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Secret Grip by Boccieri Review - Forum Testing

SuperStroke
I'm with concept. Getting the Secret Grip over that bigger butt of the C. Kua hybrid shaft is gonna be a PITA. DRENCH EVERYTHING in solvent and get it on there super quick and you might stand a chance.


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pmoa said:
So how much will this change the swing weight of the club especially in lighter weight shafts? Great initial reviews guys.
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Hawk said:
Pretty drastically, I think.
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My 588's are swing weighted at D4 but with the Secret Grip my 4i is sitting pretty at right in between C9 and D0. It honestly doesn't feel that light in the head when you swing it though. The head feels almost inconsequentially lighter now than it did with the old grip on it. Am I the only one who feels like the swing weight scale is showing a much larger difference than what you actually feel in the club when you swing it?


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Anyone know where I can can get one other than from Boccieri. I really don't want to pay $25 for one grip. I really want to try one on my R11 Driver.
 
I actually felt the same when I was swing the AMP around, COLT. All I noticed was that it felt heavier in general.
 
Bogey317 said:
Anyone know where I can can get one other than from Boccieri. I really don't want to pay $25 for one grip. I really want to try one on my R11 Driver.
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They're actually $14 a pop right now from Boccieri.


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COLT said:
They're actually $14 a pop right now from Boccieri.


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I guess I have to call them, they are showing 16.99 on the website with almost 8.50 in shipping as well. I may have my buddy try and get me one.
 
Great reviews guys, keep it up. I'm really looking forward to following this one.
 
Bogey317 said:
I guess I have to call them, they are showing 16.99 on the website with almost 8.50 in shipping as well. I may have my buddy try and get me one.
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I don't know how shipping works. I got 10 shipped to HI for $12. I bet if you call and ask em' to send it USPS it'll be a bit lower. What's $20 to the possibility of finding something that may help your game? Not saying its a sure bet or for everyone. But if it ends up working then it'll have sure been worth it. And if not then your out a Friday night dinner at Chili's.


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If your apprehensive then just keep following along and maybe we'll find something for you that either draws you in or pushes you away. Either way we're here for you on this one.


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Just checked the mail aaaannddd...wait for it....keep waiting, I promise it's worth it...BAM!ImageUploadedByTapatalk1343102426.388635.jpg

All 10 in and getting ready for regrip tonight!!!


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COLT said:
If your apprehensive then just keep following along and maybe we'll find something for you that either draws you in or pushes you away. Either way we're here for you on this one.
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I'm not even testing but this is the TRUTH about this place.
 
So...alrighty then. After attempting to regrip my entire set of clubs with the Secret Grips tonight I'd like to retract my previous statement on ease of application.

A little back history with me and gripping. I've had, as most on here know, more clubs than one guy should ever think about owning over the course of about two years now. And every single one of them I've regripped. I've always done it myself as well. I've never once in all of that time gotten a grip stuck halfway on the shaft even when gripping over as many as four total wraps.

While attempting to apply the Secret Grips onto my clubs tonight I wrapped all shafts with two wraps of tape and poured a large bottle of HF-100 grip solution into a bowl and used a 10cc syringe to draw solution and shoot it down the grip. I then use the same syringe to drench the tape with the solution. As I said before, never had a problem and this has always been my method.

Tonight out of 8 clubs that I gripped (or tried to grip) I successfully applied 2 without a snag, 3 were successfully applied but I almost popped a hernia forcing them on, and 2 of the grips are currently stuck halfway on and halfway off and are awaiting Roger Dunn to open up in the morning so that I can have them blown off and applied again by them.

What I find strange is how the same grips can be so far on opposite sides of the spectrum from one to the next in their willingness to go onto a club shaft. Why is this? I don't know. I'll call Aaron and get his opinion on it tomorrow. It just really doesn't seem like it should be like this.
 
It seemed like the one I blew on with the Pure gun was a little more stubborn than others I've installed recently as well, COLT. Still went on very quick, but I could tell it didn't really want to expand that much.

I'm thinking of getting out to hit the driver tonight for a test run.
 
COLT said:
Just checked the mail aaaannddd...wait for it....keep waiting, I promise it's worth it...BAM!View attachment 5209

All 10 in and getting ready for regrip tonight!!!


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That's a box of goodness right there Colt!
 
I'm late to this party, having played Sunday with my grips, but I've come down with a sinus 'thing' and our A/C went out last night--not great in Georgia in July.

Now that I am at work (shhhhh) and can gather my thoughts, here we go.....

As a reminder, due to the server error and post loss we encountered, I gripped my Diablo 3W with NV75 shaft, and my R11 3 and 7 irons.
Speaking to COLT's problem of gripping, I did have a hernia busting issue with the 3W and getting it over the butt and on fully. The others were pretty standard for tape and solvent.

