Equipment

Club builder secrets to hitting exact specs

Published

6 years ago

Jun 1, 2020

Building golf clubs is as much art as it is science. Physics and precise measurements dictate final specs from a fitting, but getting everything to actually fit together is what separates professional club builders from the wannabes—it’s problem-solving at the highest level.

What separates the great professional builders from the rest is their understanding of how each OEM designs and assembles clubs, and how those components relate to each other—it’s the secret sauce. Whether it be understanding how to weight specific heads, or how to properly shim or sand shafts to get everything to fit as precisely as possible, these are the top club building secrets to hitting exact specs.

Tip weights

Clubhead weights are rarely ever perfect, and because of that, tip weights are needed to get them dialed in. When head weights are bang on, it’s generally because they were handpicked by a boutique component supplier. This doesn’t mean club heads are poor quality, it just shows that OEMs are doing everything they can to help golfers on both ends of the over and under length spectrum get the right clubs. By intentionally having heads be 4-5g under standard length required head weight, builders need to add less weight to get to spec, and when building overlength, it prevents clubs from becoming too heavy.

The only time you will generally find heads that are too heavy is when working with one-piece forged irons meant for the Japanese market. Since those clubs are often built under North American standard length, the club heads are heavier to help keep swing weights in line.

So, the next time you find tip weights in a set you are pulling apart, consider it a good sign that whoever built them took the time to get club head specs correct.

Shaft weights and tipping

In the world of shafts, the higher-end you go the tighter the specs—you truly get what you pay for. The perfect example is True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts. They aren’t any different than standard X100 shafts except for the fact that they go through the extensive process of being weight sorted down to .5g on either side 130 grams. This allows the shafts to play extremely close to the intended flex and allow for easier swing weights and total weight specs to be achieved.

When shafts are within manufacturer tolerance but need to be tweaked, this is where the skill and knowledge of a club builder become invaluable. A quick trim of a 1/4″ can dial in flex to fit in line with the rest of the set. The end goal of a club builder is to make every club feel like your favorite club—and sorting and tipping are a big part of that.

When using parallel shafts, club builders will first weight sort lightest to heaviest to determine the best order to install those shafts into the set—this takes more time but creates a much more balanced set at the completion of the build. Indeed, all of these steps take more time but are crucial when building clubs at the highest level.

Shims/hosel diameters

Shafts come in four distinct sizes; .335″ and .350″ for woods and .355″ (taper) and .370″ (parallel) for irons. As for club heads, it’s not quite that simple. Some companies use universal hosels to allow for both taper and parallel shafts to be used in irons and when it comes to woods there are a few OEMs that have slightly tapered hosel designed to be used in conjunction with a collared ferrule (if you don’t understand what a collared ferrule is, check out the video below).

By knowing when to use shims to get a shaft to fit into a hosel—or in the more rare case when to sand down a graphite shaft it fit into a tapered hosel —llows more shaft options to the golfer and in the end, can provide a better club option not available through a traditional channel.

Grip specs

Just like shafts, grips have manufacturing tolerances for weight. Generally, it is plus/minus 1.5-2g on either side of the target weight. This is still very good when you consider how much a standard size grip weighs but at the extreme levels a grip still has the potential to throw off a set’s final spec. Just like with parallel shafts, professional club builders will go through the process of weighing out grips and designate them to specific clubs in the set before final assembly.

Although I can’t speak for every OEM, I know for a fact that after receiving grips from a supplier, Titleist goes the extra step by sorting grips into 3 categories and handpicks those bunched grips to build sets. It may seem minor, but when building clubs to exacting specifications, every gram matters.

To discuss this and other club building topics make sure to check out the GolfWRX Club Building Forum

Equipment

Tour Edge unveils all-new Exotics mini driver

Published

2 days ago

May 12, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Tour Edge Golf has today introduced the all-new Exotics mini driver, engineered to deliver a powerful combination of speed, control, and versatility in the long game.

The Exotics Mini combines a titanium face with a stainless-steel body in design to balance ball speed with stability and control, creating a versatile option at the top end of the bag.

At the core of the design is Tour Edge’s proprietary Combo Brazing technology, a high-precision thermal bonding process that seamlessly fuses a titanium cup face to a stainless-steel body into a single, continuous structure. By eliminating energy loss found in traditional multi-piece constructions, Combo Brazing is designed to deliver faster face response, more efficient energy transfer, and a uniquely powerful yet controlled feel.

