Benefits of weight in handle?
- Thread starter 25-TENNIS
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Jakesteroni
Semi-Pro
Arm friendlier, depends how much you put. Less weight in the head means less mass towards the ball. You’ll get a whippier headlight racket. Power goes down a bit, stability goes down a bit, trade off is you’re able to move the head of the racket quicker and swing thru the zone quicker. Your racket is like a hammer the ball is a nail. Less weight away from tip less force, more weight at tip, more force.
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25-TENNIS
Semi-Pro
I'm having some shoulder problems.
I use the Wilson Blade 98UL with Wilson Sensation string. I'm currently testing the Yonex Ezone Lite. It dampening the vibrations better than my Blade. So if I put some weight in the handle it will be easier to swing?
mhkeuns
Hall of Fame
Are you having a hard time swinging, or are you swinging too hard just to get more power? Which is causing you to have the shoulder issues?
Added weight in the handle will make the frame more whippy. I was told that addING weight in the buttcap (*bottom) & 7" above the handle would be the most ideal places to add weight.
That said, it looks like you are using the lighter frames. Maybe if you start using the regular version, you might get the actual results you might be wanting; ease of swing, more power and less arm fatigue.
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Jakesteroni
Semi-Pro
Like Keuns said, you’re playing with lighter frames which may cause you to over compensate with your muscles to try and generate more pace. A head heavy frame should allow you to swing slower but add more oomph.
It’s hard to determine what’s causing the shoulder pain, it could be mechanics? Not to insult you, but it’s a motion that uses a lot of rotation of the shoulder.
Try this first before buying a new frame, add some lead at both the handle under the butt cap is fine. Then add some lead at 3&9. Weight up the racket overall.
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25-TENNIS
Semi-Pro
My other racket, the Blade 98L (20 grams heavier), but it feels a bit heavy and not nice to my shoulder.
I don't think you should be looking at adding weight to the handle of any of the racquets you're using, as it doesn't make much sense. Just get a heavier one off the shelf.
The fact that you're asking if it makes them easier to swing suggests you've got technique challenges that need to be addressed first.
Remember, adjusting racquet weight isn't something to be done haphazardly. You need to have an idea of what you have and where you want to go (or at least a concept) in order to not end up with something unplayable.
One immutable truth is that adding weight to a racquet will NEVER reduce the swingweight even though it will make it more headlight. Let that twist your noggin for a while.
The fact that you're asking if it makes them easier to swing suggests you've got technique challenges that need to be addressed first.
Remember, adjusting racquet weight isn't something to be done haphazardly. You need to have an idea of what you have and where you want to go (or at least a concept) in order to not end up with something unplayable.
One immutable truth is that adding weight to a racquet will NEVER reduce the swingweight even though it will make it more headlight. Let that twist your noggin for a while.
ollinger
G.O.A.T.
My racquets in stock condition are about 10.8 ounces strung, too light for me. I experimented with every combination of weight in every location one could imagine, and finally realized that 12 grams added to the hoop, none in the handle, made for the best performance characteristics (the strung SW in stock condition before added weight is 317). Weight added to the handle seemed to make the response off the strings more erratic.
mhkeuns
Hall of Fame
You might want to look for an HL balanced racket that isn't too heavy for you. It might make your swing easier. Usually the lighter rackets are Head Heavy balanced and could feel a bit cumbersome.
I'd also suggest taking a lesson or two to see if your coach can give you some advice - on strokes.& gears.
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2nd Serve Ace
Hall of Fame
From a technical standpoint, I would say that weighting the handle does two important things:
1. It seems to be the best point to reduce harmful vibrations coming into the arm.
2. It's the easiest way to increase recoil weight without changing how easily the racket swings. (Recoil weight is very helpful on shots where the frame is not being accelerated, think first serve returns and volleys, particularly.)
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1. It seems to be the best point to reduce harmful vibrations coming into the arm.
2. It's the easiest way to increase recoil weight without changing how easily the racket swings. (Recoil weight is very helpful on shots where the frame is not being accelerated, think first serve returns and volleys, particularly.)
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fuzz nation
G.O.A.T.
My very first thought concerning your Blade is whether you can comfortably swing it without hitting a ball. Easy to sort that out by doing some "ghost strokes" at full speed for a few minutes in a safe place if you're not at the courts - maybe in a garage or out in the yard. If you can do that without any objections from shoulder, the trouble could be happening when you're trying to actually hit a ball with the pace that you want on your shots.
I agree with the thinking of our pal @mhkeuns up there in post #4. Your Blade doesn't have much beef to it - that's an issue. The lighter the racquet gets, the less inertia it has available to "win the collision" with the ball. They can be less powerful. When we try to play with lighter racquets, we're prone to unconsciously compensating for that diminished authority over the ball by swinging harder and harder. That's especially stressful on the shoulder. I can't say that this is definitely what's happening when you play with that Blade, but it's not a rare issue in the tennis world.
