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Wish me luck -- not really, but maybe-- first full set build


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A little poor man's FLO action.  😆  Zip ties, laser pointer, and a cardboard box leftover from this weekends garage organization.  😀

 

Driver

311062546_PXG_LogoSmall.jpg.1ff58b767d1fb1cdfeac9a387718766e.jpg  0811XT -- Tensei CK Orange 60

Woods

PXG_Logo Small.jpg 0211 3W -- Tensei AV Raw Blue

Hybrids

image.png.374545efa45a29aed00287677e783604.png  0317X 2&4 -- Tensei AV Raw Blue 

Irons 

:srixon-small: ZX7 4/AW -- C-Taper Lite 110

Wedges

:cleveland-small:  RTX Zipcore 56 Mid @55° -- TT DG Spinner

Putter

Test.png DF2.1 or Link.1 -- Accra

Ball

:srixon-small:  Zstar Diamond

 

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On 12/11/2021 at 4:41 PM, Syks7 said:

First full set build for me.  I decided to rebuild my original set of TM R9s and Kirklands as a practice run for future builds.  These clubs are a backup set that lives in the mountains at our cabin so I don't have to schlep (take up car space) when we go for the weekend.  I figured I'd bring it in line flex and length wise to my gamers so that at least there's a little consistency. 

After much research into the budget realm of shafts I found that the TT score LT shafts are going to give me a similar weight, feel, and trajectory for my tempo to the Elevate Tours I've been playing (at least I hope so).  So I'm going with those and vanilla GP Tour velvet grips. For the Kirkland's I'm just using the TT DG wedge pulls from my cbx2s.

This should be fun.  I've spent a ton of time organizing, weighing, and prepping so far.  Next I'm going to match shafts to heads based on a rough component swing weight calculation.  (Hopefully should get me close).  I'll spine and flo, then tip trim, dry fit, mark the butt end and trim for length.  Then it'll be time to dry fit again for swing weight.  After that it'll be go time on epoxy.   

Any advice on steps I may have missed or how many clubs to epoxy (Golfworks Tour set + epoxy) in each batch would be much appreciated. 

PXL_20211211_212449678.jpg.2bf3fa33d35d9b7f2983245b597cb2b7.jpg

PXL_20211211_212500838_MP.jpg.2e94ecebb8f62a2cc1da362d42c9255c.jpg

PXL_20211211_212456702.jpg.e0801cfaad44fdffb9db4bafb54fd781.jpg

Good luck and have fun with the project!

Rick

 

 

Left Hand, 

Driver; PXG 0311XF Cypher 50 gr Senior  
5 wood; Ping 425, Senior Shaft 55 gr       
7 wood; Ping 425, Senior Shaft 55 gr      
5 hybrid; Cally Steelhead, Hazardous R2     
Irons; Mizuno JPX 923HM 7-GW Recoil 460 F2
Wedges; Titleist S9 54*, Mizuno SW 56*

Putter; Waaay too many to list

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Hosels already clean and prepped? What are you using to prep the shafts?

Follow my golf journey to break into the 80s

Tester for the Titleist TSi Driver

Spring 2020 MGS Tester for the Fujikura Motore X Shaft

Updated 07/15/2022
Driver:callaway-small: Rogue St Max LS - Autoflex
Fairway Woods:callaway-small: Rogue Max St 3HL and 7 Wood
Irons:mizuno-small: JPX 921 Hot Metal 5 to AW - Aerotech Steelfiber i95 Stiff parallel tip
Wedges:ping-small: Glide 4.0 54 and 58
Putter:  :ping-small: PLD Custom Kushin 4

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11 hours ago, dlow206 said:

Hosels already clean and prepped? What are you using to prep the shafts?

Yes.  Though my plan is to hit them with the brush again right before.   For shaft prep I've just been using a dremel with a cylinder attachment.  And basic little harbor freight cutoff wheel for trimming.  Both are slow but work really well and are easily controlled. It works really well and is very easily controlled.  Slow is no big deal for me since I'm not in a hurry and am trying to be meticulous.  I'm going through a surprising amount of frog tape though.  😁

Driver

311062546_PXG_LogoSmall.jpg.1ff58b767d1fb1cdfeac9a387718766e.jpg  0811XT -- Tensei CK Orange 60

Woods

PXG_Logo Small.jpg 0211 3W -- Tensei AV Raw Blue

Hybrids

image.png.374545efa45a29aed00287677e783604.png  0317X 2&4 -- Tensei AV Raw Blue 

Irons 

:srixon-small: ZX7 4/AW -- C-Taper Lite 110

Wedges

:cleveland-small:  RTX Zipcore 56 Mid @55° -- TT DG Spinner

Putter

Test.png DF2.1 or Link.1 -- Accra

Ball

:srixon-small:  Zstar Diamond

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Congrats and good luck...

