Heavy, head light racquets

[kickingbird]

Hey all,

Can extremely head light racquets be considered as a 'light'/'weak' racquet? How would it do against heavy balls? So far I haven't felt like my racquet has been overpowered, but maybe I just haven't really played anyone who hits heavy balls, so I'm not sure.

I'm using a 360g (about 12oz?) Yonex racq that I think is approximately 8-9 points head light (I added weight- it used to be 11 pts head light).

Basically what I'm trying to ask is, is it the overall mass of the racquet, or the distribution of the mass of the racquet that counts, when hitting/hitting back a heavy ball?

Thanks!

 

[Coda]

I would say a combination of both. It needs to be somewhat heavy, yet still have a good amount of weight in the head.

 

[007]

I'll bet you using a Ti80. I had one in 1/2 and while it weighed about 12.1 ounces strung it was too headlight to handle serious pace either @ net or on the baseline. It served great and was very maneuverable (of course)....but didn't have enough mass above the handle. Weight distribution is the key.

 

[TennsDog]

Depending on how HL it is, it could act somewhat like a buoy floating in the water. All the weight in concentrated in the bottom so it would be hard to pick up, but w/o much in the top it can easily be pushed over, though it is very maneuverable and easily picks up its previous position. As with a heavy HL racket, it could get pushed around from the baseline w/o much actually behind the ball, but would be very maneuverable and probably good at net and likely on serves too.

 

[Gaines Hillix]

If you can handle the extra swingweight of adding weight to the hoop, go for it. I think one reason these are made so headlight is to allow more room for customizaitin.

 

[kickingbird]

Thanks for all the tips, I'll experiment with adding more weight to the head. I'd probably need a fair amount of lead tape to make it anywhere near Even Balance though, which is probably what I want seen as though I'm more of a baseliner than a S&Ver.

Problem is, I heard somewhere that adding too much weight ruins feel...? Looks like I'll have to see for myself.

To 007 - close, it's a Ti-50 Standard that I'm using! BTW what did you do with the Ti-80? Are you still using it/did you customize it?

 

[bcaz]

I'm into heavy, head-light racquets. If they're too head-light, they will get pushed around by heavy baseline shots and serves. My PBBs were more head-light than listed (stock); with overgrips, even more so. With a little lead at 3, 6 and 12, they are up to 12.9 oz. yet still 9-10 pts. HL. Not quite the Holy Grail. If perfect, they would be very slightly lighter (12.5-6 or so) and 8-9 pts. HL.