Ribbed grips on tour

[Trippels]

Any insight on how popular ribbed grips, or grips with some kind of reminder, are on tour these days?

Have they declined in popularity over the years?

[iBanesto]

Cameron Young and Harris English.

 

Golf Pride Tour Velvet and MCC Align respectively.

 

 

Edited May 28 by iBanesto

[Valtiel]

Scottie Scheffler and Ian Poulter are two notable Tour Velvet 58X Ribbed users I believe. 

[Carson33]

I used to use and love ribbed grips, but unless I was on tour and had a tour van installing them, they become a pain. Mainly due to you can never find a guy to put them on straight every time. I always had at least one that wasn’t in the same alignment and have to have it redone.

[North Butte]

7 minutes ago, Carson33 said:

I used to use and love ribbed grips, but unless I was on tour and had a tour van installing them, they become a pain. Mainly due to you can never find a guy to put them on straight every time. I always had at least one that wasn’t in the same alignment and have to have it redone.

That's why I gave up on them 10 or so years ago. I can't for the life of me get them on straight, myself. There used to be a guy in or local Golfsmith store who was great at lining 'em up but he left to go back to college and I never found anyone else who could do it properly.

 

It's funny, some people can get each specific ribbed grip installed so the rib itself is straight. They just can't do it so that each rib is in the same position on each club. 

 

But if I were playing golf for a living like the guys on TV and had access to Tour Van techs, no way I'd play without reminder of some kind. It's just totally an advantage, assuming they are installed correctly.

[Carson33]

8 minutes ago, North Butte said:

That's why I gave up on them 10 or so years ago. I can't for the life of me get them on straight, myself. There used to be a guy in or local Golfsmith store who was great at lining 'em up but he left to go back to college and I never found anyone else who could do it properly.

 

It's funny, some people can get each specific ribbed grip installed so the rib itself is straight. They just can't do it so that each rib is in the same position on each club. 

 

But if I were playing golf for a living like the guys on TV and had access to Tour Van techs, no way I'd play without reminder of some kind. It's just totally an advantage, assuming they are installed correctly.

This is said perfectly. My exact situation and opinion as well. I love them and wish I could use them.

 

However, I have found that the Tour Velvet round grips will start to develop a slight “rib” of their own after you use them for a month or two.

[North Butte]

5 minutes ago, Carson33 said:

This is said perfectly. My exact situation and opinion as well. I love them and wish I could use them.

 

However, I have found that the Tour Velvet round grips will start to develop a slight “rib” of their own after you use them for a month or two.

You and I seem to have very similar experiences.

 

I have had a three-wedge set (54/58/62) of Vokey wedges with their original Tour Velvet grips on them for about 150 rounds now. Still in pretty good shape (the grips, not so much the wedges grooves!). I recently bought an identical 50-degree SM8 and the brand-new, fresh grip just doesn't settle into my hands quite like the three older ones. But it's only got a dozen or so rounds on it. 

The thought never occurred to me that maybe the grips slightly mold into a different shape with use but that would explain while "well broken in" Tour Velvets always feel right to me and brand-new ones always take a while to get used to. 

[Socrates]

MCC Midsize Align - The only way is to blow them on with compressed air (no 2-way tape just Painter's Tape).  That way I can fiddle with them to get them how I want them.

[BNGL]

I picked up a couple clubs from a Tour player (two wins) and had them regripped, he has zip ties under the tape. Thought it was funny because I haven’t a clue to the rules and I asked him is this legal? He texts back something like idk no one’s checked 

[North Butte]

18 minutes ago, BNGL said:

I picked up a couple clubs from a Tour player (two wins) and had them regripped, he has zip ties under the tape. Thought it was funny because I haven’t a clue to the rules and I asked him is this legal? He texts back something like idk no one’s checked 

My understand is, that is legal as long as the difference between the diameter of the grip at the "rib" (or zip tie) is only such-and-such more than the diameter in the smallest direction. I think a decade or so ago USGA reduced that allowable rib thickness but don't recall the exact numbers. Maybe .020" or something like that? 

[Zitlow]

The last driver I bought a Callaway Mavrik came with a ribbed grip. 

[North Butte]

I have an Epic Speed fairway, came with a Tour Velvet Align. 

[AzRoger]

1 hour ago, BNGL said:

I picked up a couple clubs from a Tour player (two wins) and had them regripped, he has zip ties under the tape. Thought it was funny because I haven’t a clue to the rules and I asked him is this legal? He texts back something like idk no one’s checked 

GolfWorks sells wooden reminder ribs that work the same way, install under the tape. I have a set but haven't used them, they are definitely thinner than a typical zip tie of the same length. GolfWorks states their rib is .035" thick, USGA limit is .04", so my guess is a typical zip tie would exceed the USGA limit but since he's a tour player and probably uses a tour van to install his grips they must use something that works legally.

