Club Building 101: Shaft tip diameters; sanding .370″ to taper
Every club head has a certain tip diameter designed for a specific shaft. As a club builder, it’s my job to know which shafts work in which heads, and also when to use certain tools — like a shim or a reamer — to get the optimum shaft into the club head to create the best fit for the player.
This video explains those processes, along with both hard and soft stepping. I also give you the definitive answer for sanding a graphite shaft to taper.
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The second major of the season is here, and with it, custom gear aplenty! Taking inspiration from both Louisville, Kentucky, and host course Valhalla, the OEMs have been having some fun with the designs.
Check out PGA Championship staff bags, some custom kicks, and a very cool putter grip from SuperStroke.
2024 PGA Championship staff bags
Callaway
PGA Championship Staff Bag Giveaway ? See below how you can win the bag and headcovers being used this week by #TeamCallaway at the second major of the year:
-Follow @callawaygolf
-Tag 2 friends in the comments pic.twitter.com/8HbGdPHiFK— Callaway Golf (@CallawayGolf) May 13, 2024
Cobra
TaylorMade
From the stables to the fairway. ?
This year’s PGA Championship staff bag and accessories pay homage to the Derby City with callouts to the run for the roses, the fastest lap in track history and more.
Dive into all the details of this beauty: https://t.co/afhEVKHWLj pic.twitter.com/8eoP6tDZq1
— TaylorMade Golf (@TaylorMadeGolf) May 13, 2024
Scotty Cameron’s putter cover features the Scotty Dog in Viking helmet
Bettinardi’s KFC-inspired putter covers
Ping’s bourbon-inspired putter cover
Rory McIlroy’s Kentucky Bourbon Trail-inspired Nike Air Zoom Victory Tour 3 shoes
FootJoy x Todd Snyder Mint Julep Premier Series
(Photo courtesy of FootJoy)
Brooks Koepka’s Kentucky Bourbon Trail-inspired Nike Air Zoom Infinity Tour shoes
(Photo courtesy of Nike)
SuperStroke’s PGA Championship grip
Check out all of our photos from Valhalla here.
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- John Daly WITB accurate as of the PGA Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Ping G430 LST (9 degrees)
Shaft: Newton Motion 6-Dot
3-wood: Ping G430 LST (15 degrees)
Shaft: Newton Motion 4-Dot
Hybrids: Ping G430 (17, 22, 26 degrees)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold
Irons: Sub70 659-CB (6-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold S300
Wedges: Sub70 TAIII (50, 54, 60)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold S300
Putter: Odyssey Ai-One Milled One T CH
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Tour 2.0
Grips: SuperStroke custom
More photos of John Daly’s WITB in the forums.
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Toulon Golf has today officially announced its latest Small Batch putter — the Valhalla.
Discussing the putter, Preston Toulon of Toulon Golf said: “This putter is a collaboration with the club at Valhalla and incorporates three of the many things that make the state of Kentucky great – horseracing, bourbon and championship golf. The head of the putter and headcover have several allusions to a jockey’s silk and there are thoroughbreds on the sole.”
Inspired by Toulon’s classic tri-sole Santa Monica design, the company sought to modernize the profile and design leveraging its 904 stainless steel and 6061 aircraft aluminium across the sole. Toulon describes the Valhalla’s profile as “slightly oversized blade whose proportions are meticulously balanced to maintain the look and feel of the Santa Monica, while increasing the putter’s inertia to create one of the most forgiving putters we have ever designed.”
Throughout numerous prototypes, Toulon paid particular attention to the L-neck, with its full shaft of offset, adding a bit of length for better blending with the slightly wider and longer blade.
On the rear of the putter are homages to horse racing in the form of jockey silk diamonds and Churchill Downs-inspired font.
The sole of the putter features a large cavity covered by a 6061 aircraft aluminum sole plate. According to Toulon, this allowed for the addition length to the putter and improved inertia as well as moving more mass to the perimeter for greater forgiveness.
In another nod to Valhalla, Toulon uses a milled watermarked limestone pattern, a reference to stone featured widely on the property.
As with all the Toulon Small Batch putters, the team paid particular attention to the topline thickness and radius to achieve a desired look. “Soft yet crisp was the design intent,” according to the company.
Toulon Golf Small Batch Valhalla specs
- Material: 904L Stainless Steel/6061 Aluminum Sole
- Face Mill: Fine Double Fly with Big Tuna
- Finish: Kentucky Bourbon PVD
- Grip: Custom Toulon Collection Vintage Blue Pistol
- Shaft: Chrome Stepless Steel
- Headcover: Valhalla Custom Leather
- Head Weight: 355 g
- Toe Hang: 40 degrees
- Loft: 3 degrees
- Lie: 70 degrees
Pricing and availability
The Small Batch Valhalla is available for purchase today via the company’s website — ToulonGolf.com.
Supply is extremely limited. The price is $1,800.
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joro
Sep 4, 2018 at 12:17 pm
Or,,,, you can bore out your Irons to 370, much easier and the fit will be better. This guy is a Master Club Maker? Advocating this sanding stuff is BS. It ain”t easy to get it correct, and Taper tips are each make for a number. The design of the shaft is totally different.
geohogan
Sep 4, 2018 at 5:19 pm
To bore out the hosel of a taper tip iron head requires precision drill press , a couple of different size drill bits and reamer for accuracy and consistency throughout a set and even then, chances are some fits will be loose , very loose and others tight. A taper fit is always the same, if the tapers are accurately machined.
Ray Rise
Sep 4, 2018 at 12:07 pm
Correct Tony Dyck – the difference between parallel and taper is merely 0.015 of an inch. Anyone attempting this would logically use a good caliper gauge to the appropriate diameter and depth of the receiving hosel.
Dodo
Sep 4, 2018 at 11:10 am
Shanking this video. Doesn’t explain enough and it leaves a lot of people still confused. You need more diagrams and actual footage of the parts you are describing and the work it takes to make, say, that 370 fit into the 355. And say that yes, it “fits” but it’ll never play the same or feel the same as a real taper tip that has a long taper section at the bottom 3 inches than the same 370 thickness of that parallel shaft.
Tony Dyck
Sep 4, 2018 at 10:53 am
Likely should have proofed this episode before airing it. I get it that it’s not easy, but the one that stands out is that you are only sanding off .015″ of the tip diameter and not .15″ (and only .0075″ off the radius).
geohogan
Sep 3, 2018 at 8:55 pm
Thank you for addressing issues that are not often discussed.
Suggest that the advantage of taper tip iron shafts is that properly machined tapered tip shafts inserted in tapered bore clubheads, are much more precise and consistent through a set of irons than parallel tip shafts inserted into clubheads machined for parallel tip shafts.This is basic knowledge in the machining business.
It is much more expensive as you point out to machine, sort and match taper tip shafts to clubheads; however if machined properly the taper fit will always ensure the shaft is perfectly centered within the hosel, close to “interference fit” throughout the set and there will not be looseness found in parallel tip irons.
IMO it is one of the main reasons golfers say that they notice a difference between forged clubs compared to cast iron heads. The difference in feel IMO, is due to more precise fit of shaft and clubhead with taper tip shafts in taper tip heads, which is common with more expensive forged irons. Cheaper cast iron heads more commonly will have parallel tip shafts in parallel heads. Its cheaper for the manufacturer.
So although mfg may say it is ok to grind or sand parallel tip graphite shafts to suit tapered tip iron heads, I suggest the precision inherent with irons with taper tip shafts precisely machined in the factory, may be lost when taper is done ad hoc for each shaft. If the irons are expensive forged, IMO dont compromise the feel for relatively small shaft cost savings.