Grip Size vs. Shaft Diameter or Getting Too Into the Weeds?

Ty_Guy · May 19

Do club builders and players take into account shaft butt diameter (and taper) when choosing grip size and wraps?

More importantly, with a classic width shaft (.6" butt diameter) vs. a thicker butt graphite shaft (.64" butt diameter) on two different clubs in the same bag, do you add a different number of wraps for each club? For sake of conversation, assume .60" core and similar tapers in each shaft.

Heavier Velocores come in at .61," 80g Tensei are .626," and a LA Golf shaft is .64." These shafts already have the width of one to four added wraps. If you played a standard with extra wraps, how much would you wrap the .64" LA Golf Shaft compared to the other .6" shaft in the bag? Does it make sense to wrap each club taking into account the diameter of different shafts? Or if the goal is uniformity throughout the bag, would you stick with a standard grip with two wraps on all clubs, for example?

I think individuals would be hard pressed to tell the difference between one and two wraps, but no wraps and two wraps is noticeable. Many graphite shafts have thicker diameters than the more standard .6" in irons, so one would think varying wraps would be the norm. Though I have never really heard of players doing this, at least at an amateur level. No one has ever asked my professional club builder to accommodate for this either.

The chart below guides wrap numbers on thicker shafts.

Edited May 19 by Ty_Guy

Golfrnut · May 19

Do they? Yes. Do they all? No.

Feel is of course subjective to each player. And not all players want the exact same feel throughout the set. It's all player dependent. Certain people also may like/not like the feel of certain tapes, vs a thicker rubber in the grip, etc. Firm feels vs 'give' or mushiness in the grip can all have an effect. Like just about everything, it depends. Trial and error is sometimes the only way. And yeah, even a single rap can be felt by some. Others may not care than much.

Edit: Unfortunately, not all grip types offer all options, but you also sometimes have the option of using grips that are built to accommodate larger shaft diameters to still build to a 'standard' .900 but diameter like a .620 grip. Or, using a 58 to build higher than standard to match others.

Edited May 19 by Golfrnut

Stuart_G · May 19

6 hours ago, Ty_Guy said:

Do club builders and players take into account shaft butt diameter (and taper) when choosing grip size and wraps?

Do they? Not always.

Should they? Definitely.

6 hours ago, Ty_Guy said:

I think individuals would be hard pressed to tell the difference between one and two wraps, but no wraps and two wraps is noticeable.

In a side by side comparison - I can easily feel the difference of two 0.010" build up wraps (0.020") or one double sided wrap (0.015"). Is it significant enough to alter the playablity of the club - no. I can (and have in the past) played with a bag that had both midsize and standard size grips mixed together (different sizes on different club types). Same with using the same tape/grip application on shafts with different butt sizes. I could feel the difference and I didn't like it, but I could do it and I even wouldn't say I lost any strokes because of it. But that's me.

But everyone is different. For some it will or can be more important than for others. Everyone has to find out how important it might be for themselves. As far as I'm concerned, there are enough things I have to think about when setting up and swinging, if I can remove one possible distraction, that can't be a bad thing. Especially considering how little effort it takes to "fix."

Edited May 19 by Stuart_G