Hi guys.

Does anyone have any experience of changing their grips themselves. I know it does not cost that much to get a pro to do it but I find the whole subject of club building and repair interesting. I cannot seem to find many places in the UK that sell club making tools only the USA. I live in northern Norway so my golf season is not very long so I need some thing else to do in the winter and it gets a bit boring putting in the sitting room all the time not mention the wife complaining.

Cheers.

Check this for starters:

http://www.golfpride.com/regripDIY/index.htm

I regularly change grips myself using white spirit as the solvent; don't have a vice to hold the club but this is not too much of a problem; as the article says take care with graphite shafts as they mark very easily. I use non-ribbed grips without hand postion alignment aids which means that you don't need to be exact when lining up with the clubhead.

For club making or repairs in general golfsmth.com has a wealth of information - look at: http://www.golfsmith.com/cm/index.php and checkout the main headings on the left hand side as well as forums and components pages.

There is a Golfsmith distributor in Europe:
Golfsmith Europe LLC
Ormond House
Nuffield Road St Ives, Cambridgeshire
England PE27 3LX
Phone: 1480-308800
Fax: 1480-308801

I do my own grips - its a doddle really, once you have done a couple then it's like second nature. If you can fix a puncture or put up a shelf then you can do this.


James

Thanks for the help guys.

Cheers.

Paul,
It's dead easy to do. Takes only a few minutes and a little practice.
You've been given plenty of sources to get supplies. Golfsmith UK won't sell to you unless you're a pro or a registered business (golf business at that!!!)
Golf stores over here (UK) sell DIY grips but are reluctant to sell shafts, ferrules etc.
If you only want to do your own gripping there's a multitude of online stores that will deliver to you anywhere in the world.
Here's a good source of information for you
http://www.alltimevideo.com/linksgf.htm
Later
Kent

Thanks for the info Kent.

Apart from the grip and tape what else do you need?

just some white spirit. Oh, and you can get reasonably priced grip kits which include grip tape on Ebay - but they dont sell individual grips.

I normally buy Golf Pride Velvets from County golf by mail order for about £2.25 each including tape.


James

Dave,
Useful but not essential kit
Craft knife, to remove old grip and cut tape (you can tear the stuff)
White Spirit, to lube inside grip, it also softens the rubber some so they slip over butt of shaft easier
Vice, makes lining up a grip square a little easier.
If you're doing the work at home try use a ventilated room, solvents stink and can be harmful if you're doing it for some time.
There is tape available now that's water activated that works pretty well. You can also use hair spray... that's right hair spray. You know the clear putter grips that Sophie Gustafson uses? hair spray is the gripping agent in them.
Later
Kent

Thanks guys, I've already got most of that stuff including a very well ventilated workshop (FFFFreezing)thinking of renting it out to NASA for wind tunnel testing. Its really just to do a little more work to my putter and maybe my wedges.

Dave,

Innocently changing a grip is how the path to the dark side begins!! Then it is on to reshaftin your driver. Next thing you know you will be buying a shaft puller, shafts, ferrules, building your own irons etc.

Turn back now before it is too late!!

Just say no!!

Darth,

Too late Obi-wan it began with lopping 2 inches off my putter shaft and mucking about with the weighting. If it hadnt made such a huge improvement I might have been able to turn back, but alas I fear I am already lost.

mmm, turned to the dark side he has.......

(sounds best in a Master Yoda type voice!)




James (also tempted by the dark side after lopping 1" off his driver and 2" off his putter)

Direct Golf have recently added branded grips to their site for Callaway, Nike Golf, TaylorMade, Ping & Cobra, all available as singles, but I noticed earlier that they have a complete "grip kit" with 9 Callaway Steelhead grips, a roll of tape and instructions from their pro - all in for fifty quid.

I suppose 'original' grips would keep the resale value of a set of irons that bit higher than your bog standard golf prides?

For the sake of a fiver I'm tempted to have a go with my battle worn "reserve" R360 - is there any difference between reshafting graphite and steel shafted clubs?

Chris,


If you are re-gripping a graphite shafted club, be very careful when cutting off the old grip. It is easy to be heavy handed with the knife and damange the graphite shaft. I usually cut the first 2" very crefully then rip the rest off without cutting it.


James

Chris,

Are you talking about reshafting or re gripping?

Re gripping - one step at a time Darth !

It took long enough for me to put new spikes on my shoes !