Here's what I'm planning to get from Golfsmith...

... does it look like a good basic set of tools for a beginning hobbyist clubbuilding/tinkerer who just wants to do a little club work? I've built a putter and a couple of wedges by cutting and gluing, but think I want to go into a little more detail.

Scale - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/245485

Swingweight scale - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/14009

Ruler (I'm sick of using a yardstick and a 1-foot ruler) - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/245241

Shaft puller - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/236819

I think that's the basics of dedicated clubbuilding tools. I'm going all in now because of GS's 40% tool sale.



Here are the tools I'm undecided about getting: Talk me into or out of getting them!

Lie board - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/4990

Fitting ruler - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/425

Loft-lie machine - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/240972 (Okay, I'm not really seriously considering this tool )

Chop saw - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/245073 (for the few clubs I do I think I can cut them by hand)

Bench grinder - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/245076 (again, for the few clubs I plan on doing I think I can prep them by hand)

Saw blade - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/8586 (I'm seriously thinking this could be really handy)

Hacksaw blade - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/8587 (see above)

Ferrule tool - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/8296

Loft/lie gauge - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/240794 (Just kidding! ) I'm thinking I might want this one http://www.golfsmith.com/products/240808 or this one http://www.golfsmith.com/products/8358 (I'm leaning towards the less expensive one. Budget and all, you know. )

Shaft tip ruler - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/906A (This looks handy.)

Grip tape remover - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/8228 (I think this might be a must-get.)

Belt sander - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/4463 (For the few clubs I plan of doing, I think I can prep shaft tips by hand. Budget and all again, you know. )

Shaft puller - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/245244 (I dunno, should I spring for this one over the economy model? I don't plan on pulling that many shaft.)

Book - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/1259 (I think I might just need this.)

Club bending vise - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/8466 (I seriously considering this. On the other hand, I don't know if I really need it. I mean, how many clubs am I going to have to bend the loft/lie? [All right, I can already think of one.] Should I get it, or let the local golf store do it for me?)



There you have it. What should I get?

http://www.golfsmith.com/email/FFJ06

There's the link for the Friends and family sale!

Apparently, my post below went over the 10,000 character limit. That was interesting to know... first of all, that I can generate such a post, and secondly that there's a maximum in place (I already knew about the minimum).

Scale not so good. If I read that right, it's upper limit is 320g. Now, the 0.1g precision is good - exactly what you want, but you'll never measure a club bigger than a driver (200g head weight, 50g grip weight, and, say, 70g for the shaft. Boom! At your limit. I might call GolfSmith and double check, first).

A swingweight scale is pretty fast. the other way to do it is to measure the balancing point and overall weight, then plug the numbers into a free online swingweight calculator. They're all pretty close. FWIW, I don't have a swingweight scale. (But I do have an MOI machine).

Ruler. A must. And the adjustable foot pad is also a necessity. Perfect pick.

Shaft puller. Well, this one's a good start. There's a guy on eBay (iesa2) that sells a similar model for less. This will be useful for the odd single pull, but if you decide to reshaft a set of irons, clear your schedule. I bought JB's pro model (http://www.clubmakerschoice.com/) and will never, ever buy another (if for some reason this breaks, I'll buy another JB). Yes, it's more money, but it's so fast and easy... Just a little heads up for when you've gotten careless once or twice with the ratchet and scratched a head (the one I used from iesa2, I used to scratch a lot of shafts with my wrench).

Lets move on to your other probable, I mean, potential purchases:

I've learned that masking tape or electrical tape and plywood do the same thing. That said, I own a GolfSmith lie board.

A good idea. Although check your local hardware store first - you may be able to buy a 4 foot (48") ruler there, cheaper. I've got one clamped to the bench for quick measures (and so I can unclamp it for wrist to floor measurements).

I'm glad you're not really considering that one. Because the one you want costs 4 times as much, and is much easier to use. http://mr3golfdesigns.com/true_blue.htm So fast and easy to use. The absolute best bang for your buck. This year, 2 major OEM companies are putting True Blues into all their tour vans. Bend any club in the bag with one machine. I love mine, and don't think I overpaid. The big reason for not getting a GS bending machine was that their tolerances are twice as wide (or more) than the True Blue. Simplify!

But this is so much faster. When you start doing more and more, you'll wish you bought this one.

Check your local hardware store. Same machine, nothing special here. I actually prep my steel tips with a small belt sander.

These are both great, but are replaced by a chop saw. (The chop saw also replaces tubing cutters and normal hacksaw blades, and saves time. Even for the few clubs you plan on doing and prepping by hand )

Find the cheapest ferrule setter you can buy. Mine is a bit of pipe with a nylon bushing at one end. Great for 'tight' ferrules. Most of the time, you'll start it by hand, and use the head to push it into place. But for stubborn ones, I like my little hammer toy.

Here's a good rule: If a gauge says 'hand held' anywhere in it's description, don't buy it. Unless you really don't care about specs and tolerances. Now, the most expensive one is the best one available from your three, and even the 2nd one is OK. But, if you buy the True Blue, you don't need them. It's built in.

A better and more useful tool is a digital caliper. This is a must have, I'm telling you. Don't build a club without it! (The digital caliper, I mean. Don't buy the shaft tip gauge).

Personally, I'd say it's tough to say. First, I grip with air, so trying to deal with double sided tape leftovers isn't a strong issue if I did the grip job already. That said, I've got this model. Maybe I'm just a tool that can't seem to figure out how to use it.

