top three mistakes

[McGolf]

I am working a topic for a video on my youtube channel and live stream (wanted to put that out first for clarity).

The top three mistakes clubmakers make. 

What were the first three mistake you made starting out building golf clubs? tools, techniques, work spaces etc. all are in play. 

when there is enough input Ill address them to help future clubmakers going forward. 

Thanks in advance

[GolfSpy_APH]

I would say just being organized enough and planned there process out. 

Not three things, but it certainly helped later on when I had more experience and planned out there process with things in place and in order to ensure the process was done properly and timely.

[tommc23]

I know my first set I built this year my mistakes were

1. Going off of the club lengths of shaft that was sent to me cut and ended up 1/4 inch long. Only noticed after I had grips on the clubs

2. putting too much epoxy on the shaft compared to what you put on, I should have watched a video of yours first,

3. Not paying attention to the grips as much as I should have.

I only built one set so the build was new to me, but I did learn a lot and have watched a lot from your videos so I’m excited to build another set knowing more now than I did when I bought the components.

[Siamese Moose]

I don't know if these were my first three mistakes (too many to count, and it's been a while), but the these are the most embarassing ones:

• After playing around with pulling and reshafting steel shafts, I tried graphite. With a torch. What's a shaft puller?
• Not making absolutely certain the new grip is fully pushed onto the shaft, not just where it starts getting hard.
• For me it's, "Measure five times, cut once."

[David Leighton Reid]

1.  The first time I attempted to install a Super Stroke putter grip, it became stuck about half way on.  I had to take the putter to an experienced club builder who used an air compressor to fix my mistake.

2.  I mixed up epoxy under a desk lamp and the heat from the lamp caused the epoxy to harden very quickly.

3.  Measure twice and cut once, instead of #$%^, I cut it too short.

 

[McGolf]

I suppose I should have posted also 

My first mistake was buying the wrong tip shaft for the head to install

my  second was trying to glue it in.

My third was hurting myself going to get the head after it flew off, LOL that was more pride than anything else. However the third was knowing what the real length of the club was or how figure it out.

Edited September 27, 2022 by McGolf

[jaskanski]

I guess the 3 biggest mistakes are measure, measure and measure.

Tip sizes, bore sizes, butt width - don't take anything as written - measure it.

Head weight, shaft weight, grip weight, any weight - measure it.

Length, loft, lie, bounce, offset, face angle - measure it.

As for flex, cpm, bend point, etc - oh boy....don't make me explain it again.

[McGolf]

I was going to add some of the "most unique" methods of a club repair, 

I was suggested, once, to remove a club head get a WOK and some play ground sand. 

Place the club in the sand and heat up the WOK and the then pull it. That way the paint is protected.......

Ya I thought the same thing.

SO far its

grip and the install

Measuring the club

how its put together.

 

anymore? like to hear the stories.

 

[cnosil]

1 minute ago, McGolf said:

I was going to add some of the "most unique" methods of a club repair, 

I was suggested, once, to remove a club head get a WOK and some play ground sand. 

Place the club in the sand and heat up the WOK and the then pull it. That way the paint is protected.......

Ya I thought the same thing.

SO far its

grip and the install

Measuring the club

how its put together.

 

anymore? like to hear the stories.

 

I don’t do a lot of building but have done a few club building things.  
 

1. When installing grips make sure you used enough solvent; the grips can get suck and only be partially installed.  Not having a needle gun to inject more solvent means a wasted grip.

2.  There is such think as too much epoxy.  Too much can cause stress at the ferrule and cause the shaft to break.  Not fun at a driving range when you have to get everyone to stop hitting so you can track down a clubhead.  
 

3. Don’t use too much air pressure when blowing grips on or off.  If the grip happens to get a little stuck, it will inflate like a balloon resulting in a wasted grip.  

[fixyurdivot]

Great topic/thread @McGolf!!   As I haven't really gotten started into my DIY club building, except for re-gripping using air, I cannot offer any hands on examples.  But, I did build fly rods for many years and some of the same do's and don'ts apply. 

• when using two part epoxy adhesives, accurate measurements of both parts and thorough mixing are critical.
• avoid "fast cure" options as they leave insufficient time for application and generally do not provide the best cured properties anyway.
• make sure you have a well thought out build sequence plan when getting to the bonding step

I'll be checking in on this thread frequently to see what advice and common mistakes our experienced members come up with.  I'm betting we'll see a few rise to the top of the list.