Lots of masking tape, good, it comes in handy for many uses.   Micrometer or scale is nice to have also.   

Labelling each shaft with the intended iron number is helpful when doing whole set like this.  Wrap tape near butt end and write number on tape.   I've done the "glue the wrong head on wrong shaft thing".  This can be quite frustrating.   Having to take apart and clean up and freshly assembled club is a mess.   

Staying organized helps too, like starting with longest iron and go through to the shortest.

Surgical gloves are good to use to avoid getting glue and/or solvents on your hands.   

Lots of paper towel, solvents (big naptha fan), acetone, cotton balls.   Etc.

Use tape to protect the surface of the shafts above final position of ferrule when roughing up shaft for epoxy.  No need to rough up shaft for entire length of ferrule, half-way up will be fine.   

Also you can use a piece of tape as a mark to know the ferrule and head have been installed far enough up the shaft after installing shaft/ferrule into head.  (1.25" of the shaft into the head is best, some guys are OK with 1.125", but I sleep better with 1.25").

Rough up the ferrule on the inside, round file is good for this.

It is normal to try to dry fit ferrule, head, maybe tip weight, shaft but don't try to push the ferrule too high, it can get stuck and be a pain to remove.

You will find that the wet epoxy when applied to ferrule and shaft,  will act like a lubricant, will help move the ferrule up the shaft.

If the ferrule and head need to travel a little farther, you can turn the club upside and tap the butt end of the shaft into the floor, sometimes the tap needs to applied with more force, an nice, concentrated pop.  You might want to do this no matter what.

Watch out for trapped air when putting head on shaft tip.  The head will be repelled back off the shaft.  You can feel this.  Repeately push and rotate the head, eventually you can hear air pop out of the butt end and/or the sides of the head.   There won't be that pressure fighting against you anymore.

Keep a small sample of unused epoxy from each batch of epoxy you mix to make sure it cured properly (kicked off).   Your sample should be hard after curing time has passed.  If it is stil soft and tacky after 24 hours, that is bad.  

After assembly, clean up the excess epoxy as best as you can.  No epoxy on the shaft, head or ferrule.  Heavily soaked paper towel in naptha works very well.  If the epoxy is allowed to dry on the head, shaft or ferrule, it is a major pain to remove.  Get it off while it is still wet.

Again congratulations and best wishes.

 

Edited by SlowNLow
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tour set gels pretty quick. Line your self up, tips prepped, ferrules ready. Hosels clean paper towels are the ready etc for all the clubs. 

When mixing is complete watch for the glue to get thick or very sticky. At that point stop and make another batch. I Would think you will get about 4 clubs a batch. just a guess.

Driver - 44.5" 5.0 flex 10.5 deg Graphite Design XC 6S GP MCC4+ 1 deg closed

Irons - 5-pw, GW stnd length 5.0 flex same grip 1 deg flat. Type low medium offset cavity back, no diggers

Wedges - 56 and 60 tour grind wedge spinner and mcc4+ grip 2 flat 10 and 8 in bounce

Putter - Makefield VS LH

Ball - truvis

Carried in a Sun Mountain C-130 USA bag - BE PROUD.

HC - LH but 85 is a good number, playing in Ohio.

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On 12/14/2021 at 11:28 AM, Syks7 said:

A little poor man's FLO action.

 

... I will add some food for thought on Flo. First, if you want to go through the process and find Flo on any given shaft, knock yourself out as I am not trying to dissuade anyone from being diligent in their club making. But talking to the VP of Engineering that designed the original NV shaft and many other very successful shafts he told me something that was so simple yet made complete sense. Every shaft he tested from the cheapest to the most expensive had perfect Flo on the first pass. Meaning the first pullback and twang went straight. Once the shaft started bouncing back and forth, the cheaper shaft would often start to wobble where the more expensive shafts wobbled much less or not at all. Since we only swing a shaft once it makes sense that first line is all that counts and any subsequent wobble would be irrelevant to the shot. Hmmmm that was a game changer for me as I was Flo'ing every shaft. He went on to say they found no difference in ball flight when they Flo'ed shafts so they stopped doing it. 

