Weights in Flag poles

[JenKozy]

Hi all. This year, I bumped my guard up from five foot poles to five 1/2s. I also decided to play with weights. Used a 1 1/2 inch carriage bolt in the top cap of the pole. My question is, when do you weigh down the bottom of the pole? Do you wait to move up to 6 ft poles, and what's the advantage of weighing down both ends? There was a big difference with just weighing down the top of the poles this year!

Any input would be greatly appriciated! Thanks!

[LMHSMetalGod]

with 6 foot pools, i like to make the pools bottom heavy with carriage bolts

[RifleLova]

At my guard we use five 1/2 foot poles and everyone must put weights in them but it's the individual's choice as to how heavy they'll be and it's recommended to put the weights on both sides but it's not strongly enforced.

[MsNikki]

Well when it gets down to it, it's all about the spinners preference. Just as long as the rotation looks the same. I have a six foot pole and I only put weights at the top, because having a weight on the bottom felt like having no weights at all (except for the fact that it was heavier, it didn't help rotation in my case).

[JenKozy]

That's what I thought, that a weight at both ends would cancel each other out and just make the flag heavier. I do like the look of the flag when it's tossed with a weight in it. Seems to suspend in the air much better. It floats!

Any one else with any input?

[Mookmoos25]

All the flags at my school are weighted, yet one bolt is larger than the other. I can't spin top heavy, so I have to have the bottom bolt be the larger one, and the top bolt the smaller one. That's a spinner's preference, but it is really up to the individual. Some like it one way versus another. I don't like to trade flags because of that issue.

[Rich]

my guard is moving from 5 and 1/2 to 6 footers this year. both ends are weighted the same, feels much better and the rotation seems a bit more balanced then weighing one end. especially since flags are top heavy to begin with. we all use the same sized weights but people are known to play with sizes at opposite ends. i just make my guard spin everything the same.

[MRamirez]

[MRamirez]

when there’s weights on both sides, the flag has a smoother spin to it in the air. When there’s only weight on the top, the flag has a different spin, it makes the flag silk flick open in the air (like a pop). An advantage for only using weight on the top of the flag is that your members will have to use their push hand to get it around because its top heavy, so it could be a great tool for technique. However, like everyone has been saying, it really is up to you because it comes down to personal preference. I know a lot of great colorguards that only use weight on top and some that use weight on both sides.

[guardthepiccolo]

we use 5 1/2 ft poles and use 1-1.5" bolts on both ends. if we have larger silks though, sometimes we will take out the top bolt to balance out the weight more.

[MMills]

We use bolts in both ends of our flag pole. It provides a much smoother spin while in the air and doesn't look as "whipped". We used to use only a bolt in the top, however since I have been introduced to the idea of using one in each end I won't go back. It really improves the rotation in my opinion.

[crzyguardgurl05]

When our guard spins 5 1/2 foot poles, we have weights in both ends, with the one on top larger than the one on bottom. I pretty sure we do the same for our six foot poles as well.