Restoring club grooves

[Lou Tenant]

I've seen tools for restoring the grooves in wedges. Do they work ? Are they worth the investment ?

I tried multiple searchs here without any success.

Thanks

[rotator]

Re: Restoring club grooves

I would think that it depends on what type of tool you are looking at.

There are many simple hand tools, which are available from Golfwork and GolfSmith, varying from about $10 to $50. They are basically carbite bits on a holder.

I had my brother, who heads up a machine shop of a major metal window and door manufacturer, make one for me years ago. The company designs, makes and maintains dies for the extrusion process, so making cutting tools is a normal part of the work.

I found these hand tools difficult to control to make clean grooves, particularly when you're trying to apply consistent pressure and at the same time trying to keep the tool cutting to the proper depth and without wavering, so the edges would be straight and true. I would frequently run over at the ends and leave a nasty groove on the face. You also should have the proper gauges.

I imagine one could rig a drill press with metal cutting bits to operate router-like to make controlled precision grooves.

I remember a discussion some time ago about the problem of too much metal being taken out of the grooves, and in time the weight loss could throw the swing weight and other properties out of whack. There is also the problem of grooving of chrome blades, which may require re-chroming, although with stainless steel and "rusty" wedges this is not a problem.

The professional club repair companies have the proper equipment and gauges, check and add weights if necessary, and re-chrome clubs. Both Golfworks and GolfSmith offer this, and there are likely others. You could check out the prices in the online catalogues.

Ted