Preface:
Sadly, our range is down for having new nets put up so I just had to go out cold after a pitch and putt warmup and see how things went. It was hot as all get-out and it was in the beginning of the final round of The Open, so I was about the only person on the entire course. This meant I could just toss down balls at various points and give these a go. I was hitting my "game" ball, then going to different yardages and hitting 3 to 5 balls at a time with the Secret clubs.

Feel:
I have generally used a 'standard' rubber grip without too much going on as far as bumps, grooves, designs, etc and really kind of like the feel of these grips. I have had a Black Widow on my driver for a while now and have used the Golf Pride TV and Lamkin's of similar build as well. The Secret Grip feels just as good, or better, than any of those other brands. I didn't feel I even needed to use a glove until about the 14th hole when I just couldn't keep from sweating down my hands. Did I mention it was hot as Hades out there? In short, the feel of these grips would never in any way keep me from using them, even if they weren't Secret.

Weight:
For me, the longer the club, the more I could feel the weight shift in the swing. I didn't think my 7i felt all that much different, but the 3W felt like an entirely new club. I took a lot of practice swings with it and just tried to stay smooth and steady, attempting to groove a swing before I hit a ball of any sort (more on that in a minute). On my 3i, I swear I could barely feel the head of the club. It felt as though I was swinging only the grip and shaft, just a stick, if you will. This affected me in hitting the ball later on. The 7i, as I stated, felt mostly like my 7i, which is odd because it's my favorite club in my set and I usually have the chance to hit it most of any club during a round on my home course. You would think I'd notice a big difference, but after a few swings, it felt normal.

Performance:
3W -- Diablo Edge w/ NV75-S. Sadly, this isn't my most reliable club, which is why I chose it for this test. On good swings, this thing is a rocket (DawgDaddy can verify this). I would say normal, good shots are fairly straight and range from 235-250 with the occasional wind-bomb. When I don't hit it well, it is just a dead snap hook into the trees, across the road, over the bushes, etc. It's ugly. This is all me as I've never been a great fairway wood striker, never. :sadface:
After numerous practice swings and trying to get a feel for it, I dropped a ball on the first fairway and gave it a go. My first hit was a big ol' push with a very slight fade that was travelling nicely until it hit a pine tree dead center. I decided to wait and give it another shot on a different hole.
I get to #2 and decide to put one on a tee and measure it out with my GPS. Trying to really focus on transition, I managed a super nice draw, maybe a bit more than some would like, but it fit this particular dogleg perfectly. I'd say it moved about 10-15 yards from center and went right around the corner. I measured it at 239. I was pretty happy with that, decided I would do it again on #3.
Teed it up again on #3 (thinking that teeing it would help me get used to the swing and not worry about contact) and hit one straight with a teeny tiny draw at the very end. Measured at 224. A bit shorter, but I'm cool with that. I'm thinking, wow, can just a grip fix my 3W woes?
I get to #6 on my course which is a blind shot down a big ol' hill. The fairway goes out about 175 and then drops down the hill to a lake that sits about 290 from the tee box. With the tees moved up a bit, this is perfect for the 3W as driver would probably be too much. I pulled 5 Q-Stars out of my bag and decided to measure for an average of the five. Of the five swings, the first was a push squirter that barely made it to the crest of the hill. Dang! The next three, however, were bombs that all had that 10-15 yard draw. The fifth, I got silly and tried to lay into, and pulled it straight into the trees. We won't measure that one. :)
Dropping the first and last shots, the three down at the bottom of the hill were in a nice little bunch. Figuring an average was pretty easy since they were all in a 10 yard circle. With the downhill run, I got 262 yards out of those shots. It's also when I noticed that I could really feel the shaft flexing when I came through the impact zone. Has anyone else with a wood gripped with these noticed that?
I hit more shots as the day went on, all with that draw and measuring 236, 225, 230. I DID still hit a couple stinkers, but my swing isn't the most repeatable thing out there.
But I would say this for the 3W....
I hit fewer bad shots than normal.
I felt like I was putting really good swings on those that travelled well but I expected some more yards. I really went after a couple and still couldn't bust past 240.
And that feeling the flex thing was throwing me off.
Initial thought? Promising as all get out!

3i -- R11 with KBS 90 shafts. I mentioned earlier that it felt like I was swinging a gripped shaft. This was a strange feeling and made me uneasy as hitting a 3i is difficult enough without the added annoyance of not feeling where you are in the swing. What it did make me do was slow way down and try to stay down on it (eyes on the ball). I hit ball after ball, off fluffy grass and tees, and could manage nothing more than pushes and fades with a loss of distance. I'll keep saying this, though....my 3 iron game is shoddy at best. I'm fair to good with a 4i, but the 3 gets in my head more than it should as I haven't bagged one in many, many years. I decided to give up on this club for the day pretty early as I wanted to not get too flustered and just take it to the range when they open it back up.
Initial thought? Need far more time dedicated on range for this one.

