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The Worst System in Golf - Stock Grips

Nippon Shafts
OldandStiff

OldandStiff

AlsoBald
Albatross 2024 Club
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I need some THP level brilliance on this ala Dynamic Handicapping.

I believe that the entire club and grip industry has one of the most wasteful setups I've ever seen in my life. It is STAGGERING how many grips are cut off and thrown away each year. Just wasted. And on brand new clubs. Like, in our area this year we've collectively agreed that if clubs like Paradym/X graphite irons came with a midsize CPX you could take a large chunk out of a local landfill. That demo just doesn't seem to play the stock grip almost ever. As tinkerers I'm sure we all understand and have changed grips on clubs we just picked up. Most purchases aren't custom. And besides the money and effort and hassle and waste of it all, I don't see any landscape blocks made out of recycled grips. Just not awesome in any way.

There aren't easy solutions maybe, but there has to be solutions. And we're THP. Collectively, we're a pretty damn smart person. Borderline genius. So throw out some ideas on this.
 
It would certainly be possible to have sets at the shop without grips installed and those are added at time of purchase.

Not sure how practical that is or if customers would hate it but it would cut down on waste.
 
GolfFest said:
It would certainly be possible to have sets at the shop without grips installed and those are added at time of purchase.

Not sure how practical that is or if customers would hate it but it would cut down on waste.
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It could definitely cut down on waste. It also creates other problems. Like that place having someone who could install them at purchase and having grip stock on hand. So it would pass some burden onto retailers. I'm not sure how much in the end if they're ripping off stock grips to install new ones a lot anyway, but it would definitely be a sizable increase. They mostly want to get people out the door and worry about the rest later. If the person comes in and wants to buy grips later and have them installed it benefits them and grip maker. A percentage of stock sets without them seems nice, but it could stress inventory in ways too. A few talked about this. The main stock sets, maybe half coming without grips installed.

I don't know. That's why we need some THP genius on this.
 
Thanks for moving the thread to where it will get far less attention.

I realize it says grips in the title and it's a grip problem, but this is essentially an equipment and industry problem. It would do better in the Golf Talk forum than this and I'll redo it there if I need to.
 
So every retailer has to start stocking way more of way more models and brands of grips for the people like us to pick after the fact when we dont just buy clubs online and select our preferred grip? The majority of buyers couldn't tell the difference between a Winn Dri-Tac and a GP MCC +4 on their off the rack clubs and probably don't care.
 
I think the amount of people who constantly swap out grips is in the low single digits. It’s looking for a problem that really doesn’t exist.
 
Greg Kulbick said:
So every retailer has to start stocking way more of way more models and brands of grips for the people like us to pick after the fact when we dont just buy clubs online and select our preferred grip? The majority of buyers couldn't tell the difference between a Winn Dri-Tac and a GP MCC +4 on their off the rack clubs and probably don't care.
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That is not at all true. The first thing people see is the head and the first thing they feel is the grip. And they matter to people. Even if they were all standard people it would matter to a lot of them, but people come in a lot of shapes and sizes and ages too.
 
russtopher said:
I think the amount of people who constantly swap out grips is in the low single digits. It’s looking for a problem that really doesn’t exist.
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It's not. I'll try to track down some numbers that @JB posted a while back but the number of grips sold each year (in fair part before of *this*), is so shocking relative to the number of players it borders on unbelievable. Seriously.

It's a problem that just doesn't have a simple solution.
 
OldandStiff said:
That is not at all true. The first thing people see is the head and the first thing they feel is the grip. And they matter to people. Even if they were all standard people it would matter to a lot of them, but people come in a lot of shapes and sizes and ages too.
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The tales from the pro shop thread tells me there's a whole lot of people who wouldn't notice the difference, but don't give a **** about the grip.
 
OldandStiff said:
It's not. I'll try to track down some numbers that @JB posted a while back but the number of grips sold each year (in fair part before of *this*), is so shocking relative to the number of players it borders on unbelievable. Seriously.

It's a problem that just doesn't have a simple solution.
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It’s not a problem.
 
Greg Kulbick said:
The tales from the pro shop thread tells me there's a whole lot of people who wouldn't notice the difference, but don't give a **** about the grip.
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This is true for the large majority.
And then in the sun belt, it’s soft grips only for a large amount of players.

But agreed with a previous poster, looking for a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist especially with how much is trending to ordering nowadays.
 
Greg Kulbick said:
The tales from the pro shop thread tells me there's a whole lot of people who wouldn't notice the difference, but don't give a **** about the grip.
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A higher segment of people don't shop for or buy their clubs in a pro shop.
 
JB said:
This is true for the large majority.
And then in the sun belt, it’s soft grips only for a large amount of players.

But agreed with a previous poster, looking for a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist especially with how much is trending to ordering nowadays.
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What percentage of retail club sales are custom orders?
 
OldandStiff said:
A higher segment of people don't shop for or buy their clubs in a pro shop.
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In your first post you said most purchases aren't custom.
 
My personal solution is ordering everything ungripped with the grips just thrown in the box. When a firiend asks me to re-grip their clubs, I offer to put those stock grips on their clubs for no charge. Most of the people I install grips for are higher handicappers that are perfectly fine with free tour velvets or the like.
 
JB said:
No idea but do know it’s grown every year for the last about 10.
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And it's still in the far minority.
 
Seems like we need a new grip pull exchange program. Don’t cut them, use a pull tool and solvent.
 
I'd love for clubs to come without grips, and you have your choice at purchase. Especially putters for me haha. Even if its only a handful of options, its better that what it is now. They do it when you buy online from the OEM and they are doing it with shafts now (buy the head and pick a shaft from a few options). Just not sure it is doable with all the labor that would added.

But grips are absolutely without a question the biggest waste of money for me in golf and I don't even buy in stores often.
 
I imagine manufacturers have people who spend all day figuring out what's a better way to sell clubs, with stock grips, or without and requiring retailers to stock any grip a customer might want.
 
This is like saying car dealerships shouldn’t choose an interior seating color or vehicle color and just paint as it gets purchased.

The majority of golfers play stock grips. It’s why companies put some thought into what goes on there.
 
Sox_Fan said:
My personal solution is ordering everything ungripped with the grips just thrown in the box. When a firiend asks me to re-grip their clubs, I offer to put those stock grips on their clubs for no charge. Most of the people I install grips for are higher handicappers that are perfectly fine with free tour velvets or the like.
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That's really good of you. 👊🏻
 
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