I was in pheonix last weekend to play a little golf and for work. I had some time to go over to a golf store to have a shaft put in my r7 3wood from another 3 wood i brought along, and when i came back to pick it up i immediatly saw they put a new grip on that shaft. I asked the club maker what was wrong with the original grip? He proceeded to tell me that my grip with SLIGHT wear in the left thumb area was illegal for play. He stated that would be considered an aid in grip alignment. I thougt to my self how would that be any differant than having reminder grips. Can any body weigh in on this? If this true how much wear is to much?

What the heck is that all about?! That sounds like he wanted to sell more product to me! As an aside, is he the self appointed conformance commissioner bringing peoples clubs back into compliance when they bring them in for repair? I wouldnt have paid for the grip out of principal....

I can give an opinion on this, as, when I played competitive amateur golf in my younger days I used irons until the faces wore out and often used to use grips until 'thumb marks' became evident.

Someone queried with an official if my clubs were legal - since many of the grooves on my short irons had 'expanded' slightly owing to wear in the sweet spots and lower part of the face. The grooves themselves had widened (and shallowed-out) owing to wear.

The answer that was given, and which I discussed with the official, was that a club remains legal for play even if it has worn to the point of being non-conforming provided the non-conformity is as a direct result of normal play and usage. Apparently, this also applies to grips.

I wouldn't have paid for the new grip, or the fee to grip it. The simple fact that he re-gripped a club without the permission/direction of the owner would be enough to pee me off.

Sounds a little shady to me. Any professional business owner would know that this is certainly taboo...

First off that wouldn't be illegal and second of all he shouldn't have just replaced something on your club without asking which means that he did and I don't think you should have had to pay for it.

As others have said, you can wear them as long as you want.

Think of it this way: microscopicly, wear occurs every time you use the grip.

GO LIONS!

haha, using worn grips is cheating? never heard of that before

Like Mat said, unless you purposely put the thumb marks on the grips, (the CEO at my previous company did it.) wear through use is conforming.