Do you/have you sharpened the grooves in your irons over the years?
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No I have not sharpened the grooves. I have a tool, i’ve never used it. I don’t like to mess with the faces of my clubs too much, if at all ever… But on my 60 and 54 I probably could, not like I’m playing any sanctioned events anymore…I just would feel funny about it…I still get pretty good action on my wedge shots if I strike it correctly. Plus sharpened grooves will rip up your golf balls fer certain!
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I tried sharpening the grooves on my wedges, with a hand-held tool. Results were decidedly meh. I didn’t notice a difference in spin or flight, and since my wedges were new-to-me, they probably needed sharpening.
Utilizing a braced fixture, and a mini-mill, would probably work out better. I don’t recommend you spend any time with a hand-held groove-sharpening tool, except maybe a Dremel with a 1/16 engraving bit.
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Hand held “groover” annually for my PW, SW GW LW. MJ is right; I was too exuberant in my first go at it and my Wilsons looked like they went through a box grater.
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@MJTortella @Jayjay @kenk - thank you all for the responses. I used a handheld tool once on a set of wedges I bought used…yeah it really tore up the golf balls. I don’t play tournaments, so wasn’t super concerned with conforming or not.
My main question was for those of you using the same irons for more than 10 years…if/when you re-sharpened the grooves. My irons are still fairly new…4 years old, so I’m not even considering re-grooving. But I am curious on the affect grooves might have after 10-15+ years of average to above average use…on irons…not wedges.
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I have a few sets from the 70’s and the 80’s. Yes, the grooves are not brand spanking new and does not provide the spin as when it was new. I try to keep them clean between the shots and clean the head once in awhile with a nylon brush , water and soap.
The dirt and sand caught in the grooves will cause most of the damage.
No, I have never use the hand held groove sharpener. Tempted but, seen some of the guys ruined their soft forged irons. If I even want to refurbish a set of old irons. I might consider sending it in for a machined re-grooving and re-chroming. Although was advised that don’t do it unless absolutely wish to do that. It’ll never be the same spec as the original.
My excuse is to get new set (s) to rotate the iron sets, so not any one set will get all the wear and tear. That’s why I have more sets of irons to fill out the weekly rotation for months.
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My irons, including PW, GW and SW are 10 years old. I freshen them up every year. I have never regrooved anything 8I and above. My SW, Hogan Special, is the first club I owned, so it’s pushing 50 years old. Annual facelifts do it wonders.
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10,000 foot level, I’d think it’d depend on the hardness of the steel comprising the face. Which is likely (absent things like nitriding/“diamond” CVD/PVD processing) the same steel making up the clubhead. And if that follows general rules-of-thumb, I’d think it more of an issue for forged heads vs cast. Aren’t we cautioned to check the lie/loft on forged heads every year/other year, as impact can cause the heads to creep out of spec?
It’d be a neat Trackman test, to compare identical model used clubs vs new, and see if spin changes.
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Air density might play a heavy role in 10,000’ above sea level.
Have many friends golf at high altitude and they say the golf ball travels farther comparing to close to sea level by as much as 15%.
Be interesting to see your follow up on the trackman. Also be interest to compare the numbers from the trackman to actual performance on the golf course.
Moses, St. Peter, and Satan were out on the first tee.
Moses tees it up, swings, rockets it down the fairway onto the green and then it rolls right into the hole … hole in one.
Satan tees it up, swings, rockets it down the fairway onto the green and then it rolls right into the hole …
hole in one.
St. Peter tees it up, slaps it into the forest where it hits a tree trunk, bounces out onto the cart path, rolls over the fairway pond, into the bunker, out of the bunker, onto the green and then it rolls to the hole, rims the hole twice, then a squirrel runs onto the green and kicks it in … hole in one.
Satan looks at St. Peter and says, “Damn the miracles dude,… let’s just play the damn game.”
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LOL ! thanks, that was funny !
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The very first ace I ever witnessed was on a 156 yd Par 3. I have 3 aces myself, I’ve seen about 20 of them throughout the years in the groups I’ve payed in. Anyways, My man did not hit a good shot, as a matter of fact he rifled his ball about 30 yds right and hit the oak tree (you know where I’m going with this right) bounces down on an angle onto the cart path, bounces very hard onto a railroad tie in front, bounces onto the green and rolls it into the cup. Simple Game! 
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Hole In One with luck involved.