The multi-material construction also allows mass to be positioned lower and deeper in the head in a bid to increase stability, while the thin titanium face is engineered to maintain ball speed across a wider impact area.

“While the initial goal was to enhance control and versatility in the long game, Combo Brazing ultimately drove measurable gains in ball speed and distance within the mini driver category. In robot testing, we’ve documented higher ball speeds, higher launch, reduced spin, and increased carry and total distance compared to leading models.” – Vice President of R&D Matt Neeley

In addition to distance performance, the Exotics mini emphasizes forgiveness through a heavier stainless-steel body that shifts mass toward the perimeter. This configuration increases MOI relative to traditional all-titanium mini drivers, helping preserve ball speed and directional stability on off-center strikes. Paired with Pyramid Face Technology from the Exotics metalwood line, the design is intended to support consistent speed across the face.

To further enhance MOI, a lightweight carbon fiber crown frees additional mass that is strategically repositioned low and deep in the head in design to improve stability and promote optimal launch with controlled spin.

“We designed the Mini to be about five millimeters shallower than other mini drivers on the market. That change improves playability off the deck. From a clean fairway lie, it can function as a strong 3-wood alternative while still providing control off the tee.” – Tour Edge CEO David Glod

An adjustable hosel system allows for loft and lie tuning to dial in trajectory and shot shape, while a fixed 13-gram rear weight helps stabilize the head through impact to improve dispersion consistency. The Exotics Mini Driver is available in 11.5 and 13.5-degree lofts in right-handed models.

Pricing & Availability

The Exotics Mini Driver is available for pre-order beginning today for $399.99 USD at touredge.com, and will be available for purchase at retail outlets worldwide on May 22, 2026.

Equipment

Srixon ZXi combo or TaylorMade P7CB/770 combo? – GolfWRXers discuss

Published

2 days ago

May 12, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

In our forums, our members have been pitting a Srixon ZXi combo against a TaylorMade P7CB/770 combo. WRXer ‘edutch22’ is on the hunt for a new set of irons and kicks off the thread saying:

“Looking at picking up a new set of irons and think I’ve narrowed it down to Srixon ZXi combo or Taylormade P7CB/770 combo. I am currently a 5 cap and allbeit I feel irons are my weakness. My miss is a little to the toe side. I am decently steep at 4-5 down. Always thought I am high spin but recently on trackman my 7 was spinning at 5800 roughly.

My question or looking for thoughts on which one would benefit me more from a forgiveness standpoint? Or is there another iron is should be looking at entirely? I only get to play about once or twice a week, if I am not playing a 2-3 day event. Thanks in advance.”

And our members have been sharing their thoughts and suggestions in response.

Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

manima1: “You just can’t go wrong with Srixon ZXi7.”
MattM97: “You have to hit them to know, the V-Sole on the Srixon can be make or break for many.”
dmeeksDC: “P7CB is more forgiving for me than ZXi7 because my main miss is low middle and the P7CB still flies and spins great on that miss. These are both really nice irons but I like the P7CB more than the Zxi7 and the P770 (or P790) more than the Zxi5. The Srixons are larger so if that gives you confidence that is the way to go. I don’t feel like I get any benefit from the V-sole and the P7CBs live up to their high Maltby forgiveness rating so the TaylorMades have been great for me.”

Entire Thread: “Srixon ZXi combo or TaylorMade P7CB/770 combo? – GolfWRXers discuss”

Equipment

From the GolfWRX Classifieds: 2024 Wilson Staff CB/Blade combo

Published

2 days ago

May 12, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals who all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.

It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.

Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, @pianoman0123 has a 2024 Wilson Staff CB/Blade combo up for grabs.

From the listing: “2024 Wilson Staff CB/Blade Combo. 4-8 irons are CB’s and the 9,PW are Blades. 5-PW have Project X 6.0 Shafts and the 4 Iron has a Steelfiber CW110 Stiff Shaft. Standard Length, Lie and Lofts. These are in very good condition the shafts just don’t work for me. Like new Lamkin Grips on the 5-PW and a stock Golf Pride on the 4 Iron. $525 OBO.”

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link. If you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum, you can learn more here: GolfWRX BST Rules