Golfblogger

I’m in the process of regripping my irons, and boy, what a pain.  Getting the old grips off is no problem, but getting two layers of old tape off of the shafts is very time-consuming.  I’ve tried soaking them in both tape solvent and mineral spirits but neither is particularly effective.  I see Golfsmith has a $16 tool available.  Is there a better way?

Try a hair dryer on its hottest setting. It dries out the tape and the glue and makes it very easy to take off.

I just got five irons prepped.  I’ll try a heat-gun on the next batch.  Thanks!

I tried the heat-gun on three more irons, and it worked a lot better.  It didn’t dry the tape out so much as soften the adhesive so that the tape could be peeled off.  Working in a 60-degree garage probably didn’t help all that much!

Save the money you would have spent at Golfsmith for the shaft removal tool. Take an old club and break the shaft in half. Use a grinder to shape the broken end of the shaft just below the grip into a curve. Now you have basicly the same tool Golfsmith is selling but yours is free. For a few clubs I just use a box cutter and cut strips lenght wise down the shaft. When you get most of the tape off gasoline (outside and not smoking) will remove the residue. Hope this helps.

Ted
jesusislordgolfballmarkers.com

Thanks for the responses.  Changing grips on my clubs is sort of a “rite of spring” for me.  Do you find that gasoline is much better than grip solvent?  It’s probably quite a bit cheaper!

Wow. Gasoline. I think not.

Try mineral spirits from the hardware store. They even make non-smelly versions.

I recycle the spirits. I do the pouring of the liquid over a painter’s roller tray. It catches the spirits and then I pour them back into the can.

You also can get water activated grip tape from a number of shops.

I’d already tried mineral spirits; see my first post.  It didn’t seem to work all that well getting the old tape off, which to me is the biggest PITA factor.

I’ve used gasoline for years. Just like anything else use caution. Mineral spirits works fine too. Both will take of the residue. You still have to get the tape off first. I used gasoline and/or paint thinner in a shampoo bottle to squirt it into the new grip. The club was mounted in a vise. I would catch the extra/overflow liquid in a paint tray and then return it to the bottle. I did all of this in an open garage so I wasn’t too worried about the fumes.

LOL - Admin

I didn’t read all of your post before I made mine. Thought it was funny we both use the paint tray.

Maybe it was my clubs, maybe I didn’t have those grips on long enough.  I just started doing my grips myself in the past couple weeks, and I have yet to get a club which I cannot peel off the old tape with my fingers.  I bought the stripping tool from golfsmith, and have used it one time on about 8 clubs so far. 

It did take some time, but it was much cleaner than getting lots of strips and bits coming off those shafts.