That's the dealie I use. If I was doing it over again, I'd buy the 42" model. They've got a lovely belt that can be used for turning ferrules, and prepping graphite. Oh well. In the meantime, I use it to prep steel. Much faster than the sandpaper shoe shine method.

This is a better step in the right direction, IMO. I'd buy this one over the one from the first list, hands down. Speedy and easy, my boy, make this hobby more fun!

Since you're spending some money, this is a good buy. Although, there's lots of good, free info out there. But at only $16, they might as well throw one in the box!

I personally would run away, possibly screaming, from that thing. Now, if all you were ever going to do was your own irons, this, coupled with the cheap clubhead gauge, might be all you need (plus a bending bar. You'll need one of those, too). But, I would let the local shop do it before I spent money on rinky-dink stuff (sorry if it sounds insulting. But I'm insulted that without being properly educated, GolfSmith sells this stuff like it's the bees knees - a 'real value option'. Bullshit. It's a real pain in the ass; time consuming, difficult to use, and inaccurate. Three things you just do not want. Again, if you want to bend heads, my best advice is to save your money and buy the MR3 machine. Or just get your local shop to do it. If you're playing with cast heads, you'll probably only need them checked and bent once to your specs (check and bend them again if you make any half-serious swing change). Forged heads should be checked once a year (every 6 months for those of you who golf regularly year round).



Well, I'd take your first list and swap shaft pullers, then add the chop saw, ferrule installer, and book. That's a decent shop if you're on a budget, and are truly, honestly only doing a few clubs a year (like, maybe a full set of irons, tops.)

Now, if you're gonna go crazy (like I did), and start buying clubs to try different things and such, spend the money on the better stuff (at 40% off, for Pete's sake!), and save yourself the heartache and hassle. Trust me - I went the route of 'I'm just going to do this hobby, so I don't need the expensive stuff'. I've already replaced every 'inexpensive' thing with better gear, because I was tired of the trouble it took to even do a couple clubs.

Now, the other caveat is that the GS FF sale runs twice a year. So if you find yourself wishing you had gone with better stuff, you can upgrade in 6 months or so. But if you're already sick of using the yardstick, you know exactly what I'm talking about!

Happy Shopping, and welcome to the dark, expensive world that I live in!

__________________
True Length Technology Fitter - www.truelengthtechnology.com
It's live! - www.ShipShapeClubs.com
PCS Class 'A' Clubfitter

A new highlight: Golfing the home course on Christmas Day.

I say it too often: If it's golf club shaped, you can play with it.

For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

Thanks much for the long post of advice, Lowpost. I think I'll drop the idea of getting the scale, I never thought that it would be possible to max out on it when measuring clubweight. I'm going to get the swingweight scale, I want something easy that I can just throw the club on when I'm at my basement workbench. You've now made me extremely undecided about a shaft puller. I thought I had decided to get the better GS shaft puller, but looking at JB's site their Jr. Shaft extractor looks very nice (hydraulic, no less!) at a very attractice price. I still plan on getting the ferrule tool, and the grip tape remover.

Okay, I've heard this advice on three different forums now, I think I'd better heed it! I guess I'll skip right to buying the quality tools.

I'm going to add up what I've got planned to get now, and see if I see a chop saw and a compressor in my future.

One thing that struck me as odd is the lack of flex or frequency measuring device in the list of purchases.

Is there a reason for this?

Sure - GS doesn't sell the Club Scout line, nor NF4 plans.

Alright LowPost, here's what I think will be my final plans:

Hacksaw blade - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/8587

Swingweight scale - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/14009

Scale - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/246044 (I know that it only measure to the nearest 0.5 gram, but I auume that should be accurate enough, right? This model scale weighs up to 1,000 grams and for $23 dollars looks like it would be a decent price for a digital gram scale.)

Grip tape remover - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/8228 (I really think I'll need this to make life easy. I've got several sets of OEM clubs at home and some of them really need to be regripped, and I want to make my life easy.)

Book - http://www.golfsmith.com/products/1259 (Not sure about this yet. Maltby's book looks like it would be more in-depth.)



Okay, besides that I have plans to get a chop saw, an air compressor, a shaft spiner, and/or frequency device. (Eventually. When my budget lets me. I still want to have some money left to buy components right now! ) I've decided not to get any of the GS manual shaft pullers, but decided to save my pennies until I can get JB's hydraulic Jr. shaft puller for $130. (It looks like a much nicer tool with some distinct advantages.) Finally, I dropped the idea of getting the GS $40 ruler. I think I'll just go get a 48' aluminum ruler from the local hardware store for less than 10 bucks.

Seems like a good idea - repost over at FGI, they'll let you know what's what.

Now, for the scale, if you ever get into MOI matching, you'll need 0.1g precision. (FWIW, MOI matching is the more scientific version of SW slope matching).

That's helpful to know. But, I also would need a MOI scale too, right? Or is there less expensive equipement that could be used for MOI matching if you do some calculations by hand?

Okay, I just went back and checked Tutelman's site, it appears that you can MOI match a set of clubs with a swingweight scale and some calculations (which actually appear to be pretty easy). Maybe I'll hold off on getting a weight scale until I can find one (Ebay or something) for a good price with 0.1 gram accuracy.

I know, I know, I just can't make up my mind.

I eBayed mine for about $40 USD - good to 1 Kg.

Well, Golfsmith's sale set me back about $281. That was a great sale though. Otherwise, my purchases would have been almost $500!