Dave's Take: NO1 UN Series Grips

[GolfSpy Dave 1,561]

Introducing the UN series.  A hybrid grip with the signature velvety sticky touch of NO1 Grip. 

This grip combines a sticky, solid feel in the upper hand area, and a delicate softer feel in the lower hand area, which provides an unmatched sense of stability and confidence.  UN series promotes light and consistent grip pressure, which leads to a smoother swing, improved distance, and control.

• Available Round
• Material: Elastomer
• Weight: UN series 50g (±1g)
•                  UN Light 44g (±1g) Pink, Shocking pink
• Men's Standard

My Third Shot at NO1

It was way back in 2011 when I first ran a set of NO1 Model 48 grips through the old GolfSpy Dave review process. It’s fun to look back at my early reviews to see how the golf industry has changed over time. One of the coolest things about the Model 48 grips was that they came in lots of colors. Such a spectrum selection would not move the needle as much these days, but as many of you remember, there was a time not too long ago when your choice of grip color consisted of black or black.

I took my next spin with NO1 grips in 2015 when they released the Model 50 Pro grips. At the time, I considered the Model 50 Pro to be one of the best grips that I had ever put on a club. It had a great shape, tackiness, and overall feel in my hands. I could tell right away they it was also a durability upgrade over the Model 48. I really thought that the Model 50 Pro grips would last a while.

As it turns out, I was not wrong. I played last week with a friend who was using the set of irons that I had gripped with the NO1 Model 50 Pros, and those grips were still in use, and looking damn near perfect. As one who regrips about once a year, I was amazed that he still had those grips on from 2015. All he did was occasionally clean them with dish soap and water. Unbelievable.

And so today we take a look at a third model of NO1 grip, the newly released UN series. I’ve slapped them on my Srixons, and am ready to share with you what the UN is all about.

A New Decade of Dominance

Golf Pride’s New Decade Multi-Compound grips have impacted the golf grip industry perhaps more than any other grip. I'm going to go out on a ledge of craziness and call the NDMC the Anser of modern grips.

Yep, that just happened. Sorry Tour Velvet...

Keep the torches untorched for a second and hear me out. When we look at putter companies, nearly all of them make some kind of Anser variant. It’s really a necessity, as the consumer wants that head shape, and should a company want to sell putters, they had better provide the customer with what they want. Think about the upcoming Scotty Cameron Tel3 rerelease. You have two Anser Newport heads, and a cool flow-neck mallet. I’ll give you one guess as to why the Newports are there and not a Laguna and a Del Mar 2.

Like the Anser, Golf Pride’s NDMC grips have become iconic, and highly desirable to the playing public. Like the Anser with putter companies, grip companies have paid attention to this consumer trend, and now most companies feature some kind of NDMC-ish grip where the upper and lower portions of the grip feature different materials and textures. These new grips are typically not just copies, as like with the Anser situation, these companies are also taking the original New Decade design and putting their own spin on it.

“Adopting” and improving on a working design may be the most prevalent product plan in the golf industry, be it putters, drivers, gloves, or grips. Wheels get tweaked far more often than re-invented…

With all of that in mind, I bet you can guess the general design of NO1’s new UN series grip. Yep, you’ll find different tactile situations at the top and the bottom of the grip, and like the Anser making putter shops not named PING, NO1 has put their own spin on the design, perhaps even improving on the original concept.

A Tale of Two Textures

One thing that the UN series grip is not is a multi-compound grip. The entire grip is made out of the same elastomer material. Elastomer is rubber for those of you out there without Google.

What NO1 has done is make the UN grip more of a multi-texture grip, and in doing so, they were able to achieve the firmer upper/softer lower composition that we associate with the more traditional multi-compound grips.

Those of you who spent points for ranks in putter face milling knowledge will immediately get how NO1 has accomplished this feat. When a putter face is deep milled, the amount of metal that actually contacts the ball at impact is reduced. This interaction will be perceived by the person putting as a softer impact experience when compared to a putter without the deep milling.

