Clubmaking

A Putter Grip Buyers Guide

Recently Winn Grips introduced their new Pro X putter models and it reminded me of how quickly the size and shape of putter grips have evolved in such a short period of time.  After all, Winn revolutionized grips approximately 25 years ago with the first golf grips made of a soft polyurethane (PU) material wrapped around a rubber underlisting.  These synthetic putter grips felt so good, and their jumbo model was so much softer and lighter than rubber putter grips of similar size.

In the past 10 years, the choice of putter grips used by golfers have changed dramatically.  Modern putter grips are larger, softer, colorful, and less tapered than grips previously made.  Let's explore what each of these benefits are.

What to know about golf club iron lofts

I first started playing golf in college almost 40 years ago. The year was 1984 and Miami Vice and the Cosby Show debuted on TV, you could see Ghostbusters, Revenge of the Nerds and The Karate Kid at the movie theater, or one could rock out to Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" or not to Wham! Life was good and it was going to be a lot better with my newfound sport.

After I became proficient to know how far I could comfortably hit each club, I would rely on a #7-iron if I had 150 yards to the flagstick. At my peak when I played a ton of golf and was in great shape, I would use an #8-iron. Surprisingly today or 38 years later, I vacillate between a 7 or 8 iron depending upon the conditions for that same distance. How can that be? Did I drink from the Fountain of Youth or make a pact with the devil? I know it is not because I kept up my gym membership either. Of course, I no longer have those same clubs to see how I would perform with them today. So, what has allowed me to maintain or even increase my distances after all these years?

What is the Maximum Length of a Driver?

On October 11, 2021, the USGA announced a proposed change to the maximum length of golf clubs other than putters.  Before you get your knickers or panties in a twist, this does not apply to the everyday golfer, but rather to the top 1% of golfers.  Here is part of the statement:

"The USGA and The R&A have announced that new Model Local Rule (MLR G-10) will be available beginning on January 1, 2022 to provide those running professional or elite amateur golf competitions the option of limiting the maximum length of a golf club (excluding putters) to 46 inches."

How Do I Increase My Swingweight?

The club feels too light in your hands, you cut the club shorter for more control, added a heavier grip, re-shafted with a lighter shaft or the swingweights were not a consistent in your set, these are all reasons why you might need to add weight to a golf club head.  Here are some tips for properly adding weight to help balance your clubs and improve performance and confidence.

Experiment at the Range

If the swingweight of all your clubs are all over the place and you hit them well, is there any reason to change?  Good question.  You really won't know unless you try by adding weight first and hitting balls at the range or on the practice putting green to see if you can notice any improvement.  If you don't hit the clubs as well as you think, there is even more of an argument to experiment with a few clubs. The best part is it requires very little equipment or time and if you find increasing head weight doesn't help, it is very easily remedied by simply removing the weight.

5 Useful Tips for Fitting a Golf Club

Golfers reach out to me every day about what type of equipment is best for their game. In cases where it is over the phone or an email and you can't see the player hit clubs in person, one must rely solely on what the customer says.  Here are some tips that will help you self-fit and find what you need more efficiently.

Write it Down

One of the best tips I can give is to take good notes.  For instance, your golfing buddy let you hit his brand-new driver and you go "Holy cow, I really liked that!" Or perhaps, you went to a Demo Day and just beat the snot out of a driver.  What really did you like better than what you are currently playing?

Line it up with your driver.  Was it longer?  Did it have greater or less loft? Look at the numbers on the heel or sole.  What shaft and flex did it have?

Pros and Cons of sanding a graphite shaft to fit a taper tip hosel

From time to time, I get the question from a clubmaker or hobbyist if it is alright to sand down the tip of a 0.370" parallel tip graphite shaft to fit into a 0.355" taper tip iron or wedge.  Before I answer the question and show what the pros and cons are, I first must mention the liability issue.  Anything you build or repair, you are liable for what happens.  Therefore, it is always the best practice to put in the shaft size that corresponds to the inside hosel diameter.

Why would you need to sand the shaft?

The number 1 reason why clubmakers ask is due to the lack of taper tip graphite iron shaft offerings.  Of the models that are available also tend to be on the more expensive side and likely a special order, requiring additional time to fix or retrofit a customer's club.

Hireko Golf Grip Sizing Calculator

Let's face it, grip sizing can be confusing. It is a battle converting between fractions like 1/32" and +1/16" and decimal readings for butt diameters such as 0.580" and 0.600". The Hireko Golf Grip Sizing Calculator can tackle this problem and assist you in only a few simple steps by showing you what the final grip size will be in your club assembly or when re-gripping. All you need to do is enter the grip core size, shaft butt diameter, starting grip size and how many wraps of build-up tape you may want to add (if any). Click the Calculate button and presto...you instantly have your answer!

So, you do not have a swingweight scale? No problem! We have provided you with three Hireko Golf Swingweight Calculators to provide you with the information you are looking for. These are fast, fun...and best of all, free! Input a few variables into the calculators and presto, you have your results.

Golfers are constantly looking to increase the distance they hit the ball.  One way is reducing the overall weight of the club so it can be swung faster and that is mainly a function of the shaft weight.  But re-shafting to a lighter weight shaft does have some consequences.

What happens to the swing weight with a lighter weight golf shaft?

Some golfers assume if the shaft is lighter, a higher percentage of the weight is concentrated near the head resulting into an increase in swing weight (or spelled swingweight).  However, that is not the case and let us show you why.  If you look carefully at a golf swing weight scale, there is a fulcrum point or position that club pivots around located 14" from the end of the grip.  That is a constant.

You may find from time to time that a customer is caught between two flexes. There is a way to remedy this situation called the principles of soft and hard stepping shafts. These terms mostly apply to taper tip steel iron shafts, but the concept also applies to parallel tip shafts. So, let us explain each of the four scenarios.

SOFT STEPPING

Parallel tip shafts

Let us begin with the easiest example using parallel tip shafts. The flex of a unitized, parallel tip shaft is determined by how much to trim off the tip of the shaft based on the weight of the head. As head weight increases, the amount of tip trimming increases incrementally to maintain the flex the manufacturer designed into the shaft.