Golf clubs are your best friends in golf, but over time, your grips should be expected to wear out. A worn out grip can cause blistering and affect the quality of your shots. The good thing is, regripping your clubs is a straightforward and cheap process that you can do on your own. The following is a guide to help you take off and regrip your golf clubs like a professional.
What You'll Need:
- New grips: make sure you go out and test to see what grips fit your style.
- Grip tape: can be found at most golf shops.
- Grip solvent: can be found at the same location as grip tape. Mineral spirits works great. A WD-40/paint thinner combo also works well.
- Vice clamp or anything to stabilize your club.
- Hook blade knife or box cutter
- Towel
- Rubbing alcohol (not necessary but useful)
Removing the Old Grip
Secure your Club: Placing the club in a sturdy vice is a good idea. Holding the club while cutting works as well.
Cut the Grip: Use your knife of choice to cut the grip lengthwise across the whole grip. For steel shafts there is not much of a worry about cutting or damaging the shaft. However if you are cutting a grip off of a graphite shaft be very very careful not to cut the shaft at all. This could completely ruin your shaft and day.
Pulling the grip off: Once you've cut the grip, you can start peeling it off towards the end of the shaft. Don’t be afraid to use some force getting that sucker off.
Cleaning the Shaft
Remove Previous Grip Tape: Now this can be tedious. I really haven’t found a great hack to do this quickly. Sometimes you can peel it off in larger chunks.
Clean: Rubbing alcohol is the best way to wipe down your shaft after all the tape is off. Soapy water can also be used.
Applying New Grip Tape
Wrap the Shaft: Depending on if you got the precut tape or a tape roll, you will need to make sure you cut the correct amount of tape for your grip. Next, you can peel off the plastic on one side of the tape and get your club ready.
Secure the Tape on the Shaft: Take your tape and evenly line it across the shaft and slowly apply it more and more until you have it around the entire shaft. A slight overlap is completely fine.
Preparing the Grip & Shaft: Pour a little bit of whatever grip solvent you are using into the new grip and swish it around to coat the whole interior of the grip. At the same time coat the tape with your solvent as well.
Slide the Grip on: Now slide the grip onto the shaft, trying to align the grip with your club face as desired. The solvent mix will allow you to adjust the grip slightly once fully on to get it exactly how you want it.
Allow the Grip to Cure: Allow the grip to dry for a few hours and avoid using the club until the grip is completely dried out and secured to the shaft.
Repeat
Regripping your clubs does not have to be a whole process now. With the right tools, maybe a beer, you can easily regrip your own clubs, keeping your grips and your game in top shape.