When you look at the texture patterns on the NO1 UN series grip, you should notice that the texture on the lower section is far more aggressive than the top, with the holes being deeper and wider on the lower half.

Think again about the putter and the milling. If you have larger holes on the bottom section, you will actually have less rubber touching the (typically) right hand, and thus it will feel softer. Crazy parallel there, huh?

In addition to a less prolific texture pattern, NO1 has also added an additional layer of elastomer on the top section which increases overall firmness as well.

It’s grip wizardry. One material, but two different tactile experiences.

Playing The UN Series

I love sharing the technical side of these with you, but at $16 a grip, what you really need to know about is how they play. With that goal in mind, I went grips-ons with the Srixons and went to the course. While all of the following is, of course, subjective, I did have a few key observations worth sharing.

Comfy, Comfy, Comfy

I love the feel of these grips. As a point of reference, prior to installing these, my irons were gripped with Lamkin 3GEN Ace grips.

With that in mind, I definitely found the NO1 UN series to feel softer overall, with the lower region giving a nice bit of squish. It’s a welcome squish with these grips, at no point do they feel too soft. They are soft enough to mesh in with the fingers, but not so soft that you’d get waves of wiggle with the club.

The great thing about my game these days is that I get to take all kinds of shots from all places on the course. Admittedly, that’s not so great for scoring, but it is great for testing grips on a variety of shots. Under all conditions, these grips felt great and performed as needed.

Grip performance is absolutely a tough thing to measure. Outside of falling off the club, or spinning in the hand, it’s tough for a grip to have an immediate failure. In this situation, I measured subtle performance in two ways.

First, these did not promote finger damage like I will sometimes get with the 3GENs and even NDMC. No bandaids needed to play that second 18, just the usual Advil and alcohol.

Second, and most telling, is that I basically forgot that I was playing with new grips about two holes into the round. I don’t know if there is a higher compliment that I can give these grips than that. For me, they were so comfortable, and functional, that they just vanished into my subconscious while I played.

A grip that rubs roughly, or suddenly slips, is not a grip that you would ignore during play. The UN grips were totally un-obtrusive and un-der my radar during play.

Fancy Colors Rule

You have a bunch of choices when you are shopping for the UN Series grips. While the lower hand will likely be navy, you can get a number of bright colors on the top hand. Of the samples received, I really liked the light blue, and would probably game the white or yellow as well. I’m a colored grip guy. I’d actually like to see some of the more esoteric color combinations that NO1 has on their Series 48 and Series 50 grips. If these came in purple/white, I’d probably buy a case of them.

Should you prefer a more reserved grip palette, you can go with the mundane navy on navy combo, or the actually-very-badass all black design.

Longevity

I’ve only had a few rounds and some range time with these, but they are wear-free so far. Hopefully, they hold up like the 50 Pro grips. I’ll circle back to this section over the next few months and add photos should any wear issues develop. For now, all seems solid.

Thumbs Up for UN

Overall, I’m quite impressed with these grips. They are able to give you that upper/lower hand tactile difference that you look for in a multi-compound grip, without using multiple compounds. Folks who play without a glove, but don’t like the chord roughness in typical multi-compounds should definitely check these out.

The vanish-from-consciousness nature of these grips was especially welcome. That’s one less thing for me to think about when I am playing. I don’t want to think about the alternator when I am driving, I just want the alternator to do its job under the hood while I drive.

The NO1 UN Series grips have been UN-believably good so far.
 

 

 

[Nihonsei 1]

Lost me at $16 per. I did not even get to see if Purple was around there somewhere. I would pay that for a custom choose your color pattern, even the Black with a Purple paintfill over the White accents would do. Thanks for Your time, explanations and the in depth review, also the Anser analogies!

[Tarheelvolvo 428]

Great write-up. How would you think they perform in sweaty, humid conditions? Still just as sticky and comfy, or are we getting into the finger damage range? 

 

Also agree with @Nihonsei, though, on the price. $16/grip, or almost $225 for a full regrip, can get pricey for your whole bag...