[RickyBobby_PR]

This thread is one do a few recent ones that explain the difference between mgs and wrx. 

In 10 days there’s been 8 replies not including the ops. Same op with same thread on wrx has 16 in 6 hours.

[GolfSpy_APH]

15 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

This thread is one do a few recent ones that explain the difference between mgs and wrx. 

In 10 days there’s been 8 replies not including the ops. Same op with same thread on wrx has 16 in 6 hours.

There is no question we are a much smaller community. Activity here is far lower. That has nearly always been the case. We do hope for forum growth, but it will take time still. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

26 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

There is no question we are a much smaller community. Activity here is far lower. That has nearly always been the case. We do hope for forum growth, but it will take time still. 

Don’t want to derail the thread but I agree it’s a lot smaller community but the issue is the active members aren’t nearly as active across the forum compared to the active members on wrx. 
 

There are numerous people on this forum who dable in club building for either their own stuff or as a side business of some sort. None of them posted in this thread. There are multiple people dabling in club building posting in the Otto phlex thread that havent posted in here and for some of them that project isn’t their first build.

Growth has to start from within. 

[null]

 

1 hour ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

This thread is one do a few recent ones that explain the difference between mgs and wrx. 

In 10 days there’s been 8 replies not including the ops. Same op with same thread on wrx has 16 in 6 hours.

Sometimes we all have to look in the mirror and ask "What am I doing to help grow the forum"

MGS Forum is never going to be WRX.  It is never going to be THP.  We are working on carving out our own existence and re-branding the forum.  It is going to take time, but I think with the mod group we have now we are on the right path.  

[MacTourney]

If you're building for others and a frail elderly person, driving an old beat up truck,  seemingly all alone in the world, whose only salvation was hitting a small bucket of balls almost daily, who takes 10 minutes to walk 20 yards, eats his lunch in the back of his truck next to the tee of his labor,  requests you to build a driver costing hundreds of dollars that will restore their lost distance even though when watching them swing their current driver their total carry and roll distance is less than 100 yards,  build it for them.  Pay for it yourself if needed, but build it.   

[null]

Getting the thread back on topic:

I am not a club maker but any means, but for awhile I dabbled in doing my own reshafting.

Biggest mistakes were:

Using the correct amount of heat - know when to use a torch vs heat gun.  I ruined a couple shafts and adapters with too much heat

Not caring about swing weight - I never even had a swing weight scale and when I put some swapped shafts in my irons I messed everything up.  I thought it was as simple as taking out one shaft and putting in another.  I was wrong

If you are bending a putter loft/lie, do so BEFORE you put on a new grip. 

[MacTourney]

On 10/4/2022 at 9:54 AM, fixyurdivot said:

Great topic/thread @McGolf!!   As I haven't really gotten started into my DIY club building, except for re-gripping using air, I cannot offer any hands on examples.  But, I did build fly rods for many years and some of the same do's and don'ts apply. 

• when using two part epoxy adhesives, accurate measurements of both parts and thorough mixing are critical.
• avoid "fast cure" options as they leave insufficient time for application and generally do not provide the best cured properties anyway.
• make sure you have a well thought out build sequence plan when getting to the bonding step

I'll be checking in on this thread frequently to see what advice and common mistakes our experienced members come up with.  I'm betting we'll see a few rise to the top of the list.

Good bullet points.  When I started building I bought a bunch of used stuff from a local thrift store for a couple bucks per club and took them apart, fun and learning combined, but clubs were pretty basic at the time, not sure how much an old beat to crap mult-hosel adjustment club might cost at the thrift.   Consider using aluminum oxide sand sprinkled onto the epoxied tip, will hold like an elephant.    

[MacTourney]

On 9/27/2022 at 8:55 AM, Siamese Moose said:

After playing around with pulling and reshafting steel shafts, I tried graphite. With a torch. What's a shaft puller?

That's funny.  I learned real fast about not trying to twist them out too.   

Another learned funny moment looked like those snake fireworks that once lit expand like a black snake.  A graphite shaft was broken off flush to top of hosel,  I heated the hosel like no tomorrow and was pleasantly surprised watching it expand outward and outward, great no drilling, until finally there was a loud pop and it exploded out of the hosel just like a little missile about 10 feet away or so onto a rug.  By the time I got to the hot graphite snake it burned its impression into the rug.  We all laughed at that one.  Lesson learned, don't stand in front of hosel.  

