Pure Pro vs Star Sidewinder Grips

[scotty_2987]

To those that have used both how do they compare? I haven’t been able to try and of the Star grips but have had a few different models of Pure’s. I absolutely dislike the mushy butt end of the Pure grips. Something about it just doesn’t feel right to me. Do the Star sidewinder grips have the same mushy butt as the Pures? 

[raggal62]

Overall the Sidewinders are a firmer grip than Pure. I think they are more durable too but I like both.

[North Butte]

The Sidewinders aren't super firm (for instance I think a regular GP Tour Velvet may be slightly firmer) but Star uses a resilient, very durable elastomer that shouldn't be mushy at all on any of their models. 

 

For me the Star grips are far more desirable than the Pure ones but I know a lot of people feel very much the opposite. 

[dmeeksDC]

Pure wraps are great grips. Don’t play the Pros so don’t know about those. Pure grips are made of real rubber and have a softer feel, which I prefer. Butt end of the wrap is similar to GP CP2 Wrap, also softer at the butt. I can’t stand firm grips. I don’t like any of the MCC varieties or Tour Velvets. It just comes down to preference. 
 

I like the Star wrap. The Sidewinder feels too hard to me. 

[scotty_2987]

 Thanks guys for the replies. From what I’m seeing I think I will like the Star grips better.  I’m going to attach a few photos to show what I’m talking about. As you can see you can put pressure on the pure grips and the butt end squishes in. But you can see with the iomic and new decade when you put pressure on the butt end they don’t move at all. I can’t stand that mushy feeling with the Pures. It’s almost like they aren’t seated all the way but they are. Just wondering if anyone else ever noticed that or am I the only crazy one lol. 

[dblinden]

I've used the Pure Pro grips for years. I don't hold the grip at or over the top edge so haven't noticed whether it's soft. I've also never had one wear out and I play or practice everyday. Had other grips wear out in two months.

[North Butte]

15 minutes ago, scotty_2987 said:

 Thanks guys for the replies. From what I’m seeing I think I will like the Star grips better.  I’m going to attach a few photos to show what I’m talking about. As you can see you can put pressure on the pure grips and the butt end squishes in. But you can see with the iomic and new decade when you put pressure on the butt end they don’t move at all. I can’t stand that mushy feeling with the Pures. It’s almost like they aren’t seated all the way but they are. Just wondering if anyone else ever noticed that or am I the only crazy one lol. 

I will say depending on your expectations the Star grips may not have a stiff enough butt cap for you. They have a same-material butt cap (like older Tour Velvets) that is not a separate, squared off piece of stiffer material like NDMC. 

 

In a midsized grip especially, there is going to be some give to a Star grip when you press on the edge. Not as much as the really squishy grips but it's not totally firm.

[scotty_2987]

1 hour ago, dmeeksDC said:

Pure wraps are great grips. Don’t play the Pros so don’t know about those. Pure grips are made of real rubber and have a softer feel, which I prefer. Butt end of the wrap is similar to GP CP2 Wrap, also softer at the butt. I can’t stand firm grips. I don’t like any of the MCC varieties or Tour Velvets. It just comes down to preference. 
 

I like the Star wrap. The Sidewinder feels too hard to me. 

Thanks for your reply. I’m not knocking the Pure grips at all, they are great grips and I’ve used them in the past. Like you said it’s just personal preference. 

[scotty_2987]

27 minutes ago, North Butte said:

I will say depending on your expectations the Star grips may not have a stiff enough butt cap for you. They have a same-material butt cap (like older Tour Velvets) that is not a separate, squared off piece of stiffer material like NDMC. 

 

In a midsized grip especially, there is going to be some give to a Star grip when you press on the edge. Not as much as the really squishy grips but it's not totally firm.

Thank you for your great info. Do you have any experience with the tacki Mac grips? I was in golf galaxy yesterday and they had some of the itomic it2 grips that actually felt pretty good and they had the stiff butt end like I like. Any experience with the regular itomic vs it2?

[zip7111]

Honest question....What does a "soft" butt cap have to do with the performance of the grip?  I am trying to figure out why that would make someone not like a particular grip?

Edited October 31, 2022 by zip7111

[North Butte]

2 minutes ago, scotty_2987 said:

Thank you for your great info. Do you have any experience with the tacki Mac grips? I was in golf galaxy yesterday and they had some of the itomic it2 grips that actually felt pretty good and they had the stiff butt end like I like. Any experience with the regular itomic vs it2?

Strictly speaking the answer is yes, I have used a Tacki-Mac grip before. But unfortunately it was many, many years ago and I have no specific memory about the grip. Sorry. 

