As a famous athlete once stated, age is not a hurdle but a limitation you put on your mind. It is particularly true about the game of golf, which is accessible for players of all ages. To become a high-level golfer, you need to have both skills and sound equipment.
Golf clubs are a piece of that pivotal equipment, but their grips wear out, sometimes imperceptible to the player, and need re-gripping. In this article, we will present you with a guide to re-gripping golf clubs, including the average price of the process.
The easiest way to re-grip your golf clubs is to bring them to a professional or sports goods shop, and they will charge you $3 to $5 per grip excluding installation. However, the process of re-gripping is not so complicated, so you can choose to do it yourself.
The most common way to re-grip is the so-called Traditional way, which will cost about $0.95 to re-grip one club, plus grip price and tools if you do not have them at home. Lately, a cheaper method, which uses compressed air, and costs only $0.35 to re-grip a club, is gaining popularity. A set of top level golf grips ranges from $70 to $130, an average price of $5 to $10 per grip. (1)
Seasoned golfers know very well that an worn out golf club grip can significantly affect their play. For tour professionals, specialists recommend re-gripping clubs every six weeks, while for recreational golfers, this period might be once per year.
If you go to a pro-shop, you will get high-quality service, but it can be a bit pricy. Besides, you will not be able to align your grips personally, which will affect your “feeling” of the club when you start playing.
Re-gripping your golf clubs at home is simple and provides some advantages such as lower price, better “feeling” and experience, and the satisfaction of a well-done job.
Grip And Re-gripping General Overview
A grip is the part of the golf club attached to the shaft, where you hold on to the club. Some clubs still use leather wraps on their clubs, but most modern grips are one-piece “sleeve” types made by rubber, synthetic, or other composite materials.
These grips allow manufacturers to customize their grips in terms of diameter, consistency, and surface design. (2) However, even the most advanced materials wear out, and every golfer should track when the time for grip replacement has come.
Custom grips, installed by professionals, no doubt, provide a high quality of materials and mastery. However, today’s’ DIY replacement kits also provide high-quality materials and are cheaper and easy to use.
The newest kits, for example, use a double-sided tape with water-activated glue, which allows straightforward installation of the new grip. Traditional re-gripping usually requires a vise, while some more modern methods do not. Every golfer chooses his or her re-gripping method individually according to their preferences.
Golf Club Grip Selection
Golf club grip is the connection between the club and the golfer; therefore, it must fit perfectly to the player’s technical performance. When it comes to re-gripping, the first step is to select the proper grips for your club. To make a choice, you should take into account several critical characteristics of the new grips.
You have to consider size, texture, firmness, preferred types of play, and the weather in which you more often play golf. Considering all these elements, you can customize the best type of golf grips you need.
Selecting the size of your new grips is according to your hand size. You can pick up among oversized, mid-sized, standard, and undersized grips, and if necessary, fit between the sizes with build-up type. Choosing texture is dictated by the right balance between feel and club security. Different age golfers need different textures due to their different swing strengths. The use of gloves also influences the texture preferences.
Weather conditions also affect the golf grip selection. If you often play in humid weather, you should pick a rough-textured grip to prevent any slipping risk. Many golfers prefer a corded texture for their grips to avoid slipping possibilities or even dropping the club during the golf swing. Others consider corded grips too hard for their playing style. The plastic, polymer, or other types of grips also get slippery under rainy conditions, which you should take into consideration (3)
The selection of firmness largely depends on the swing speed. Players with higher swing speed prefer harder grips to avoid excessive torsion, while lower swing speed golfers use softer grips. Seasoned golfers search for a combination of durability, cohesion, feel torque-resistance, and anti-vibration regarding the types of golf grips. The following categories of golf grips below provide such desired characteristics.
