I started trout fishing and was used to a old daiwa fibre glass rod which is as heavy as a tea bag.
I then bought a leada 12ft beachcaster which felt like someone had handed me half a tree, quickly replaced with a 13ft salt mx and a 12ft salt fs both very nice and handle most conditions, my new rod is a pwer aero 14ft which hasnt been used just yet but Ive bought it for special occasions

last but not least is the savage 9ft spinning rod. Going from one to the other is something Ive had to get used to, reels make a massive difference aswell but as Roger said their there for a variety of conditions. Once in a while I like using the old leada just to test my technique as the weight means you can feel how the rod is moving a lot more, but thats just preference.
Roger has it perfect mines just some extra mumbles to back him up haha