 

 

[Reesedw]

Great topic @McGolf, heck i made a mistake this season.. I installed New grips, no biggie, but i forgot to take into account the added weight of the Arrcos system. Fortunately i was able to get used to the higher swing weight.. But could have been real bad if I couldn't get used to it.. Also luckily I used air so if needed I can remove them easily..

1) measure length, weight and size of EVERYTHING.. 

2) use enough solvent and get the grips fully on.. Duh.. 

3) ask for advice prior to if you have ANY doubts. This will save lots of time and money.. 

 

[Bobbers]

I'm so glad we're far past having to whip ferrules on woods.  I'm also glad no to have to drill out the pins holding iron heads and then repin them after reshafting.

Graphite shafts were a learning experience.  My now ancient shaft puller and having taught myself to have a "light touch" with a micro torch have been godsends compared to the industrial heat gun and, yeah, I'll admit it, twisting a head a wee bit only to find out why they said not to do that...heh heh.

And odd as it might sound?  I don't miss having to apply shaft labels on steel shafts one bit.

[McGolf]

13 hours ago, Bobbers said:

I'm so glad we're far past having to whip ferrules on woods.  I'm also glad no to have to drill out the pins holding iron heads and then repin them after reshafting.

Graphite shafts were a learning experience.  My now ancient shaft puller and having taught myself to have a "light touch" with a micro torch have been godsends compared to the industrial heat gun and, yeah, I'll admit it, twisting a head a wee bit only to find out why they said not to do that...heh heh.

And odd as it might sound?  I don't miss having to apply shaft labels on steel shafts one bit.

Funny that was on my test to certify as a clubmaker. First time think it would be my last. But I’ve had to call the skill up a few times. Way more slow moving when you don’t do it for a while

[Bobbers]

16 minutes ago, McGolf said:

Funny that was on my test to certify as a clubmaker. First time think it would be my last. But I’ve had to call the skill up a few times. Way more slow moving when you don’t do it for a while

Biggest thing I learned, my initial big "mistake" was not taking the time necessary to do it right.  I've been at it a long time but I still sort of talk myself through the steps I'm going to follow so I have the right tools and materials in the right place.  It's a "go slow to go fast" sort of thing.  Some things, like regripping, are in the muscle memory, but I still pay attention to make sure it's all the way on the shaft, etc.

[JerBooth]

18 hours ago, Golfspy_Lukes said:

 

Sometimes we all have to look in the mirror and ask "What am I doing to help grow the forum"

MGS Forum is never going to be WRX.  It is never going to be THP.  We are working on carving out our own existence and re-branding the forum.  It is going to take time, but I think with the mod group we have now we are on the right path.  

I totally agree.
As long as we all work together and support the bigger picture, we'll be fine!!

[Rtracymog]

Biggest mistakes:

1. Not doing the ferrule correctly where it became scuffed and ugly. I needed to leave well enough along and I didn't.

2. Relying on all websites to have accurate shaft info. Needed a .355 shaft for a wedge and bought a TT GS (which I found out was only made in .370), but the website (Hireko) was wrong.

3. Aligning shaft graphics is tough. I thought I was on it, but it must have shifted while curing.

4. Trying to take a tip off of a driver shaft without a shaft puller. Twisted it too much and ended with a very stable, but very short and light shaft.

[RichL85]

Back in the day, I may or may not have went a little too aggressive sanding the tip of a V2 shaft to install into a driver. Turned a 0.350 tip into a 0.335 tip that I didn't need to. Luckily the head barely held on when the epoxy failed so I didn't have to chase the head too far. 

Air compressor did not work for me. Got the grips on fine, but they wouldn't stay put. They kept sliding up the handle and I may have accidentally bent an iron shaft tapping it against the ground trying to get that grip to stay put. Back to solvent for me.

[McGolf]

Guys , thanks for the input. This is a 42 min video to talk about 3 mistakes, there is a bunch of other info if you watch / listen

Again thanks and there is enough information to do a a second one of these concerning tools, work flow etc.

[tommc23]

34 minutes ago, McGolf said:

Guys , thanks for the input. This is a 42 min video to talk about 3 mistakes, there is a bunch of other info if you watch / listen

Again thanks and there is enough information to do a a second one of these concerning tools, work flow etc.

Beat you to it Jim just saw your post and I already watched it. Nice video I liked the way to measure length without having something specific for golf clubs thanks for that