Re-gripping Clubs

[Clemson]

My Christmas present to my father this year was new grips for his clubs. I am going to put them on for him as well. I have re-grip my clubs for the last year, and haven't had a problem. My dad plays Wilson fat shaft irons and cobra woods. I bought regular Lamkin crossline grips for him and got to looking last night and it looks like the diameter of the shaft is to big for the opening of the grip. I think I can force the grip on but I don't want to hurt the integrity of the grip. I thought all grips had the same inside diameter. but I looked at the Lamkin website and different grips have different core diameters. Should I order new grips with the .600 core or use some elbow grease and put the other .580 grips on?

[MGP]

The shaft butt diameter will make a difference too. The grip size indicates what shaft butt diameter will result in a "standard size grip" after it's installed.

That said, I prefer my grips slightly oversized and I use .580 grips on .600 and .610 shafts. This makes them only slightly oversize and really no harder to install. The opening of the grip is normally undersized quite a bit in regards to the butt diameter of the shaft as it has to fit the shaft tightly after it's installed and the shaft has tapered down quite a bit.

If you use plenty of solvent and make sure the grip tape and inside of the grip are well saturated you should have no problems slipping your grips on even if they are slightly undersized.

[Clemson]

10-4! That what I was thinking. When I installed the grips on my irons it was a tight fit but not as tight as these fat shafts. I have been telling him he needs to get new irons but he replies with the old, "if it isn't broke" saying.

[dave.]

The best Christmas present you could give him is to measure his hands! Measure his hands from the main crease to to the tip of his index finger, and also the actual length of the index finger, base to tip. I will them check the chart in Wishon's book and give you a steer. You may even do what I do and have varied thickness, I use one extra layer on the bottom half and just the base tape at the top.