[North Butte]

2 minutes ago, zip7111 said:

Honest question....What does a "soft" butt cap have to do with the performance of the grip?  I am trying to figure out why that would make someone not like a particular grip?

Some people like the butt end of the grip to be in contact with the heel pad of their hand. That's why some people find the presence of an Arccos end cap sensor very distracting. 

[scotty_2987]

50 minutes ago, zip7111 said:

Honest question....What does a "soft" butt cap have to do with the performance of the grip?  I am trying to figure out why that would make someone not like a particular grip?

For me it has nothing to do with performance. I even said I have used Pure grips before and can play just fine with them. North Butte summed it up perfectly with his comment above.

[Ger21]

Never played a Pure, but the Star Sidewinders are like a budget Iomic Sticky. Pretty solid grips.

[North Butte]

9 minutes ago, Ger21 said:

Never played a Pure, but the Star Sidewinders are like a budget Iomic Sticky. Pretty solid grips.

I'll have worn the factory Tour Velvet grips out on the Titleist irons I've been using the last 15 months (couple hundred rounds) and with the price of Golf Pride grips nowadays along with the fact that Tour Velvets are pretty quick to show wear I'm going to be tempted to swap on a set of Sidewinders myself. The Star material feel fairly pliable and nice but wears very, very slowly. It's good stuff (for a synthetic elastomer grip). 

[gsrjc]

New pure pro grips for next year. 

[scotty_2987]

A little update… I contacted Star grips over the weekend because I was having an issue with their website. I actually got a reply over the weekend and even received another email this morning from RJ reaching out again to help in any way he could. I decided to give him a call this afternoon and we talked for quite a while about all kinds of things actually. I ended up ordering a few grips and he said he would throw in a pink grip for free since that was part of the issue I was having on the internet. I mentioned something about the white sidewinder being out of stock online and he told me they were backordered. And before we got off the phone he said he would check around the shop to see if they had any white ones laying around and if they did he would throw one in for me too. Well about 30 min later I received an email from him with my invoice and telling me he found a white grip and added it in there as well free of charge. Didn’t expect any of that, especially with him knowing that I had never tried the grips before and him telling me if for some reason I didn’t like them they would make it right. Amazing customer service in my opinion. That goes a long way to me and to be honest it makes me already like the grips before I even get them. Regardless how the grips feel I’m a Star Grip fan. 

 

[teedub21]

I’m a huge fan of the Pure combo grips. Never heard of Star grips. Gonna have to check them out. 

[NRJyzr]

13 hours ago, teedub21 said:

I’m a huge fan of the Pure combo grips. Never heard of Star grips. Gonna have to check them out. 

 

Pure Grips were started by a former employee of Star Grips, who'd left the company.  There were accusations of less than above-board handling of intellectual property and/or customer information, at the time.

 

With that out of the way, I'll be topical...  I've played both.  The Pure Pro is softer than the Sidewinder.  I do not find the issue the OP mentioned with the butt end of the grip being "squishy."  

 

I also find the Sidewinder to be better in damp situations than the Pure Pro.  Because I run a little warm and live in the land of 10,000 lakes, perspiration can be a problem; I've found the Pure Pro is not good in this area.  Ultimately have gone leather, but that's a subject for other threads.

 

[teedub21]

9 hours ago, NRJyzr said:

 

Pure Grips were started by a former employee of Star Grips, who'd left the company.  There were accusations of less than above-board handling of intellectual property and/or customer information, at the time.

 

With that out of the way, I'll be topical...  I've played both.  The Pure Pro is softer than the Sidewinder.  I do not find the issue the OP mentioned with the butt end of the grip being "squishy."  

 

I also find the Sidewinder to be better in damp situations than the Pure Pro.  Because I run a little warm and live in the land of 10,000 lakes, perspiration can be a problem; I've found the Pure Pro is not good in this area.  Ultimately have gone leather, but that's a subject for other threads.

 

Pure has better marketing I’ll say that. Plus more designs now. I’ve used Bestgrips microperf and really liked them but didn’t like the sticky goop they left on the shafts of my other clubs in the bag. 

[rbpwrx]

I used to wholesale Stars, and I use them on all my clubs. I'd never use any other grip. I've tried them all, and there is no comparison. They last forever, they are tacky forever, and they have, for me, an excellent combination of firmness and suppleness. I use Sidewinder midsize most often, but also like the Classic Wrap, especially on wedges. Also have the Tour Wrap oversize on a set or two, but that's a heavy grip, and large. I use it as a training aid. But these grips are the sh*t. No one knows about them, and they don't promote them. But they are the best grips you can buy, IMHO. And they're cheap. Basically tire rubber for your hands. Simple. Brilliant. And not at all 'mushy.' Recommended, obviously 🙂

Edited November 2, 2022 by rbpwrx

[rbpwrx]

On 11/1/2022 at 12:20 PM, NRJyzr said:

I also find the Sidewinder to be better in damp situations than the Pure Pro.