The first H-I-O I witnessed locally was at a municipal golf course, with this “new golfer” in out group. It was the old #17 ( they flipped the front and the ack nine to speed up the pace) 143 yards slightly up hill with bunkers on the left front and the right side. The group consisted of all 4 walked on singles. This guy told us that he just started golfing less than a year ago and please, forgive him if he could not play well.
We assured him that we’d love to have him if he kept up the pace and didn’t step on someone else’s putting line.
Anyhow, 2 of the 3 hit the green before he stepped up and hit a shot landed short onto the front edge of the green and disappeared.
As we walked up to the green, the course Marshall was parked behind the green and asked who was the last on the tee; then he pointed to the cup and said that he waited for us because he saw the golf ball went in as H-I-O.
The newbie was excited, but never offered the Marshall a drink or for that matter any of us in the group. I’d thought even a can of soda ( back then was 50 cents from the vending machine ). Obviously, no one taught this guy the tradition and the etiquette.
I had never had a H-I-O in 4 decades of golf. quite a few times came within inches but no cigar.
It is a simple game if we understand the basic of what and why. Only took me more than a couple of decades as weekend warrior to figure that out,
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Nice Marshal! I still suspect my Uncle foot wedged my blind uphill approach in the hole on a par 4 in a similar situation. No helpful Marshal here though. For my sliced approach to have gone in, it would’ve needed a carom off a house near the green. Which i guess could’ve theoretically happened, but seems really unlikely.
I was totally disoriented on that hole, and I’m not a fan of blind shots anyway. Especially as bad as i played then. Got to the green, tromping through the uphill rough/weeds the whole way, can’t find my ball, and my cart-riding Uncle pulls the, “Is this yours? I found it in the cup.” Uh-huh, sure thing Santa… He meant well…
(Of course, I stuck the 7 wood approach on the next hole, a 185 par-3 to within 5 feet. Such is golf.)
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I remembered that course Marshall was sitting in his cart behind the green. No funny business there.
I believe you really go the H-I-O, and your uncle was not trying to swindle you for a drink.
I played with a guy who duffed his tee shot on a par 4, then he topped his long approach shot and somehow rolled up on an elevated green and disappeared out of sight from us. We looked on the green and especially behind the green and found nothing, then, someone peaked into the cup and there it was. He won 4 skins on that shot.
My father’s golf buddy was not a good golfer. One time he hit a slice on a par three and bounced of the root of a tree and went on the green , rolled into the cup. In Asia, that cost him about 2 grand to buy drinks for everyone on the ground and a fat bonus for the caddies. He was not very happy that day.
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It wasn’t a hole in one opportunity. I’d gotten him onto Pebble, and it was the 11th there. Uphill drive, sliced, of course, into the cabbage, and I’d been alternately topping and slicing everything since a monster drive to the immediate base of the hill on 6. (Which placed me so close to the slope, all i could do was mid iron it somewhere to the runup before the green. Maybe. Because it was yet another blind shot.)
So, i was pissed, frustrated, and resigned by that point, and i think he was trying to cheer up his nephew. I appreciate it.
Weird round. Besides that stuck approach to 12, which was a total sucker pin, on the front right lobe, closest to the tee, and narrow. Not that i cared. [Digs out yardage book] “That pin is 185. This is my 185 club. Hit it.” Something to that complete faith in what you’re doing… But besides that, i chipped in from the Tom Watson location on 17. That one, we all saw. Didn’t have his rough though. And those greens are tiny! It’s only a couple steps from that little mound to the hole. Still though…
Neat course; I’m going back. I just want to be good enough to enjoy Spyglass this time. And try Bayonet, of course.
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They do not screw around when it comes to drinking traditions over there. I’ve read stories about guys taking out hole-in-one insurance to cover the gifts and tabs.
Me, I’m like, it’s only money. I’ll make more. But if I’m buying Macallan 25 for everyone, I’m getting a glass too. (Even if I’d rather have Glenfarclas 21. Or get to try Port Ellen 30)
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3 decades+ ago, it costs about 2 thousands U.S. to cover the drinks, I heard it’s a lot more than that in Japan. Typical insurance ( some golf course including the insurance in the green fee, $2 ?) the H-I-O insurance was also popular in the Europe back then.
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I remember those tiny greens; was a shock actually seeing them in person. They looked much larger in the Tournaments on television. Most of them sloped, precision approach shot will be crucial to score low over there.
I still think your H-I-O was well deserved, That will be a good conversation topic to ask your uncle one of these days.
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I’ve had 3 aces, I never bought drinks, but I did my my playing partners a box of balls of their choice. I think the balls are a much better thought to have them sign the witness papers in the clubhouse
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