Dimension Z Golf Club Manufacturer

After the events of September 11th put a hurt on the US economy, many manufacturers had to come up with creative ways to boost revenue and cut expenses. In an industry driven by marketing, many top executives started looking to other ways to decrease their overhead in order to preserve their profitability. The golf grip was one of the areas addressed. Following the lead of Callaway Golf, who has been buying their own grips directly from Far East manufacturers for many years, companies such as Royal Grip and Golf Pride began producing grips in China and the Far East in 2002. Other grip manufacturers such as Lamkin have had to make similar changes in order to stay competitive. The overwhelming result is a much lower quality product that wears out faster. In the past, grips that were installed could carry the average golfer through one full season without the need for replacement. Now, golfers are lucky to get half of a season from their grips regardless of frequency of play.

There are many issues plaguing golf grips today from material to manufacturing method. We are seeing all sorts of problems such as Tour Wrap grips getting hard and slick, to seams simply tearing apart in full cord grips. It is important to understand how grip pressure affects the speed at which your hands move through the impact zone and release. The tighter you grip the club the slower your hand will release resulting in a greater number of shots pushed. So if your grips are hard and slick your game is undoubtedly affected.

Lamkin grip started manufacturing in Mexico after the Clinton Administration signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in order to cut labor costs, but was quick to advertise that they were still made using American materials. This successfully kept the quality of their grips very high, but I saw a major problem develop with large swings in grip weight. May years later Lamkin seems to have their weight problem under control but, I still see many full cord grips splitting at the seam. Winn is another company that has cut costs by creating lighter weight grips. This can be detrimental to many clubs that are designed to have an optimum swing weight. If a player changes that clubs grip from the correct 50-52 gram weight category to the Winn specification of 42 grams, 2 swing weights will be added to the head of the club.

The bottom line is, replace your grips every year and look for splitting seams. Most manufacturers will replace any defective product but higher warranty costs may cost consumers more money in the long run. Be conscious of grip weight! Dramatic fluctuations in weight are going to affect the balance and feel of your clubs from one to another and that will not help you improve your ball striking. I also recommend finding and using a credible club technician to do this work as the quality of the job is directly connected to the accuracy of your golf shots. Happy golfing.

Brad Ingermann is the Master Club Technician at Dimension Z located in Arvada, Colorado, you can check out more detailed information about them by going to their web site www.dimensionz.com.