 

Totally agree. Stars are great in the rain.
They also don't DRY out. I like MCC+4s, but after a couple months, they're toast. Hard and slick. The Stars cruise right by and keep going for years.
Eventually, they WEAR out. Like the grooves on a wedge. But that's the only time you need to replace them.

[Scotty Akam]

Both the Pure and Star grips have that "squishy" end cap(Star isn't as bad). They are very similar products and extremely comparable...but Star would win my vote. No logo(so essentially a 360 grip) and they are priced cheaper.  

[AZGolfNut2]

This isn't a direct comparison to the Pure Pro, but for what it's worth I have Star Grip's Tour Star Oversize on all my clubs - having switched from the Pure Jumbo Wrap - and the Tour Star is a much better grip. It's quite a bit tackier, and I actually like the more uniform surface compared to the Pure wrap which has deeper channels and dimples which don't seem to add to the feel of the grip but rather take away from it. The Tour Star is also a bit firmer, while I felt the Pure was definitely a bit on the "mushy" side.

 

I've had the Tour Stars on my clubs for over a year now and they still look and feel like new, literally zero signs of wear or change in feel. I actually live in AZ where they are made, and while I rarely have to worry about wet weather performance I just played with them in the rain recently and they did amazing!! Or course when any grip is soaking wet it's going to be slippery, but a quick single wipe with a towel and they were just as tacky (if not even sightlier tackier) as when they are dry. Crazy! I couldn't be happier with them.

 

I also like that all of their grips are a "360" design so you don't need to worry about logo alignment, which is especially important with many of the adjustable clubs because otherwise the logo moves as you rotate the shaft to a different position. 

Edited November 2, 2022 by jleonard711

[wam78]

Big fan of Star Grips after taking a chance on them last year.  I’ve been grip searching for a while up until then.  Have sidewinders on my woods and tour star 360 on irons and wedges.  Will be really hard for me to go back to anything else.

[AZGolfNut2]

Ironically (or probably not, LOL) I just had this pop up in my Instagram feed. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkY0eM8A_h9/

 

 

[scotty_2987]

Got my assortment of grips in today and I have to thank all you guys. These are great feeling grips. I can definitely tell the rubber is similar to what pure uses but these feel a lot better to me. Like you all have said they are firmer than the pure pros which is exactly what I was after. I love all the different color options and the clean look with no branding or logos. Thinking I am going to need more red ones on the KBS shafts 🔥. 

Edited November 4, 2022 by scotty_2987

[North Butte]

I think of Pure as the premium quality non-major-brand aiming at the Winn demographic. People who like a little bit of squishy or cushy give to the grip material and/or who don't mind a slight plasticky feel.

 

And Star is the premium quality non-major-brand aiming at the traditional rubber grip (Golf Pride, Lamkin, etc.) demographic. People whose preferences are more toward being firm and/or rubbery. 

 

Maybe that's just me, though. I've never seen a Winn (or for that matter Superstroke) grip that I've even consider using for a single round on any club. Just don't feel like a grip that gives me total contact and complete control over the club. And I dislike Pure grips from the first moment I put one on a club to try.

 

I've almost always used Golf Pride grips like (original, long gone) Tour Wrap or Tour Velvet or occasionally MCC and except for the odd taper problem, I've loved Star grips when I've used them in the past. 

[AZGolfNut2]

16 hours ago, scotty_2987 said:

Got my assortment of grips in today and I have to thank all you guys. These are great feeling grips. I can definitely tell the rubber is similar to what pure uses but these feel a lot better to me. Like you all have said they are firmer than the pure pros which is exactly what I was after. I love all the different color options and the clean look with no branding or logos. Thinking I am going to need more red ones on the KBS shafts 🔥. 

 

 

Wow, that was fast - just 4 days from ordering to installed on your clubs! Curious, did you do the tapeless installation or traditional tape & solvent?

 

I definitely like the looks of the red grip on the KBS shafts. I'm a fan myself of color coordinating shafts & grips, just adds that extra special touch to the overall look of the clubs. 

[AZGolfNut2]

I just noticed they're available on Amazon as well with Prime shipping, but at a slightly higher price. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09PXH4TPR Although that includes shipping, while orders under $75 have a $9.99 shipping fee on the Star Grip website, so if you're ordering less than 9 grips (or even just 1 to try) it would actually be slightly cheaper to buy them on Amazon. Only 5 color choices available though - no orange, green, or gray. 

Edited November 4, 2022 by jleonard711