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Making Hickory Clubs More Playable Makes
The Game More Enjoyable
This article was prepared by Paul Dietz.
Paul is a certified club fitter for all of today's major brands
of golf equipment.
He has served the golfers of Southwestern Ontario for
nearly fifty years.
If you have hickory golf clubs in need of repair / refurbishing,
you may contact him at...
Phone 519-331-6585
or at
clubdoc@ebtech.net
Many of the clubs that are in play today have loose heads,
worn or missing grips,
rusty iron heads, and warped shafts.
A competent clubmaker can correct most of these faults,
and make the refurbished club(s) look like a work of art.
Most tournament players take every club in their play set
apart to ensure that the shafts are solid and that the clubs
are worthy of refurbishing.
You would be surprised what is found inside the hosel
of a hickory club when the head is removed from the shaft.
Once the head is removed the tip of the shaft should be
examined for fit and for cracks.
Old glue should be sanded from the shaft tip with
a coarse sand paper.
If the shaft is loose in the head, some shimming may be
required for a tight fit.
A good shafting epoxy should be used to reglue the head.
Then a new shaft pin must be installed to hold the head in place.
The shafts should be refinished and sealed with a quality shellac.
Whipping should be applied to the lower portion of the shaft
-- usually an inch and a half or two inches up the shaft from
the bottom of the shaft --
to strengthen the weakest point of the club, the
lower portion of the shaft.
A good clubmaker can anaylze the clubs that you wish
to have refurbished for length and loft and come up with
a mathematical sequence similar to
the steel / graphite shafted clubs that you own.
The lengths of golf clubs must often be altered -- usually
lengthened. Hickory shafted irons can be custom fitted just as
today's steel and graphite shafted clubs are
-- for length, loft, lie angle, and grip size.
A new leather wrap can be installed on the
refurbished club. Grip size can be made similar to
that on the steel / graphite shafted clubs that you own.
Whether your preference is an undersized, standard
size or oversize grip, a good clubmaker can match your
hickory grips to your hand size.
Wooden headed clubs are refurbished in
much the same way.
Heads can be refinished to seal morning dew
and / or precipitation out,
and to seal existing moisture in the head in.
Weights can be adjusted by pouring hot lead into
ports under the sole plate of the wood,
or in the back of the head.
Lead tape can be used to add weight to clubheads,
both wood and iron.
Face angles on wooden heads can be altered to make clubs
more playable. Loft can be added to wood heads. Face angles on wood
heads can be made "open" or "closed".
A closed ("hooked") face reduces slicing.
Inserts can be added to wooden head faces if the face is
showing signs of wear. The insert often salvages a good club
that has been used quite a bit, or abused.
New shafts can be installed in both woods and irons if the
original shaft has been damaged or warped beyond repair.
Shafts can be made more flexible.
Soft shafts can be replaced with stiffer shafts.
Remember....
A good clubmaker can do almost anything to a hickory shafted
golf club that a modern clubmaker can do to
a steel / graphite shafted club!
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