Golf Club Repair Equipment

An overview of golf club repair equipment

On the whole, today's golf equipment is made well. But like a lot of other things, golf equipment occasionally needs to be repaired.

Naturally, you can't really repair a scuffed or nicked golf ball. Likewise, there's not a whole lot you can do about a glove that tears or develops a hole. Tees can't be fixed either, but they're so cheap why would you even bother to try? But there is very one important type of equipment that can definitely benefit if you have a basic understanding of golf club repair equipment and you're willing to give it a try.

Naturally, I'm referring to golf clubs. You can do certain types of club repairs fairly easily as long as you're patient and you have the right repair equipment. Take re-gripping, for example.

Regripping Golf Clubs

Regripping golf clubs is probably the easiest of all do-it-yourself club repairs. Re-gripping requires very little in the way of repair equipment, and some of what you'll need is household stuff that you'll have already. It's very cheap to do, but it can save you a ton of money over the long haul.

Paying someone to re-grip your clubs could run $10 to $15 per club (including the new grips), but if you do it yourself you could save up to half that amount. Assuming you re-grip all 14 of your clubs (the maximum number permitted in your bag during any round), the savings can really add up. Even if you only save $5 per club by doing it yourself, you'll save $70 each time.

Many experts recommend replacing the grips on all of your clubs at the beginning of every golf season or once every 40 rounds, whichever comes first. I play around 175 rounds per year, so if I followed that advice I'd re-grip my clubs at least 4 times every year. By re-gripping my own clubs I'd save a minimum of $280 per year. That's some real money - enough to buy a good driver or a new putter and several dozen high-quality balls every year!

The golf club repair equipment you'll need for regripping golf clubs includes:

• Double-sided grip tape
• Scissors
• Grip solvent in a squeeze bottle, and a container to catch the solvent when you pour it over the shaft
• Grip tape scraper
• Utility knife with a hooked (not pointed) blade
• Bench vise (not required, but it makes things easier)
• Rubber shaft holder to cradle and protect the shaft while it's clamped into the vise
• New grips to replace the old you'll be stripping off
• Rag or old cloth.

None of these pieces of golf club repair equipment are expensive. You probably own some of it already, like the scissors, cloth, drip container and utility knife. The more specialized items can be purchased pretty cheaply at www.golfsmith.com or a similar store.

Re-Shafting Golf Clubs

Re-shafting your clubs can improve your game by improving the performance of your clubs. Knowing how to re-shaft a club can also come in handy if you somehow snap the shaft of one of your clubs. Although it requires more courage than simple re-gripping, re-shafting golf clubs is another do-it-yourself project that doesn't require much in the way of golf club repair equipment.

The golf club repair equipment you'll need for re-shafting golf clubs includes:

• Vise
• Heat-resistant safety gloves
• Wet paper towels to prevent plastic ferrules from burning or melting
• Heat gun (never use a blowtorch if you have graphite shafts)
• Box wrench
• Epoxy
• New shafts to replace the old
• Hacksaw (for steel shafts) or bandsaw (for graphite shafts) to shorten the shafts to the proper lengths
• Grips and all the golf club repair equipment needed for re-gripping, as listed above.

Golfers who are even more daring can save still more money by making their own clubs. You can purchase club components such as club heads, shafts and grips from a number of online shops, including golfsmith.com and golfworks.com, among others.

If, on the other hand, you're like me and you're not brave enough to perform your own club repairs, you can always go to one of the many club repair locations that will do it for you. They'll be certain to have the golf club repair equipment that's needed for the job. If you're not aware of any repair shops in your area, ask in your club's pro shop.

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