Quote:
Originally Posted by Mortal1
(Post 2151708)
Any of the aforementioned are a good choice. I've been doing my own since the '80's. You need an exacto knife, 2" grip tape, grips, paint thinner and patience. You tube is your friend. This way you can get the grips you want for a better price, but having places like the Sarasota golf shop the price includes the grip and installation.
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An Exacto knife is a poor choice of tool to remove a grip. It can be done, but for the following reasons, there are better and safer choices.
1. An Exacto blade is light in weight. Grips can be hard and require a blade with some substance. While Exacto blades are razor sharp, there is little heft to the blade and handle. In addition, most Exacto handles have the diameter of a pencil and do not provide a good grip to do heavy work.
2. The Exacto blade, while sharp, is thin. It is easily broken. If it breaks, your hand will slip and you may sustain a serious injury. The same if the blade slips. It would be easy to stab yourself in your thigh.
3. The cutting direction with an Exacto is downward or towards the shaft. This means you will both cut the grip and the shaft underneath. With a steel shaft, this isn't a problem. However, you never want to cut or score a graphite shaft.
4. All of these problems are solved by using the proper tool to remove the grip. This is a "linoleum" blade in a Stanley Knife. The linoleum blade is a "hooked" blade with the cutting surface on the inside of the hook. This means the cutting motion is upward and away from the shaft. (HINT: place the blade on its side and you'll never cut or score the shaft even with the dull side of the linoleum blade). Linoleum blades are available at any hardware store along with the Stanley Knife. Check out the Golfworks website to confirm my advice and to order the linoleum blade and Stanley knife if you want it delivered to your door.
You will also need a "grip block", which is a 4" piece of rubber with a slit running the length of the block. You put the block over the shaft near the head of the club and secure the block and golf club in a bench vise. You'll need the block to be able to put on the replacement grip.
The Golfworks website will show you how to do all this and you can also buy the blade, knife handle, grips, double-faced tape, and solvent. As a solvent, you can also use lighter fluid, although it is rather expensive. Many people use paint thinner. However, I hate using it as it stinks and takes a long time to dry. I use a specialty product, 3M Adhesive Remover. It is expensive, but has little smell and dries quickly. I can play with a club 15 minutes after installing a grip using the 3M product.
Before everyone offers their critiques of my post, understand that I started changing grips in our club's pro shop nearly 60 years ago at a time when we wound the shafts with leather strips held in place by rubber cement. My first set of GolfPride rubber grips came on a set of Louisville Grand Slam persimmon woods. Over the succeeding years, I have changed thousands of grips.
If you don't want to buy all this stuff, go to Johnny Birdies on 466, buy the grips, and install them yourself at their DYI table. It's a fun thing to learn to do. If you don't like it, you can turn the job over to Johnny!