The square-ish shape of Yonex frames seems to make them play "bigger" than their actual head size compared with racquets that have more traditional oval-shaped heads. The 98" Yonex frames I've owned have seemed to behave more like something with perhaps a 100"-104" hoop, which is a little too big for me. But a 95" Yonex seems to work for me in a similar way as the 98" models I regularly play that also have about the same weight and balance as that smaller Yonex. So it's no surprise that your EZONE is an easier hitter than your Wilson.
Adding weight to your racquet handle is a little bit like choking up on the grip - it moves the balance point of the racquet closer to your gripping hand. That generally makes a frame easier to maneuver - a potential plus for quick volleys up at the net - and it also affects the way that the racquet swings through contact. In simple terms, a racquet with less head-light balance will tend to "release" through contact slightly later than another having at least a few point greater head-light (HL) balance.
This difference is easiest to recognize when hitting serves. A racquet with less HL balance than I'm used to can require my relocating my toss a few inches further out in front of me to get the ball down in the box.
Just adding weight to the handle of your Blade will only make it more maneuverable, but it probably won't increase its stability and power through the ball. But if you were to add a few grams to the hoop of that frame to improve its punch, you might also want to add weight to the handle - counterbalance - to get the balance point back to where the racquet is comfortable for you.
25-TENNIS
Semi-Pro
Thanks for the explanation! Maybe I will experiment a bit with adding weight in the hoop. Firstly I will buy the Ezone and put my own string in it instead of the poly string.
fuzz nation
G.O.A.T.
Experiments can be illuminating for sure. Just keep in mind that while the extra heft added to the hoop may help with the racquet's capacity to punch through the ball, but it can also make the racquet feel a little more sluggish. Maybe and maybe not - every one is a little different.
In terms of your post that started the thread, the relation between adding weight to a handle and the actual arm-friendliness of a racquet depends on a lot of things. Some racquets with a rather arm-friendly reputation are also somewhat heavy. Heavier frames typically "win the collision" with the ball more easily than alternatives with similar balance that are lighter in weight, so that can mean less impact shock to irritate the joints from the heavier frame. But this heavier, more arm-friendly personality is usually associated with wrist and elbow comfort more than shoulder comfort.
Impact shock may be trouble for some shoulders, but sometimes a factor for shoulder discomfort is the racquet's weight. It might be trouble if it's too heavy or if it's too light for the person using it. A player's individual technique will also be a part of this puzzle, but we'll stick with equipment for now.
So those heavier, more arm-friendly racquets I noted above may not be especially maneuverable in their stock form. But adding weight to the handle of that already arm-friendly racquet can also make it easier to handle and maneuver. I think that this is where some of the connection between arm-friendliness and weighting the racquet's handle may come from. As racquets get heavier, they're typically also more head-light.
Tuning some extra head-light balance into a racquet can also make it more arm-friendly if that new balance feels more natural for that player. With a comfortable balance, we can swing rather free and easy. But if a racquet's balance is too head-heavy for a certain player, he or she might try to steer the racquet to the ball too much with the little wrist and elbow muscles or even make contact too late too often. That can also be pretty rough on the arm.
Hope this is also useful.
ChimpChimp
Semi-Pro
Would you please explain more on "comes around too slow", do you mean you swing to the front with lagged wrist and oh it takes so long time for the lagged wrist to come to the natural angle relative to the forearm? This is what I always feel.
When the arm is swung to the ideal angle (relative to my torso) my wrist is still at behind. Two solutions: either deliberately force the wrist to the front, which is of course not good; or further swinging the arm forward, which is what I do, resulting in a contact point too much forward.
I suspected the racquet being too light. I added 6 grams underneath the top of the grip (near throat), and it caused serious vibration, and the sweetspot was pulled down so contacts were not felt right.
As adding weight to the handle may fix "wrist com ing around too slow", I think it will also pull down the sweetspot, and introduces the vibration like what I got? In my case what would you suggest?
MajesticMoose
Hall of Fame
Like others have said, more headlight balance. If you put weight at 9 and 2 then you should counter balance by doubling that amount in the handle.
Ideally, if you at 5g at 9 and 3, you should add 10g on the handle.
Ideally, if you at 5g at 9 and 3, you should add 10g on the handle.
Right. Typically light rackets are very headheavy. I suggest buy new racket or take off 3 grams of the weight you put on. Ør replace the grip with leather grip
No.
Adding weight to the hoop isn't simply offset by adding the same at the handle.
You need to measure the racquet for balance before you add any weight and then add a target amount of weight relative to the balance point.
The further from the balance point you add weight, the more it affects said balance point. 1 g at the hoop does NOT equal 1 g at the handle.