7i -- R11 w/ KBS 90. This is my go-to. My normal 7i shot is straight or a tiny 2-3yd draw and between 155-165 yards. My first two shots were slight pushes, which is OK, but the distance was WAY off. I overshot two greens in a row. I hit many balls from the middle of a big fairway at nothing in particular; just hitting balls. I didn't think to measure them, but I put probably hit 1 or 2 badly and the rest were just nice, high rockets that I'm used to seeing with my 7.
I got to the 12th hole, which is a par three that I almost ALWAYS hit 6 iron on, and sometimes (wind, tee location) even a 5. I decided, based on what I was seeing earlier, to give the Secret 7 iron a shot and see if I could hit this green. There was no wind (hot as Hades, still) and I had the center of the green on my GPS at 177. I'm thinking there's no way, but what the heck, if nothing else, I'll just be a little short. Nice, steady swing with and bam!! I knew as soon as it left the tee box it was going to make it. It flew with the tiniest of draws, dead at the center of the green, hopped and stopped. Really?? So I tee up another and proceed to pop another one to the same place, literally about 4ft from the first! :superhappyface:
I excitedly press 'mark shot' on the GPS and jump in my cart and haul it to the green. Average distance of the two tee shots was 173 yards. That is 6i all day long, normally. For the rest of the round, when I was in this range, I went 7i and was successful each time.
Here's what I found on the course. Definite increase in distance. Little difference in feel, to me. Club performed better than expected.
Initial though? I don't know why the shorter clubs make me notice the grip less, but I like it. About halfway through nailing many 7i shots, I wished I had done a wedge.

Summary for test 1:
The 3w shows great promise in being more repeatable and reliable as a goto from the fairway and shorter tee shots.
The 3i is something I will have to really work on. Once our nets go back up, it's range time for this guy.
The 7i was flawless and improved. I couldn't believe I gained a club and wonder if it's attributable to the increase in lag someone mentioned from a physics standpoint of the grip. Being able to go longer with my favorite irons would be a big benefit to me as I'm so comfy with those shorter clubs. If I keep seeing big gains on the 7i, I may pony up for a few more and do the wedges.

Until next time...
 
Awesome post, TOAD.

I wonder if practicing a few tee shots will help you get that 3 iron sorted out. I won't lie. That review has me going a little crazy right now.
 
Nice write up T0AD, I am very much interested in your results cause we are playing the same irons and we are of similar body style (more of us to love) so I am guessing my results would be similar to what you are seeing. I am glad to see you are seeing success with these new grips. I am very curious about these and will bee following along as your testing continues.
 
I echo what the Hawk says, great post Toad. Im hawkpondering one of these as an experiment. I dont know of any other way but to throw one on one of my clubs to quench my curiosity of these grips. The updates have been pretty dang good so far.
 
Kmac said:
I echo what the Hawk says, great post Toad. Im hawkpondering one of these as an experiment. I dont know of any other way but to throw one on one of my clubs to quench my curiosity of these grips. The updates have been pretty dang good so far.
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Seriously though. I'm thinking you get the best of both worlds. Take a club that you already like and add some tech from Boccieri that we know works. It's really got my mind racing. I've got to figure a way to get that driver on the range today so I can see how it works for me.
 
Is there any shaft these can't go on or are significantly tougher to do so? I remember when the Mashies came out the shafts were difficult to re-grip.
 
I was wondering how that would go too, Rhino. My guess is that it would be very difficult, but hopefully we'll find out. I'm not sure if I'd personally want to mess with the Mashies though for some reason.
 
Hawk said:
Seriously though. I'm thinking you get the best of both worlds. Take a club that you already like and add some tech from Boccieri that we know works. It's really got my mind racing. I've got to figure a way to get that driver on the range today so I can see how it works for me.
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Yeah dude try to make that happen. I'm not sure what club I'd make the guinea pig just yet.
 
Nice read, Toad. Sounds very promising, indeed. Perplexed about the difference in feel between the #3 and #7. Should be same shaft and head weight.
 
Hawk said:
I was wondering how that would go too, Rhino. My guess is that it would be very difficult, but hopefully we'll find out. I'm not sure if I'd personally want to mess with the Mashies though for some reason.
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I am with you on that one.. that is why I did not sign up for this test originally. I was very happy with the grips on my irons and wedges, so that left me my two mashies ( hybrid and FW) my 3w and driver. I did not know how many grips were being sent to each person so I could not commit. I am very curious about them though and might just a couple like KMAC is thinking and let the guy who is regrouping worry about the hassle. I might just do the driver and 3W.
 
Colt--I was bathing the tape with solution to make sure I didn't have a problem installing them. I did get one stuck halfway on when I skimped on the solution but was able to blow it off immediately with my Pure grips applicator gun attached to my air compressor. I then loaded up the grip with solution and it went right on. In preparation for putting the other 10 on this afternoon I went and bought another bottle.
 
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