... It was easy to read between the lines as he didn't come right out and say it, but Flo can illustrate the quality of a shaft but it should not effect performance. Ymmv ...

Driver:     :taylormade-small:  Qi10 10.5* ... Ventus Red Velocore 5R
Fairway:  :cobra-small: Aerojet 3/5 ... Kai'li Blue 60R
Hybrids:  :ping-small:      430 Hybrid 22*... Steelfiber 780Hy 
                  :taylormade-small:  DHy #4 ... Diamana LTD 65r 
Irons:       :titleist-small:         '23 T200 5-Pw ... Steelfiber i95r
Wedges:  :taylormade-small: Vokey 50*/54*/58* ... Steelfiber i95r
Putter:     :cobra-small:  Sport-60 33" 
Ball:           Maxfli     Maxfli Tour

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A couple of things come to mind here. First is that you want to add a weight to the tip of the shaft when you FLO each shaft. About 250 grams is what I use, half way between a driver head and a wedge head weight. Second is to place a piece of string around the tip of the shaft and pull the "String" not the shaft, so you get a perfect release of the shaft without your fingers effecting the test.  

You should also think about "Trimming" the shafts to length "before" you do the FLO testing, as trimming can effect the Flo results. 

You might want to do a Spine alignment on the shafts before you FLO test them. I've built lots of clubs over the last 28 years, and I have found that most if not all shafts witll FLO in TWO alignments. One when the spine is at 12 O'clock and one when it' is rotated 90*, either to 3 or 9 position. If you ONLY do the FLO test, you will NOT know if the spine is aligned to have the shaft play at it's stiffest or it's softest. And the difference can be a flex worth of difference. So you will want "All" of your shafts to be installed with the spine aligned the same way if you wnat all your clubs to be of the same flex when you are done. 

   As for whether the FLO alignment is worth it or not I'd have to say, YES it is. Every shaft company rep I've talked to said the same thing,  "the newer shafts are much better than what you could get years ago, and the newer shafts do NOT need to be FLO aligned"  That is what the tech reps say, but going on my many years of club making experience I have to say that this advice is "Pure Gargage"   I've tested a few clubs as they came from the factory, only to hit a big fade or slice with the club, Then I did a FLO alignment on the factory shaft and end up with a club that hit the ball dead straight after the Spine and FLO alignment was done. Ive seen this happen with dozens of clubs that were brought in for shaft work. Before the alignment the golfer couldn't find a fairway to save his life, and after the spine and FLO work they were hitting 75% of the fairways with the same club, with the same shaft. So YES, it makes a difference. 

I would also recommend using "SLOW" setting epoxy when building a lot of clubs as it is both "Stronger" and will make assembly of a set of clubs much easier on your nerves. 

All my clubs are custom built with aftermarket shafts that have been spine and FLO aligned for max performance every swing. 

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It looks like you have covered all the basic steps and a few more to boot!  Having built and rebuilt clubs for many years I will weigh the components and label them all.  Assuming all of the raw shafts are within a gram or two of each other, you should be able to use one for any head. If there is a great difference in grip weight I match the heaviest ones with the head most out of the progression from say 4 iron to A wedge.  I don't know the actual weights, but the difference between should be a gram or less between 4-5, 5-6, etc.  Spine finding is a not a bad idea. Since these are for yourself, it is worth the time and effort, if just for the feeling that you did all you could on your build. 

As far as the Epoxying goes, make sure you have all your ducks in line before you start. I always have the alcohol and toweling ready to clean the head-ferrule joint and wipe down the shaft just in case you touched it with any epoxy.  I typically use the 25 hour cure epoxy so I make up enough for the whole set and have some to spare.  I didn't notice if you have shafting beads on your bench, but they are very helpful in getting shafts centered in the head.  Align your heads with the mark on the shaft, give it a final wipe down, and set it carefully down and walk away.  Good luck in your efforts and let us know how they perform.

WITB - A Cobra Speedback Driver, Cobra fairway 3 wood, Infinity 7 wood, two Golfworks 20* and 23* Iron hybrids, Bridgestone Irons from 6i through PW, e  Infinity wedges, and a Heavy Putter. All but the putter have various UST/Mamiya shafts. I assembled all the clubs and shafts myself as a Custom Club Builder.

