Rrrrrring... Rrrrrring...
Naked Dave: Hello. Naked Dave’s Custom Clubs. How can I help you?
Cookie: Hi Dave!
ND: Hi Cookie!
C: How did you know it was me?
ND: Easy. A fancy new phone. Caller I.D. Actually, the operator told me.
C: Dave, I need a swingweighted set of irons and fast! A three iron through a pitching wedge. Steel shafts. Simple heads. And I need them tomorrow for the tournament.
ND: No problem. You saw the set of heads on my bench the other day. I have your data on the ICG forms. Anything else you need?
C: The most important thing…… the grips must match my outfit.
ND: No problem! See ya tomorrow at the shop.
ND: I’ve received all the heads, shafts, ferrules and most importantly, grips that match his outfit.
| Club | Weight Grams | Weight Difference |
|---|---|---|
| 3i | 246 | |
| 7 | ||
| 4i | 253 | |
| 7 | ||
| 5i | 260 | |
| 7 | ||
| 6i | 267 | |
| 7 | ||
| 7i | 274 | |
| 8 | ||
| 8i | 282 | |
| 6 | ||
| 9i | 288 | |
| 7 | ||
| PW | 295 | |
| 7 |
Now What???
I’m going to take an inventory to see what I have. First the heads.
The chart at the left shows the weight of each head I have. The last column shows the difference in the weight between each head. Note that there is approximately 7 grams difference between each head.
Since it was necessary to add weight to make sure each head had a 7 gram increase as you went up in club number you can see Naked Dave adding weight to the end of the shaft.
If the head being used had a weight port at the bottom of the hosel then weight could be added there.
ND: Now here are some Dynamic Gold Shafts.
Each was weighed and sorted so that the lightest is for the 3i and the heaviest is for the wedge.
Each shaft’s tip was cut per the manufacturers recommendation.
Dave used his favorite method to determine the location of each shafts flo and marked them for reference during assembly to the clubhead.
As you can see in the picture, with the tips aligned, there is about 1/2 inch difference between the position of each step with the shafts aligned in numerical order.
Naked Dave has prepared both the end of the shaft and the inside of the club head hosel.
He is shown "dry fitting" the shaft to the head to make sure of a proper fit and the shaft can be inserted to the bottom of the hosel bore.
At this point Naked Dave wanted to be sure, absolutely sure, that he will properly bond the clubhead to the shaft without a chance of it coming off during use. He went to the Guild’s "Resource Library", then to the "Workbench Tips & Techniques" and clicked on Secrets of properly bonding a Golf Clubhead to a Shaft.
In the photo at the left, Naked Dave is busy mixing a two part epoxy per the manufacturer’s instructions.
After properly mixing the epoxy, Dave assembles the ferrule and the clubhead on the shaft. He precisely aligns the FLO mark on the shaft to the head. After cleaning off any excess epoxy and rechecking the flo mark to haed alignment he carefully sets aside the assembly to cure.
This is important: In order to reach the maximum strength of the shaft to clubhead bond the curing assembly must NOT be moved or disturbed during the cure cycle. The length of time needed to reach the maximum strength varies with temperature. Make sure the curing assemble is kept at the recommended temperature or higher.
Using his data from the fitting session, Dave marked each club shaft for the proper length.
He made sure that the length he marked was slightly short to make up for the cap on the end of the grip.
When the club is fully finished the length of the club is measured to the edge of the cap not the end of the cap.
A cross sectional sketch of the end of the grip and shaft is shown at the right.
Naked Dave has placed a length of double sided tape in position on the shaft. Notice that it overlaps the end of the shaft about .5 - 1.5 inches.
After smoothing the tape on, Dave twists the end of the tape and pokes it into the shaft. This will close off the end of the shaft and keep the solvent or water from entering the shaft.
Dave could have chosen to use water or solvent as an activator for the tape. Just be sure you use the proper tape with the type of activator you choose.
In addition, Dave could have chosen to “blow” on the grip. But we will leave this method for another time.
Naked Dave realizes that the 8 iron will need weight.
Dave weighed all the grips and discovered that they came in at 46 grams, with one at 47.
Dave marked that grip for the 8 iron. Dave can add weight by adding lead tape under the grip.
Dave installed each grip making sure that they were aligned properly. Most grips come with two painted on or molded in marks that are to be use during installation to insure that it is not twisted and set so that the mark is parallel to the blade’s lead edge. The photo at the right shows the two marks.
Dave checked the swingweight of all the clubs and found that they all were D0. Great!
Rrrrring ... Rrrrring ... Rrrrri
Cookie: Hello
Naked Dave: Hello Cookie, Naked Dave here. I have your clubs finished.
C: Big deal! I needed them yesterday and besides that, I got a new golf outfit and the grips need to be yellow.
ND: I'm sorry but it takes 24 hours for the epoxy to cure properly. I’m going to give them to the kid down the street.
Click.......
