces; an underlisting wrapped or bonded by a strap of soft PU (polyurethane) material. In the Winn DriTac Wrap series the standard, midsize and jumbo all weigh 50 grams or the so-called “standard” weight.

How did Winn reduce grip weight?

The secret is each PU strap is a different thickness and when wrapped around their standard rubber underlisting creates each unique size. This way they can change size without altering weight. One byproduct is the larger grips also do an even better job dampening vibration.

Why is grip weight important?

One word: balance. You may not realize the flex of the shaft is based on using a certain weight grip (50-52g) to achieve normal swingweights (C9-D3) based on men’s standard lengths. Note shorter Ladies lengths would be less and over length men’s clubs would be more. But let’s focus on men’s standard length for our discussion.

When a shaft manufacturer designs the flex into their shafts, they have to make sure that shaft is acceptable to use in a wide variety of manufacturers heads – not just one. This is no easy task. They know that most manufacturers will built to the standard swingweight range mentioned before. So if a grip is used that weighs more could throw off the intended flex unless they don’t adjust for grip weight.

For example, let’s say we want to use a jumbo-sized rubber grip that weighs 78g. Well for every 5 grams of grip weight more than standard, it will reduce the swingweight by 1 point. In this case (78 - 50) / 5 would be @ 5 swingweights. If the manufacturer were to add enough weight back to the head to achieve a “standard” swingweight, then this would be the equivalent of reducing the stiffness by as much as ½ flex. In the case with the DriTac Wrap Oversize there is no swingweight differential to factor in.

DriTac Lite versus DriTac

The standard DriTac is available in various colors and styles, but the Lite is half the weight or @ 25g weight savings. To make this possible, Winn uses light weight compressed foam (EVA) instead of a rubber underlisting for the DriTac Lite series. Here they can independently change size (standard, midsize and jumbo) and weight (25 or 50 grams). Winn also uses an EVA underlisting on several of their putter grips too in order to create a large but light combination.

One thing to keep in mind during assembly is to make sure the final swingweight of the assembled club is higher when using DriTac Lite. If not, you may be disappointed in the results. Let’s use our example before, but in reverse. The Lite version is @ 25g lighter or what would be 5 swingweight increase compared to a standard weight grip. If one was to make a club with a DriTac Lite at a normal swingweight, that would be the equivalent as if head weight was removed thus making the club stiffer. The correct application would be to create a club that is lighter overall, but a swingweight @ 5 point higher than standard so the flex of the club is retained and the golfer has a more head-heavy feel.

If you want an overall lighter club that has more head feel, then opt for the DriTac Lite. But if you want to maintain your current weight and balance, go with the standard DriTac series. Aside from that, choose the appropriate size (standard, midsize or jumbo) for the size of your hand or more importantly the comfort to securely hold onto the club during the swing.