Mitchell - Club Repair News

August/September 2007

Volume 2, No. 5

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Editor's Blog
Do you care about playing golf by the Rules!!! Are you the Rules authority at your club? It is time golf professionals got involved in equipment Rules!
Last issue’s blog about non-conforming drivers should have touched a nerve with every industry professional, especially PGA golf pros. I was absolutely dumbfounded that I only got 3 responses, with just one being a golf professional. With the USGA making Rules changes limiting performance characteristics of golf clubs, I would think everyone would be concerned about playing by the Rules. Never before in the history of golf has the integrity of the game been in more jeopardy in my opinion.

Add Cleveland Golf HiBore XL 10.5 degree right hand driver to the non-conforming list. Where is it going to end? What manufacturer is next?

And how about the new groove changes? With the old grooves grandfathered in for 10 years, who is going to check for old wedges being used in tournament play?

The integrity of the game has run amuck with the proliferation of high-tech club designs. If you care about golf’s integrity, read this month’s blog.

Featured Repair Shop
Usher Golf - Savannah, GA
Usher Golf in Savannah, GA is our featured “Recognized” Mitchell® Club Repair Shop for this issue of Club Repair News. Chip Usher started building and repairing clubs over thirty years ago as a teenager. Today he operates a high end fitting a repair shop for his clientele of local golfers and has customers from around the world via his website www.chipandputt.com.

Take a look at this featured Mitchell® Club Repair Shop.

Club Repair Workbench
Recommended Procedure To Remove Callaway FT Series Driver Heads From Graphite Shafts
The new Callaway FT series drivers have raised a lot of questions about the best way to remove the driver head from graphite shafts. These drivers do not have a bore through hosel like most Callaway drivers.

With the proper tools and supplies the graphite shaft can be saved for future use. More then likely you will need to replace the ferrule hosel insert. Step by step recommended instructions with photos is included in this article.

Playing By The Rules
USGA And R&A Rules Dictate Club Performance
The USGA has proposed a new Rule to replace the current Appendix ll, 5, C Rule, which defines Impact Area Markings on the face of clubs, or more specifically grooves. Score lines, as they are also referred to, are going to be in the news for a while.

The USGA undertook a 2-year study to determine if U-grooves produced more spin than V-grooves from certain rough grasses. Previously their position was that any difference between U- and V-shaped grooves was “inconsequential”. However, they now claim that U-shaped grooves produce a significant spin benefit.

The USGA drew this conclusion from a study just released using Tour Players from a developmental tour using specific test clubs. The objective of the Rule change is to limit the spin generation on shots from the rough to that of the traditional V-groove.

Do you currently play with legal grooves? Check out how grooves are checked to see if they conform.

TechReport Library
Golf Science
The USGA has a published guideline for measuring grooves on a club face for width and separation. It is called the “Ink and Scratch” method. We discuss it in “Playing By The Rules” in this issue of Club Repair News.

With all the news lately about the proposed changes to grooves, this procedure is worthy of being posted in our Library. Check it out. .

Teaching & Fitting Studio
Custom Club Fitting Is Getting Easier
Taylor Made makes custom fitting as simple as 1-2-3. Their new SelectFit System allows trained fitters to quickly and easily experiment with different shaft and head combinations without sacrificing feel or performance of the golf club. It is a unique all-in-one fitting system for both drivers and irons.

The days of the bulky fitting carts with dozens of club combinations are gone. Check out the details of this simple system.

Tour Workshop
New Cleveland Golf Wedges With Milled Zip Grooves Are 25% Bigger
With the new USGA proposal to change the groove Rule, you will be hearing a lot about grooves in the near future. Cleveland Golf recently introduced a new groove in their CG12 wedge series that is 25% bigger. They mill the grooves to the maximum conforming dimensions using a proprietary CNC mill bit.

Cleveland Golf refers to their new grooves as envelope-stretching geometry. When coupled with an innovative plating process, they claim their Zip grooves are their most consistent, precise and visible wedge technology to date.

Will this new groove technology hold up to the new USGA proposed Rule change?

Test Performance
GolfTestUSA
Since grooves are in the news, we thought it appropriate to post performance test results of wedges conducted by GolfTestUSA. Golfers are always looking for an advantage, especially with scoring clubs. The test rated different wedges for 9 criteria as experienced by the test golfers.

The test golfers' ratings included distance, control, accuracy, forgiveness, sound, appearance, feel, recommend to others and overall rating. GolfTestUSA then averaged the results to determine the overall average.

New Upgrades
Shafts
Maybe you saw the shaft Padraig Harrington was using in his hybrid club at The Open Championship (British) and was wondering what it was. Padraig is using the new Helix Tour™ shaft from Hybrex Golf.

This shaft is a patented design using composite material and Titanium. It is manufactured by producing a Titanium shaft. Then using a laser machining process, 30% of its weight is removed. This produces a helical exo-skeleton grid pattern. A graphite inner sleeve is then fused to the Titanium shaft using a Bi/Fusion™ process of heat and pressure.

The company claims that the shaft has a torque measurement similar to constant weight steel iron shafts but is 30 grams lighter. It is available for hybrid clubs and fairway metal woods.

This new shaft is worthy of your time to check it out. Visit their website.

Grips
SuperStroke Putter Grip continues to make and impact on the PGA Tour. K. J. Choi has won an event and finished second in The Barclays tournament. The grip is 1.67 inches in diameter and does conform to the USGA Rules.

The company’s blog says that Jim Furyk was trying the grip at The Barclays tournament as well.

The company claims that the large grip reduces grip pressure and prevents the “yips”. It reduces wrist action and promotes an arm/shoulder stroke. It evens comes with an extender so when you install the grip you can also change the length of your putter. The grip actually screws on to any putter shaft. No solvents or tape is needed for installation.

The whole system is available for a hefty grip price of about $40.00 with do-it-yourself instructions. Be prepared to buy the “Carrying Sleeve” to attach to your bag because chances are you won’t be able to get your putter into and out of your golf bag. That cost $12.99 plus $3.99 s/h.

Classroom
Learn How Better Club Performance Can Lower Your Scores?
Do you have specific questions about how improved club performance can help your game? We welcome your questions. Email them to us and we will respond with the answer. Selected questions and answers are posted here for our readers to view.

Dave Gilpin of Gilpin Golf, Horton, MI, asks what is the best way for removing the graphite shaft from a Callaway Big Bertha driver.