Golf Pride Concept Helix

[Konklifer]

I like the Z-Grip non cord texture. There are definitely limitations:

 

- No shaft diameter under .48" 

- Not extra tape

- No ARCCOS like sensors

 

But for those of us who don't have the ability to re-grip themselves, this is a nice option. I'll definitely be giving them a try.

 

https://www.golfpride.com/concept-helix/

[ChaosTheory]

I'll be the first one to reply with, learn to use compressed air.  I used an ordinary tire inflator to put on grips for years.   Using air you can add buildup tape if you desire.  And if you put nice grips on a set and then want to sell the clubs, you can pop them off and put on some older used ones.  Etc etc.

 

I guess the market for these has to be the DIY person who doesn't have the interest in air or tape/solvent.  It's interesting but I'm skeptical there is much of a market.

[Socrates]

I think that this is a good 1st step.  Interesting that they would bring this to market before the PGA Show or whatever will take place then.  I have to assume that they are looking at more styles down the line or at least sizes.  Wonder how they feel?

 

One drawback for some will be the 66 grams.

[lefthack]

I just ordered 4, see how they work out. I need to re-grip 6 of my clubs but I prefer the wrap grip. So I am not fully committed yet.

[PureDivots]

Interesting concept. Although I dont think i could ever get used to the look at the bottom of the grip just looks off. 

[jds101086]

What will the cost be? Not now but if it comes to a full retail release. I can see this being a niche product and unless the grip itself has some new tech, pattern, colors then it will remain niche. I do my grips myself due to how I like the wraps but even the muni down the road offers regripping for $3-4 a pop. I imagine most players that don't have access to that basic service have also probably never seen the need to regrip their clubs... All that said it's cool to see some innovation.

[third-times-a-charm]

Eh, I see what they’re going for but not sure I see the overall goal. Anyone who can’t regrip is gonna pay to have it done - it’s a luxury sport. Most places offer free regripping with a bunch of grips bought year round, too.

 

Plus after seeing the pics - the bottom of the grip looks like someone went condom shopping and thought a little too much of themselves. There’s like 1” of “extra grip”

 

 

[lefthack]

24 minutes ago, jds101086 said:

What will the cost be? Not now but if it comes to a full retail release. I can see this being a niche product and unless the grip itself has some new tech, pattern, colors then it will remain niche. I do my grips myself due to how I like the wraps but even the muni down the road offers regripping for $3-4 a pop. I imagine most players that don't have access to that basic service have also probably never seen the need to regrip their clubs... All that said it's cool to see some innovation.

 

They were $10/each and they charged me $5 shipping because it was less than $75. 

 

I paid almost $10 for my last grips and haven't had them installed yet because I need to drive into town to do it.

 

I have pretty low expectations, but seemed like a cool idea.

[jds101086]

1 minute ago, lefthack said:

 

They were $10/each and they charged me $5 shipping because it was less than $75. 

 

I paid almost $10 for my last grips and haven't had them installed yet because I need to drive into town to do it.

 

I have pretty low expectations, but seemed like a cool idea.

 

1 minute ago, lefthack said:

 

They were $10/each and they charged me $5 shipping because it was less than $75. 

 

I paid almost $10 for my last grips and haven't had them installed yet because I need to drive into town to do it.

 

I have pretty low expectations, but seemed like a cool idea.

 

Damn, that's a pretty good deal actually. I moved away from MCC's just because fo cost and $10 for these makes them seem almost like a steal.

[wcbjr]

14 hours ago, Socrates said:

One drawback for some will be the 66 grams.

 

Someone noticed.

 

The Helix is listed at 66 grams, a standard Tour Velvet is 50 grams.  That will not only increase the overall mass of the club, it will drop it around 3 swingweight points.  To get your club back to 'spec', you'll need to add 6 grams of weight at the head for a total of 22 extra grams.  

I can kind of see its purpose and value, but no thank you.

[wcbjr]

8 hours ago, lefthack said:

 

They were $10/each and they charged me $5 shipping because it was less than $75. 