 

[GolfSpy Dave 1,561]

Great write-up. How would you think they perform in sweaty, humid conditions? Still just as sticky and comfy, or are we getting into the finger damage range? 
 
Also agree with [mention=78716]Nihonsei[/mention], though, on the price. $16/grip, or almost $225 for a full regrip, can get pricey for your whole bag...
 

I wish I could give a solid answer on sweaty play but it’s dry here. I’ll get them damp next round and see what happens.


Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[Thin2win 1,588]

I currently have no1 43s on my clubs, and have used Iomic prior to them for the last decade. $16 a grip isn't too harsh in my world, as they just don't wear out. Through 40+ rounds and at least that many range sessions each year, I get 3-4 years of off a set. No other grips I have tried last me more then one. 

So from that perspective, they cost less than tour velvets. 

 

As for wet /humid, I've found them to be really good. So I'll be curious how this new series holds up and weather's. 

 

[MattF 8,799]

Love the look but....the $$$$$$ is all wrong.

I guess I'll keep playing my Pure DTX's for less than half the price.

[Nmrfgomes 69]

Loved your review. As for the grips, is something i´m currently looking at so i will check these out

[HardcoreLooper 4,629]

On 7/31/2019 at 8:33 PM, GolfSpy Dave said:

I wish I could give a solid answer on sweaty play but it’s dry here. I’ll get them damp next round and see what happens.


Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

Send a couple of sets of these to @Tarheelvolvo and me here in Richmond, VA, and we'll let you know if they pass the sweaty palms test.

Would love to see some William and Mary green and gold.  But unless they start working with Arccos to accommodate the in-grip sensors, I'll be sticking with the RELs.  But seeing as how I hate regripping clubs, I'd be OK with paying $16/grip if they'll last forever.

 

[Tarheelvolvo 428]

13 hours ago, HardcoreLooper said:

Send a couple of sets of these to @Tarheelvolvo and me here in Richmond, VA, and we'll let you know if they pass the sweaty palms test.

Would love to see some William and Mary green and gold.  But unless they start working with Arccos to accommodate the in-grip sensors, I'll be sticking with the RELs.  But seeing as how I hate regripping clubs, I'd be OK with paying $16/grip if they'll last forever.

 

 no kidding...It's only been low 90's with 70% humidity all week 

[gilligan 6]

Loved this article and I am getting about to that time of needing to replace the grips on my irons. Currently using GP MCC4 aligns on woods and on my irons are Super Stroke S-Tech grips on my irons (came on my new irons). I have been surprised that I've liked the S-Techs, but they are comfortable. Despite the price tag for these No-1 UN's, I am now seriously going to consider them due to their long life. I was thinking about Lambkin Dr-Tec's or going go to GP aligns, but this article has me thinking..... 

[Thin2win 1,588]

31 minutes ago, gilligan said:

Loved this article and I am getting about to that time of needing to replace the grips on my irons. Currently using GP MCC4 aligns on woods and on my irons are Super Stroke S-Tech grips on my irons (came on my new irons). I have been surprised that I've liked the S-Techs, but they are comfortable. Despite the price tag for these No-1 UN's, I am now seriously going to consider them due to their long life. I was thinking about Lambkin Dr-Tec's or going go to GP aligns, but this article has me thinking..... 

I do love the Lamkin Dr-Tec's for feel, but I will easily go through 3 sets of them before going though a set of the NO 1s. So after a few years, the NO1s work out to be less expensive.

 

Granted, if you have extreme club swapping tendencies like some forum members here, I wouldn't do the NO1s. If you are swapping clubs every few months, I don't think they are worth it. But if you keep your set for a few years, they are a great option. 

[HardcoreLooper 4,629]

11 hours ago, Tarheelvolvo said:

 no kidding...It's only been low 90's with 70% humidity all week 

I think my youngest and I are going to drive out to Lexington to play tomorrow, where I hope it'll be a little cooler.

[Mick Close 40]

Excellent review, I had not actually heard of the No1 grips but I would certainly consider getting them after reading this. I will be interested in how they perform in the wet, so please keep the information coming.