- Wrapped
- Rubber
- Corded
- Hybrid
List 1 Note (3)
After selecting your golf grips according to the type and the material characteristics, it is time to look for them on the market. Different brands offer different quality golf grips at different prices. If you are a serious golfer or want to be, you should choose among the best grips. Below, we provide a shortlist of some of the best performing golf grips, sorted by price at the time of writing;
- Arccos Caddie Smart Grips -$15,39
- JumboMax JMX UltraLite –$12,45
- Golf Pride New Decade MultiCompound -$10,49
- Lamkin Sonar Tour –$8,99
- Winn Dri-Tac Lite –$6,59
- SuperStroke S-Tech –$5,99
- Golf Pride Tour Velvet –$4,99
- Pure DTX –$4,99
List 2 Prices Per Grip Note (1)
Regripping The Golf Clubs
As we already mentioned, re-gripping your golf clubs at home is not so complicated and is relatively cheaper than a professional replacement. All you need is a set of good grips and some preparation in advance in terms of materials and tools. According to the Traditional method, also known as the Cut and Tape method, you should follow four main steps to replace your worn-out grips with new ones. Some of the tools and materials you may already have in your garage, depending on how often you repair small stuff at home. The list below displays everything you need to begin the process.
- Golf Clubs
- Grips
- Mineral Spirits (or other solvents)
- Paint Tray or Bucket
- Tape (grip tape or other double-sided tapes)
- Shop/Paper Towels
- Hooked Blade for Utility/Exacto Knife
- Vise Clamp
- Rubber or Foam Shaft Protector
- Eye-Protection
- Latex or Rubber Gloves
List 3 Note (4)
Taking The Old Grips Off
The first thing you need to do is to remove your worn out grip. Use your utility knife and slide its hooked blade along the length of the grip, under an angle of 45̊, starting from its top edge. Please do not push the blade; pull it down to the bottom edge of the grip. Then flip it over and repeat the procedure. When you have done this from top to bottom, you should be able to pull out the old grip.
Next is to remove and clean the old tape below the grip as much as possible. If the tape is quite old, it might be challenging to remove it. In this case, wet the towel with your solvent, wind it up around the difficult to remove tape, and leave it for a few minutes. While waiting, you can start removing the grips of the other clubs. Afterward, the old tape should be easily detachable.
Applying The New Tape
Secure your club tightly in your vise clamp, ensuring that they do not move when you apply force. Be careful not to squeeze the shaft or damage it. To work efficiently, you can prepare two rubber pieces for pads and use them. Then put your paint tray or bucket under the club to collect any extra solvent that will drop during the installation of the new grips. The next step is to take your new grip tape and apply it to the shaft.
Take your new grip tape and remove the security paper cover placed on both sides of the tape. Again, you can use special grip tape or any other double-sided tape. The tape should run aligned along the shaft, expanding 1/4″ to 1/2″ over its wide end. Then cover the tape with your Mineral Spirits or another appropriate solvent to prepare it for installing the grips. The solvent plays the role of a lubricant, and once it evaporates, the tape will recover its tacky surface, making the clubs usable again. (4)
Installing The New Grips
Take your new grip, hold it straight, holding its bottom with your hand. Make sure to cover the hole tightly at the bottom of the grip with your index or middle finger. This way, you will keep the solvent in the grip when you start pouring it with your other hand. Then, pour a plentiful amount of your Mineral Spirits directly in the grip, holding the open end of your index finger, and shake it. Try not to spill solvent out of the grip.
The goal is to coat the inside part of the grip very well. Then lean the grip over the tape of the shaft and carefully fill the rest of the solvent across the tape, keeping the hole at the bottom of the grip still closed. Once you have the tape soaked abundantly, slide the grip onto the shaft at once. The lower down the shaft the grip runs, the more pressure you may need to use. When you cannot push forward anymore and the most distant edge of the shaft slithers a bit back, you can consider your grip installed. (4)
Grip Alignment
When you have placed the grip properly, you have only 60 seconds for alignment before it dries. The best way to do that is to take off the club from the vise and put its head between your feet, at the same angle you would hit a ball. Spin the grip with your palms so that the grip logo moves to an aligned position to the clubhead. This mark will show you later where to grip your clubs when you play.
The process ends with wiping any remnant solvent from your newly installed golf club grip with a shop or paper towel. You can put the towel on the floor and knock a few times on it with the grip end, especially where the hole is, to get rid of any extra solvent. Let it dry for several hours. Of course, you will need to repeat the entire procedure as many times as is the number of the clubs you want to re-grip.
The Irish Method
The Irishman John Carey invented an ingenious golf club re-gripping device, which works fast and efficiently. His re-gripping method looks simple, but at the same time, can be considered revolutionary. There are not many common elements between Carey’s method and the Traditional one. His method does not use any tape neither does it need a vise for alignment. Using the Irish method, you do not need plenty of tools or a workshop to re-grip your clubs. The device works clean, fast and saves time and money.