 

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Lots of good advice has been given.  Ditto on organization -

  • Label all heads and shaft with tape
  • Keep a notebook and record lengths (before and after installation), weights, and anything else you might want to know 2 years from now
  • Clean the inside if the hosels with a wire hosel cleaning brush, or rolled sandpaper, then use acetone on a Q-tip to clean out residue 
  • Alcohol wipes (aka lens cleaners) are handy for wiping excess epoxy.
  • Wear clothes that you wouldn't mind getting permanently stained with epoxy 
  • Keep the epoxy tubes away from heat when the weather warms. Move them inside the house.
  • If is cold in your shop/garage, move the clubs inside to let the epoxy set-up.  Keep them out of the way so they don't get knocked over.
  • Tell your wife that you're  thinking about learning to fly and maybe buying an airplane, then say, "Or maybe I'll just play around building golf clubs. What do you think?"

Stay on Target!    94602_x-wing_512x512.png.e6fd366aa256fea54f342bdfaa860cb7.png

pxg-logo-freelogovectors.net_-400x400.png.fd7f603a83c91f76fed4c6245b967a52.png 0811X Gen 4 Driver

pxg-logo-freelogovectors.net_-400x400.png.fd7f603a83c91f76fed4c6245b967a52.png 0311XF Gen 5 Fairway 4 Wood

    Maltby KE4 TC HyWay Utility Wood

  image.png.471e92969c871a065786f650138fd517.pngEQ1-NX Single Length Irons (LW - 7)

  image.png.471e92969c871a065786f650138fd517.pngEQ1-NX Single Length Hybrids (4, 5, 6)

image.png.0d2df83eb1bcf82eb1adec6302909991.png    MEZZ.1 Putter (2022 tester)

image.png.43257b3b93a88cb87b3dfc1ae39a025a.png  Tour Ball X

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I like what I see.  Congrats on the venture, I hope it turns out well.

 

 

  • Titleist TSi3 Fujikura Speeder NX Blue 60X
  • TaylorMade SIM2 3 wood Fujilkura Ventus Blue 7-X
  • Titleist U505 2 Tensei 1K Black 85 X
  • Titleist T100 4-P Nippon Modus 3 120X
  • PING S159 50-S 55-H 59-T DG X100
  • Vokey SM8 50, SM9 54 & 60  Nippon Modus 3 120s
  • L.A.B. MEZZ Max Broom Accra 47" 79.5*
  • Srixon Z-Star XV 

Currently testing the 2024 PING S159 wedges…

https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/63483-testers-announced-ping-s159-wedges/

Was testing, still loving the 2023 Titleist T100 Irons 4-P

https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/60456-titleist-t-series-irons-2023-forum-review/

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Slowly but surely.  Did not have time over the holidays so I didn't get around to getting everything cut and fitted until today.  Everything is dry fit.  I'll do one last pass with the drill and alcohol to clean up the heads and start epoxying soon.  

@McGolf The piece of fishing line to keep the heads on during dry fitting is a neat trick.

PXL_20220111_205401927_MP.jpg.1139e65cfe13db1295b365c175c52552.jpg

Driver

311062546_PXG_LogoSmall.jpg.1ff58b767d1fb1cdfeac9a387718766e.jpg  0811XT -- Tensei CK Orange 60

Woods

PXG_Logo Small.jpg 0211 3W -- Tensei AV Raw Blue

Hybrids

image.png.374545efa45a29aed00287677e783604.png  0317X 2&4 -- Tensei AV Raw Blue 

Irons 

:srixon-small: ZX7 4/AW -- C-Taper Lite 110

Wedges

:cleveland-small:  RTX Zipcore 56 Mid @55° -- TT DG Spinner

Putter

Test.png DF2.1 or Link.1 -- Accra

Ball

:srixon-small:  Zstar Diamond

 

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Looks like you are on your way to a nice set.

Watch out though, this clubmaking thing turns into an obsession real quick

trust me I know 🙂

Driver - 44.5" 5.0 flex 10.5 deg Graphite Design XC 6S GP MCC4+ 1 deg closed

Irons - 5-pw, GW stnd length 5.0 flex same grip 1 deg flat. Type low medium offset cavity back, no diggers

Wedges - 56 and 60 tour grind wedge spinner and mcc4+ grip 2 flat 10 and 8 in bounce

Putter - Makefield VS LH

Ball - truvis

Carried in a Sun Mountain C-130 USA bag - BE PROUD.

HC - LH but 85 is a good number, playing in Ohio.

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