Blog
- October 12, 2021
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.
- September 15, 2021
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?
- August 25, 2021
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.
- August 03, 2021
Save Money on Golf Balls
Let's face it, golf balls can be expensive, especially if you are a beginner or don't play often where you tend to lose balls that happen to find water hazards or eek out of bounds beyond arms or club length. Premium balls cost $4 each at retail, while economy balls run close to $2 apiece so if you lose a sleeve or more per round, that adds up quickly over time.
Why do you never see a pro or their caddie using a golf ball retriever when you watch golf on TV? For one, these players are really, really good and seldom do they lose a ball. More importantly, they get their balls for free! If us mere mortals were as fortunate it would make this one accessory obsolete. That is why a golf ball retriever can be a great addition to your bag and pay for itself several times over. So, what are the features to look for?
- July 02, 2021
Ever since January 1, 2016, when the USGA and R&A banned anchoring the putter to the body, users of long and belly putters began to look for new ways to make the stroke simpler and stress-free. One such adopted putting technique became known as "arm lock". This is where the grip rests (or locks) against the left forearm (for a right-handed golfer) during the stroke. The benefits are to help quiet the wrists and let you rotate the shoulders. The arm-lock style also creates a natural forward press or positions your hands ahead of the ball at impact.
First popularized by Matt Kuchar, other notable golfers who have successfully switched to an arm lock putting style are Bryson DeChambeau, Keegan Bradley, and Webb Simpson. And yes, the arm lock putting technique does conform to the Rules of Golf.
- June 23, 2021
Welcome to Hireko's Golf Cleat Replacement Guide
You will find all the information you need on replacing the Softspikes and Champ replacement spikes in your spiked golf shoes. Here we have a complete list of the cleats (or spikes) you need based on the brand of shoe you have.
- June 01, 2021
Take the guessing game out of creating the best golf clubs for your game.
Need help choosing the correct shaft flex, grip size and club length? Can't find a qualified clubmaker in your area? Or just need the basics to get you started? Look no further than Hireko's interactive GetFit on-line golf fitting tool as it was designed specifically to help you choose these parameters for your game. This interactive golf calculator utilizes in depth questions to dial in these important clubfitting parameters.
- May 07, 2021
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!
- April 22, 2021
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.
- March 25, 2021
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.