 

I paid almost $10 for my last grips and haven't had them installed yet because I need to drive into town to do it.

 

I have pretty low expectations, but seemed like a cool idea.

 

Mineral spirits

Utility knife with hook blade

Tape scraper

Grip tape

Scissors

 

That's cheaper than paying for the first set of grip changes.  Faster, too.

[cristphoto]

The deal breaker for me is you can't use any build-up tape.  I don't see this lasting more than one year.  

[V-Blade]

While I will stick to the solvent method, it’s an interesting concept.  I couldn’t tell in the video, but wondered if the grip was twisting its alignment and the hash pattern would then be different on each club.  If so, perhaps that results in a different feel by club.  

[lefthack]

3 hours ago, wcbjr said:

 

Mineral spirits

Utility knife with hook blade

Tape scraper

Grip tape

Scissors

 

That's cheaper than paying for the first set of grip changes.  Faster, too.

 

I tried it myself and failed. It's $3 to have a grip put on, I just have to drive into town to do it.

 

Minimum order was 3, I got 4 to try. I have a set of brand new Golf Pride wraps that I have been trying to get installed for 2 weeks now. If these totally suck, they will be on eBay and I will drive to town.

 

If these don't suck, great. 

 

Considering my old grips were original and nearly 20 years old, I don't see me doing a ton of my own grips. This would work out awesome.

 

See about the swing weight, I doubt it will be an issue for me, but who knows. I will grip one to try first, my 3h grip is toast so I think that is the best option.

 

And if they suck, they are easy to remove.

[ChxDigLongBall]

First thing I thought of is how simple is removal of a grip and can I re-use any of these grips? 

 

Also, since I do build up my grips with extra wraps, I'm curious how thick these feel. As some have noted, there is a considerable taper at the very bottom of the grip. I'm guessing these feel slightly larger than if I just installed a standard Z-Grip. Curious how thick they feel, and will be ordering 3 to give them a try.

[AThompson_3]

Love the concept and I don’t really see this idea of making regripping clubs easier, going away.  After all, the easier it is to regrip clubs, the easier it is to sell new grips. I think they probably whiffed on the execution with this one because the bottom of the grip looks really bad and as has already been mentioned, the extra 6 grams could really throw off swingweight for those who don’t counterbalance. But I love the idea and curious how golf pride continues to refine this idea. 

Edited December 2, 2020 by AThompson_3

[DooZ]

If I heard correctly on Katrek & McGinnes yesterday, the GP rep said this was a very reduced taper low hand grip. By the pics, it appears so

[cristphoto]

Being 66 grams these are much heavier than normal grips and tells me they probably won't be coming out with any cord or midsized models - much too heavy.  

 

I don't know how much market research was done on this but I see two types of golfers:

1. The tinkerer (and WRX fan) that can work on their own clubs and take pride in them.

2. The golfer that simply wants a decent set of clubs to use and has no interest in working on them, no matter how easy (or not - still to be determined). 

 

Apparently Golf Pride thinks there is a third type and thus this grip.  

Edited December 2, 2020 by cristphoto

[GLF4EVR]

Have to wonder how this grip will hold in place on a shaft.  Have been using air for years.  Discovered early on that blue painters tape was a must.  For myself, I need 2 layers of the tape so the grip will stay in place before I wear it out.  Doubt I would ever use one of these grips, but do like the concept of trying to make it easier for the average person to change their own grips.  Granted, most of use can go on about the pro & cons of that.  However, I like the idea of trying to make it easier for someone to start understanding parts of their equipment.  That little candle flicker of knowledge could open doors. 

[J13]

I spoke to people who tried these grips at the pga show last year and everyone said it's a waste of time and energy and not easy at all to use.  I love GP myself but based on what they said I don't see this doing well. They said even the GP guys had a hard time demo'ing it to work and went through 2 grips in the process.  Anyway buyer beware and as another said, using air is the easiest way to do grips.  

