golf equipment how to replace golf grips
How to Replace Golf Club's Grip
The quality of the grip on a golf club can be the deciding factor between a bad and a good game. Every golf club has a rubber grip at its top end, which gets worn out with usage and needs to be changed from time to time. This article gives a step by step guide to the procedure of replacing the grip of a golf club.
- A utility knife (preferably with a hooked blade)
- Mineral spirits (odorless preferred)
- A vise (that clamps on a table)
- Double-sided grip tape (from a golf store)
- A soft rubber clamp
- Solvent
- Replacement grips of your choice (again, from a golf shop)
- Hold the club firmly with one hand, using the other for the work. You can use a vise, but ensure you protect the club with a rubber holder so it is not damaged.
- Cut off the existing grip using the utility knife.
- Remove the old tape with a tape scraper. If you do not have a scraper, you can try a small kitchen knife. Be careful not to damage the shaft.
- Use a rag and an adhesive remover or solvent to remove the leftover tape and stickiness. Any good solvent can be purchased from your local store.
- Wash the shaft with soap and water and dry it completely. Put the middle of the shaft in the vise and clamp it.
- Measure where the new grip will fit: Take the new grip in one hand and hold it alongside the bare shaft. Align the butt with the end of the shaft. Use your other hand to make a pencil mark on the shaft where the opposite side of the grip ends, toward the head of the club.
- Remove a piece of double-sided tape from the roll, and place one end at your pencil mark. Smooth down the length as you stick the tape along the shaft to its butt end.
- Trim the tape off the roll at the shaft's end. Thereafter, carefully wrap your piece around the shaft, overlapping the tape's width as necessary.
- Take the new grip and plug one end by placing a tee in the little hole at its butt. Now pour some solvent inside the grip.
- Place a finger or thumb over the open end, leave the tee-plug at the bottom and shake the entire grip. This allows the solvent to spread throughout the interior.
- Pull the tee out, then slide the grip onto the shaft over the tape. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to do this. If it's hard to slide it on, use more solvent, either inside or on the tape.
- Remove the club from the vise.
- Hold the club as if you were hitting a shot. Adjust the grip gently so that it's straight on the club, making sure any pattern is not twisted around the shaft.
- Work your hands up and down the shaft, pressing the grip firmly against the club to seat the adhesive.
- Let it dry for about 10 hours before using.