Free golf club assessments

Bring your golf clubs in and have a chat with our team professionals. In a short and meaningful session, we can assess all the bellow-mentioned aspects of your clubs for free. This will help you make educated decisions to improve your game for the season.

Grip Condition

Why is it important to monitor the degradation of your grips?

1. Traction and Control:  Over time, grips can become worn, slick, and hard. A grip that does not provide adequate traction can lead to the club slipping or turning in the golfer’s hand during the swing. Ultimately, this leads to mis-hits and a loss of consistency and accuracy. Think of it like the tires on a motor vehicle.
2. Feel and feedback:  A fresh grip enhances a golfer’s ability to feel the club head and, by extension, the shot itself. This feedback is crucial for making necessary adjustments and refining one’s technique.
3. Consistent grip pressure: When grips are in good condition, golfers can maintain consistent grip pressure throughout the swing. Worn or slick grips might cause a golfer to unconsciously grip the club tighter, leading to tension in the arms and directly affecting swing mechanics.
4. Confidence: Just like how new shoes or a clean car can give an individual a confidence boost, new grips can make a golfer feel better about their equipment and, in turn, their game. 

There are a large variety of grips available on the market. With many different materials and multiple sizes. Not to mention the ability to apply additional layers of tape to make a grip just a little bit thicker. At The Pro Shop, we can help ensure an educated decision is made on what is right for your golf game.

How do you tell when a grip needs to be replaced?

Tactile Feel:

• Slippery when dry: A grip should feel tacky. If it feels slippery even when it’s dry, it’s definitely time for a change.
• Hardened feel: Over time, grip hardens due to UV exposure and extreme heat. This is exaggerated here in the UAE.

Age and usage:

• Frequent use: If you play golf regularly (e.g., once a week or more), you should consider having your grips assessed every 6 months. And likely replaced every 6 months to a year, depending on the amount of rounds and grip of choice. Certail grip types tend to wear faster than others.
• Storage conditions: If your clubs are stored in extreme temperatures, like in a car or hot garage during the summer, this can often lead to faster degradation.

Grip Size  

How do you know what size grip you should be playing?

Grip size by glove size

It is important to have the correct grip size for your hand. This is an often overlooked factor by many golfers when choosing their grips. For example, if you have large hands, a thicker grip is important to help reduce an over active righthand. The same way that if your hands are medium or small and you play with thick grips you could potentially find yourself struggling to release the golf club.

Mens sizes:

1. Glove size: small/medium; – Standard
2. Glove size: Medium Large; – standard/ plus 4 ( additional layers of tape to thicken the grip as well)
3. Glove size: large; – Midsize
4. Glove size: XL; – Jumbo/Oversize

Ladies sizes:

1. Glove size: Small; – undersize
2. Glove size: medium; – undersize ( additional layers of tape base on measurements)
3. Glove size: Medium; – standard
4. Glove size: Large; – standard ( additional layers of tape based on measurements)

Keep in mind that glove sizes are used as a rough estimate for grip recommendations. At The Pro Shop Dubai, during your session with our professionals, we prefer to use a method where we measure your hands and fingers to get a better and more accurate recommendation on grips for you.

Shaft Length 

Are your shafts the correct length for you, and how do you tell?

The height of the golfer may be the easiest determinant of golf club length, but wrist to floor measurements are actually more accurate for club fittings. At The Pro Shop Dubai, we use a method that combines both your overall height and your wrist to floor measurement. 

The incorrect length of the club will alter the lie angle. While changing the length of your clubs does not change the static lie angle of your club, the dynamic angle does change. For example if you were to extend your irons, you would have to bend the static lie angle flatter to avoid the dynamic lie angle from being too upright. This is, of course assuming that the Lie angle was correct pre-extension.

Loft and Lie angles

Are your loft and lie angles out, and how does this affect your performance?

While your loft and lie angles are not designed to change over time, they can become altered due to a variety of factors. For example, a change in loft can lead to you hitting certain clubs at very similar distances and creating gaps in your distances. Whilst an inconsistent lie angle might have you struggling to hit a certain club or finding a particular shot shape. Golfers that play or practice once or more a week are recommended to get loft and lies checked once a year especially if they play forged clubs.

1. Material: Forged golf clubs made from softer metals are more prone to changes in the loft and lie angles than cast club heads are. Forged clubs have a softer feel compared to  cast clubs and is one of the reasons many golfers prefer to play them.
2. Regular Use: Constantly hitting balls, especially off hard surfaces like mats, can gradually alter the loft and lie angles of your clubs. Repeated use creates very small bends but over time can end up becoming a couple degrees. This can be further exaggerated if a golfer hits a lot of fat shots which put more pressure and force on your clubs.
3. Mis-hits: When striking the ball away from the centre of the club face laterally on the toe or heel of the club it increases the amount of torque on the head. Over time the more miss hits a golfer has the higher the chance is that they have changed.
4. Natural Aging: Whilst modern golf clubs are designed to last, metals undergo stress and ultimately experience subtle changes over time.

At The Pro Shop Dubai our team of trained professionals use tour-grade measuring equipment that electronically measures loft and lie angles eliminating room for miss readings. 

Club Face Groove Quality

The grooves of your clubs play a crucial role in controlling the golf ball. Especially out of sand, rough, or even if there is moisture involved. Over periods of use, they tend to wear out.

Certain factors accelerate the speed at which they wear:

• Sand and Dirt: Small grains of sand and dirt that get between the club face and ball at impact can act as an abrasive. This abrasive can erode the sharpness and depth of your grooves.
• Material: Just as forged clubs loft and  lie angles change faster than cast clubs the same concept applies to the grooves on forged clubs.
• Repeated use: If you practice or play often, there is no surprise that your grooves would wear faster meaning they will need to be recut or replaced to get the desired effects. 

The effects of worn grooves may surprise you:

• Reduced spin: While not very surprising, worn grooves produce less spin, especially when it’s wet due to dew or if you find yourself in a sandy lie. This can become problematic as it is usually when we find ourselves in these positions that we rely on spin the most.
• Less control: With less spin it is obviously harder to control how the ball reacts to the green but worn grooves make it far harder to control the launch trajectory of your shots. This is especially apparent on shorter approach shots.
• Inconsistent performance: As grooves wear, they do so unevenly. Resulting in golfers experiencing inconsistent shots. One shot might catch a part of the club face with sharp grooves and the next shot might catch a more worn out spot. Effecting the launch trajectory and also the spin.

Contact us via Whatsapp or phone to find out more. +971 04 835 7901