Edited December 3, 2020 by J13

[shot-savior]

8 hours ago, wcbjr said:

 

Someone noticed.

 

The Helix is listed at 66 grams, a standard Tour Velvet is 50 grams.  That will not only increase the overall mass of the club, it will drop it around 3 swingweight points.  To get your club back to 'spec', you'll need to add 6 grams of weight at the head for a total of 22 extra grams.  

I can kind of see its purpose and value, but no thank you.

The SW change might even be greater, as in 1 SW per every 4 grams of grip weight, or 4 SW points over a standard Tour Velvet.  Either way, these grips will significantly counterbalance the club -- more so than any CB shaft in market -- making the club very "unbalanced".

[goDawgs1433]

To answer a few comments/questions I've seen:

 

- Bottom of the grip only looks like that free state. Had some testers ask if it was a midsize/jumbo grip when not on a shaft but once tightened it will be standard size and not really a reduced taper grip.

- Unless it's installed wrong, the texture pattern should always look the same. Similar to a Tour Velvet 360.

- Price is $10 apiece, MOQ of 3 right now

- Heard the same after the PGA Show and Not allowed because of spam guys said the same in their story yesterday. It's come a long way in the past 11 months from the version that was seen in January!

 

I'd caution that this is still very much a concept / prototype / whatever you want to call it. It's a work in progress and maybe not perfect yet, but that's how these things work.

[liveagua]

You mean I might never have to put another grip on for a customer? Sign me up for the Helix!!!!

[lefthack]

41 minutes ago, goDawgs1433 said:

To answer a few comments/questions I've seen:

 

- Bottom of the grip only looks like that free state. Had some testers ask if it was a midsize/jumbo grip when not on a shaft but once tightened it will be standard size and not really a reduced taper grip.

- Unless it's installed wrong, the texture pattern should always look the same. Similar to a Tour Velvet 360.

- Price is $10 apiece, MOQ of 3 right now

- Heard the same after the PGA Show and Not allowed because of spam guys said the same in their story yesterday. It's come a long way in the past 11 months from the version that was seen in January!

 

I'd caution that this is still very much a concept / prototype / whatever you want to call it. It's a work in progress and maybe not perfect yet, but that's how these things work.

 

As a quality engineer (software mind you), I for one am excited. I think it has incredible potential and the idea is awesome. Mine shipped today, so with any luck they will see some play this weekend.

[Bigarch]

I think it's a great first step and great experiment.  Although I'm not really interested in trying these grips right now, I'm sure there are many other people that this will appeal to... especially those who are looking for a way to change their grips in a more environmentally friendly way.  The idea should only get better over time.  It will be exciting to see what direction this goes.

[ThreeBoxers]

I change my own grips, use build up tape, and don't want anything different than tour velvets, so these aren't for me...

...however...not everyone has a garage, and maybe getting grips put on professionally may be a PITA for some.  I don't know, but who am I to say?  Some folks in apartments may find this neat.  We poo-poo equipment manufacturers a lot for repackaging similar products with new marketing talk, but Golf Pride is at least trying to have something definitively new.  Will it be worthwhile to enough of the market?  Beats me, but GP decided to throw some capital at it and find out what consumers think.

[BirdieBirdieX]

Cool idea but the ease of changing grips, even without the proper installation setup, is not worth paying the same price ($10) per grip as most other brands. A roll of tape and bottle of solvent is all you need. I used to change them over a sick in an apartment without a vise grip, no problem at all. 

 

Given the limitations on this first gen model, probably going to take a pass. Great concept though, just needs more engineering.

[cristphoto]

Will these come in a .580 and .600 size?  Or round and rib? My current bag has shafts that are .620, .610 (woods), and .600 (irons) butt size.  Thus I use differing wraps of tape to compensate and therefore get a uniform feel.  Don't see you can do this with these grips.  

[95124hacker]

Ordered 3 out of curiosity more than anything.

[lefthack]

Mine get here Tuesday, ugh. Waiting sucks, but should be cool.