"Secret Grip" -- five months in and my final review

[BenSeattle]

My Secret Grip experience.

 

Over a period of several weeks, I had them installed on 13 clubs.... my Rife Bimini putter was already backweighted with Balance Certified. Mind you, this was in May of this year so this "test" has been given a fair shot. (I've heard from the installers at Dick's Sporting Goods that many who install the free Secret Grip on one more more clubs have it removed within a week. Not me..... mine have been on for five months.)

 

Because I have graphite shafts in all of my clubs but for three wedges, I first appreciated the extra weight. Perhaps the graphite in my irons was too light to begin with but regardless, the backweighting certainly made the clubs more substantial and i liked the more solid sensation upon impact. I wish I could say that I gained half a club or more but I'm thinking the results were about the same. Ditto for the driver, 3 and 5-woods.

 

The wedges were a completely different story. Because I have steel shafts the addition of the Secret Grip simply made the clubs heavy. Sure, with some practice, I gained back the feel of the clubhead but on anything more than a half-swing the significant weight was far too noticeable.

 

So here's the bottom line: the Secret Grips are coming off everything. For my wedges I'll just replace with something standard (although I will build up the size of the grip with extra masking tape; the Secret Grip's thicker "non-taper" shape did score in this department.) Same for the woods, I'll just replace the grips. When it comes to the irons, however, I'm going to contact Value Golf for some much lighter, less expensive backweights I can install myself.

 

http://www.valuegolf.com/golf-shaft-counterweights/

 

So there's your bottom line: the Secret Grip is generally a good idea but it's vastly TOO HEAVY. Combine the 17-gram tungsten weight in the grip along with the '40 % heavier compound' and you have a grip that not only drastically changes the swingweight of the club but makes any club significantly hefty. If that's supposed to increase clubhead speed then I need a refresher course in physics.

 

One more drawback. The grips are 17 dollars apiece. Any serious golfer who plays and practices with any frequency is going to need to replace these grips in a year or two -- at more than $200 PER SET. Are you like me? Do you think Boccieri needs to re-think that marketing strategy?

[erikro]

I got one placed on my driver. What I really liked about it was I could grip further down the shaft since the grip is longer than a standard one. It gave me more control of the club. I am guessing I could do the same with a standard grip by cutting an inch off of the butt of the club.

[Parshooter36]

I had one put on my Cleveland Classic 290 and started spraying the ball everywhere, the change in swing weight caused me to lose track of the head. I only gave it a couple of weeks, but I could not get comfortable with it.

[lumberman2462]

I had the on my wedges for a while. Took them off. Great concept but too much weight. Those guys come out with variable weighting then they might have something. I can see a series of grips that goes from 8-17g working out. But to assume that everyone wants 17grams in every club isn't going to work.

The rubber compound is good and having the extra grip length is a great idea for wedges.

A cord or half cord would work too.

Give them another year and they'll have a few more options.

The big logo needs to go....I realize you can turn the grip over....but it's too much.

[BenSeattle]

<< A cord or half cord would work too.>>

The company website says a cord grip is now available. Along with a putter grip.... THAT might be the best idea yet.

[OldGolfer87]

I wandered if these grips need to be placed on at the time clubs are built / assembled so there is some kind of match between the swingweight of the club and a weighted grip ?? and if the grips are added as replacement grips .... does the added weight from the weighted grips completely throw off the balance of the club ?
It would seem there would have to be some different feel than a normal weight grip

[tdelam]

I can't understand why this would ever be a good idea. Feeling the club head throughout the entire swing is something that's extremely important to me. Counter balancing that weight so you feel less in the head sounds counter-intuitive (pardon the pun). I imagine the only outcome from this spraying the ball all over the place.