Carey’s device consists of a disposable guide sleeve, a tube of glue, a snap-fastened one-way valve, and an extension to an air supply. It only needs a few drops of light glue while the sleeve handles get proper alignment. The sleeve inserts into the bottom of the grip then a foot pump pumps air across the top to remove the old grip. The pumped air runs fast through the grip to the bottom but cannot easily escape. The created air pressure pushes the grip away from the shaft and separates it easily and straightforwardly (is that word!!).
Cary’s golf club re-gripping system has patents that stand in 14 countries, including the USA. It is cheaper and faster than the Traditional method and any other commercial methods. It takes 15 minutes to re-grip 14 clubs via the Irish method versus 90 minutes via the Traditional one. Re-gripping per club costs about $0, 60 less than the Cut and tape method. However, to have the Irish golf club re-gripping system, you need an initial investment of about £30 to £40 ($40 – $56) for a pump and 100 guide sleeves. (5)
Golf Club Regripping FAQ
How Much Will It Cost To Re-grip A Golf Club?
The cost depends, above all, on the way you choose to re-grip your golf clubs. Then, the type of grips you want to buy also matters. If you go to a pro-shop, the average price you will pay for re-gripping is from $35 to $190. If you choose to re-grip your clubs yourself with the cheapest grips, you may pay an average amount of $35. However, if you do not have all the necessary tools and materials at home, you will need to pay the extra money.
What Solvent Should I Use to Install Golf Club Grips?
Many solvents exist on the market that are specifically made for re-gripping clubs, and they are not so expensive. However, any type of solvent is appropriate, as long as it lubricates very well the tape on the shaft after applying it. With that said, you can use both a commercial grip solvent as well as solvents made for other purposes, even water. Mineral Spirits is a good choice because it is not so abrasive. You can also use nail polish remover, alcohol, paint thinner, or most other light liquids.
Can I Remove A Golf Grip And Reuse It?
Yes, you can remove an old golf club grip and reuse it, providing that it is still in good condition. However, it is not a typical practice and is not recommendable because you can never be sure what these grip’s qualities are, especially after the removal process. Yet if you decide, beyond any reasonable doubt, to reuse an old golf club grip, be very careful while removing it. Make sure to remove the grip neatly without destroying any part of its surface. Then follow the traditional or other methods to re-grip your club.
Can I Re-grip Golf Clubs Without Tape?
Yes, you can re-grip your golf clubs without tape. It is the main principle of the Irish method, which is gaining more and more popularity. The way to re-grip your golf clubs without tape is to use an air compressor. This method has certain advantages in terms of time, materials, and price. It is less time-consuming, cheaper, and much easier to use than the Cut and Tape method.
Final Thoughts On Golf Clubs Regripping
Just as an experienced hunter takes care of his weapon, a seasoned golfer carefully maintains his golf clubs. The grip is the only point of contact between the golfer and the club, and it gradually wears out. If the player ignores this fact, the wear will inevitably affect his game at the wrong time. Re-gripping your golf clubs on time will avoid any room for that and will improve your golf technique. Besides, it is not a complicated or costly process, so it is not worth missing out on!
Sources
- 1. Jonathan Wall, “Best Golf Club Grips: The 8 Best Performing, Best Feeling Golf Club Grips.” Golf, https://golf.com/gear/best-golf-club-grips-golfers-all-levels/ Assessed May 15, 2021
- 2. Wikipedia, “Golf Club.” Wikimedia Foundation, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golf_club#Grip Assessed May 15, 2021
- 3. Golf.com Staff, “How to Regrip Golf Clubs: Top 4 Points to Consider.” Golf, https://golf.com/gear/golf-accessories/how-to-regrip-golf-clubs-top-4-points-to-consider/ Assessed May 15, 2021
- 4. Schnurrbart,”Regrip Golf Clubs.” Instructables, www.instructables.com/Regrip-Golf-Clubs/ Assessed May 16, 2021
- 5. Gilleece, Dermot. “An Ingenious Way of Re-Gripping Clubs.” The Irish Times, www.irishtimes.com/sport/an-ingenious-way-of-re-gripping-clubs-1.170941 Assessed May 16, 2021
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