Edited May 28 by AzRoger

[jomatty]

2 hours ago, BNGL said:

I picked up a couple clubs from a Tour player (two wins) and had them regripped, he has zip ties under the tape. Thought it was funny because I haven’t a clue to the rules and I asked him is this legal? He texts back something like idk no one’s checked 

That makes sense.  I imagine it would make it much easier to get them on straight exactly where you want them.  I’ve heard of people using coat hanger wire also…

[3whacker]

Golf pride used to see a plain black cord grip with a short while line starting at the handle and going half way down the handle, saw them on some pro's clubs and they felt nice and by the yome I learned about Golfsmith, Golf pride quit making them

[texcellence86]

Richard is a fan as well...

 

[smashdn]

Pretty sure Hogan used coat hanger wire.  And also that they were set pretty wide open.

[Barfolomew]

On 5/28/2023 at 4:43 AM, Carson33 said:

I used to use and love ribbed grips, but unless I was on tour and had a tour van installing them, they become a pain. Mainly due to you can never find a guy to put them on straight every time. I always had at least one that wasn’t in the same alignment and have to have it redone.

 

I would just get used to reminder just being way off lol

[golfortennis]

Gotta admit. When I saw ribbed, I thought it was simply another thread about @MtlJeff working his way through college again.

 

 

[MtlJeff]

41 minutes ago, golfortennis said:

Gotta admit. When I saw ribbed, I thought it was simply another thread about @MtlJeff working his way through college again.

 

 

 

Oh yea you had to pay extra for that!

[iBanesto]

Padraig Harrington in 2011:

 

😅

• “I changed the actual grips on my golf club. Most people would think ‘well, what’s that’. I have a reminder in my grip – I’ve taken it out. I’ve gone to round grips. That’s a big, big change.
• “I’ve knocked all the clubs a degree flat – that’s a little change.
• “I have weakened my grip, lowered my hands a bit and pushed them a bit further forward … small things.
• “Probably the biggest one (and this is partly why I’ve changed these other things), I’ve changed my trigger to take the club away in my routine. I used take the club away from a moving position. I now take the club away from a static position.
• “Part of that, I used to have a big squat to take the club away, so that’s gone. There’s a little one. I’d love to get it all gone but it’s hard to change your trigger, full stop.
• “I’m taking the club away without my hips so there’s a much smaller hip turn – a much bigger coil but a smaller hip turn.
• “Obviously, that changes my plane in the back swing.
• “I’ve changed my chin position at the top of my backswing.  I used to try and swing my shoulder under my chin, so I’d poke my head out to do it, which we think has contributed to my neck issues. So now I’m tucking my head in at the top of my backswing.
• “The trigger probably is the biggest thing. Through impact I’m going back to squatting quite a bit at the start of my downswing, as I used to. So I’m going back to that.
• “I’m going back to trying to get my chest more down through impact to get my hands lower through impact and reduce the lateral through impact.
• “From seven feet out I probably was 150th in every putting stat so I’ve changed my putting routine as well.
• “I’m not standing off the ball when I’m taking my practice putts. I’m practice putting over the ball … when you see a raw beginner, they often do that. When they take a practice putt, they lift it up and do it over the top of the ball. I’m doing that so when I put the putter back down, I’m not adjusting anything. I used to line up and get a feel for the putt, which you see a lot of guys do, then I’d take the putter inside an try a practice putt. But when I take the putter inside, I move my eye line, so the practice putts I’m getting a feel for are not the same as the putts I actually have. So I’m not changing my eye line.

[golferdude54]

The rib seems like a pain to install perfectly on 13 clubs. 1 degree difference between two clubs can mean over 10 feet of difference at 200 yards. (Tan1*=x/200, x=3.49 yards)

[farmer]

What Socrates said.  It's not a hard skill to learn, but takes patience.

[LeepYear]

Picked up some wedges on the BST with aligns on them and really enjoy it. I’ll do it on all of my clubs the next time I regrip them, but unsure about the driver since I tweak settings from time to time.

[kmbean]

The LPGA trucks keep running out of these.

[Lobby]

On 5/28/2023 at 10:22 AM, AzRoger said:

GolfWorks sells wooden reminder ribs that work the same way, install under the tape. I have a set but haven't used them, they are definitely thinner than a typical zip tie of the same length. GolfWorks states their rib is .035" thick, USGA limit is .04", so my guess is a typical zip tie would exceed the USGA limit but since he's a tour player and probably uses a tour van to install his grips they must use something that works legally.

I use these, but they’re not wooden. They’re plastic

 

They come with a simple, yet ingenious, alignment tool that works 100%

 

I can’t install a putter grip straight, so I take them to a local fitter. 
 

But woods and irons?  Sure, if I use these GolfWorks ribs I install them myself

[Ferguson]

I'll tell who liked the ribbed style  - Amanda Boyd. 

Tell me I'm wrong. 

[bodhi555]

My VR Pros had a set of ribbed grips on them when I first got them a few years ago - no idea where the previous owner got them from as I couldn't find them for love nor money in the UK when I got them regripped 3 or so years ago. I went for the Align TVs instead which were decent, but were missing something from the Ribbed ones. 

[ProStryker]

I like the GP Align grips.  Helps me feel a square face.  I don’t put them on my wedges though, so that it doesn’t feel weird when I need to open the face

[billyspan]

Kept looking at this unread thread, but was too shy to click on it. Call me ribbed-curious...

 

Edited June 9 by billyspan
Typo