[BenSeattle]

Jack Nicklaus' clubmaker would insert a drilled-out dowel in the butt end of the shaft and fill it with lead. The backweighting does change the feel of the club, but when done correctly, only slightly. And you get used to it. (Nicklaus' driver was known to be a D-0.) The idea, of course, is that you can feel the 'release' of the club better and apparently for Jack this worked beautifully. (Balance Certified used to show that Sergio Garcia also used backweighting, among others.) Ideally, you would have several weights to choose from and select those that gave you the feel you like best but the Secret Grip comes in One Size Only and for whatever reason, they decided to go heavy. Perhaps future editions will have more choices but one might also feel that with this year's giveaway promotion that it's going to be difficult to get future golfers to give the grip a shot.

And again: those prices!

[TheotherPhilM]

[quote name='BenSeattle' timestamp='1379564420' post='7875711']
My Secret Grip experience.

Over a period of several weeks, I had them installed on 13 clubs.... my Rife Bimini putter was already backweighted with Balance Certified. Mind you, this was in May of this year so this "test" has been given a fair shot. (I've heard from the installers at Dick's Sporting Goods that many who install the free Secret Grip on one more more clubs have it removed within a week. Not me..... mine have been on for five months.)

Because I have graphite shafts in all of my clubs but for three wedges, I first appreciated the extra weight. Perhaps the graphite in my irons was too light to begin with but regardless, the backweighting certainly made the clubs more substantial and i liked the more solid sensation upon impact. I wish I could say that I gained half a club or more but I'm thinking the results were about the same. Ditto for the driver, 3 and 5-woods.

The wedges were a completely different story. Because I have steel shafts the addition of the Secret Grip simply made the clubs heavy. Sure, with some practice, I gained back the feel of the clubhead but on anything more than a half-swing the significant weight was far too noticeable.

So here's the bottom line: the Secret Grips are coming off everything. For my wedges I'll just replace with something standard (although I will build up the size of the grip with extra masking tape; the Secret Grip's thicker "non-taper" shape did score in this department.) Same for the woods, I'll just replace the grips. When it comes to the irons, however, I'm going to contact Value Golf for some much lighter, less expensive backweights I can install myself.
Agree with BenSeatle. I tried them on irons and woods. The addition of 42 gms 92gms vs normal grip 50 gms) makes the club just too heavy and way exceeds my ideal for total weight and total club MOI. The fundamentals of club fitting cannot be ignored. I found that there was better control with irons but distance loss of about 5-10 yds with irons. I believe that the concept of backweighting is good but total weight and swingweight must still meet a golfer's requirements for feel. A heavier head, lighter shaft and back weighting such that a swingweight of D2-D3 is achieved will be my next trial. Small lead butt weights such areavailable from Golfworks and others is a lot cheaper and more flexible in terms of building each club to find the best combination of club balance.
[url="http://www.valuegolf.com/golf-shaft-counterweights/"]http://www.valuegolf...counterweights/[/url]

So there's your bottom line: the Secret Grip is generally a good idea but it's vastly TOO HEAVY. Combine the 17-gram tungsten weight in the grip along with the '40 % heavier compound' and you have a grip that not only drastically changes the swingweight of the club but makes any club significantly hefty. If that's supposed to increase clubhead speed then I need a refresher course in physics.

One more drawback. The grips are 17 dollars apiece. Any serious golfer who plays and practices with any frequency is going to need to replace these grips in a year or two -- at more than $200 PER SET. Are you like me? Do you think Boccieri needs to re-think that marketing strategy?
[/quote]

[TheotherPhilM]

Agree with BenSeattle. I tried them on woods and irons. the addition of 42gms(secret grip 92gms vs normal grip 50gms) makes the club exceed my ideal total weight and total club MOI. While control was improved with irons I had a loss of distance of around 5-10yds with irons. The fundamentals of golf club fitting cannot be ignored. You need to take account of total, head and shaft weights, and swingweight to match the golfer's requirements for feel. The concept of back weighting is good and I will trial it further with lighter grips and small lead butt weights such as are available from Golfworks and others. These are much cheaper and more flexible in terms of allowing each club to be built to the best balance/fit. I think that there is still a requirement for clubhead feel and a swingweight of around D2-D3 will be necessary for me.

[Chris_pate]

I am very happy with my secret grips so if you are wanting to sell yours please let me know!