Introduction

When I ordered my last set of clubs, I made the mistake of ordering standard instead of mid-size grips. It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time, but I’ve started getting trigger finger again, so I thought it was time to regrip. I had also already started to see some excessive wear on my Golf Pride Align MCC +4 for one or two irons I use in the nets, which are only six months old. 

One of the local golf stores offers an option to do a “grip fitting”, so I decided to use it to test out a couple of grips. It’s a clever concept where they blow the grips on and off your 7 iron. Once you’re happy with a grip, they blow the same grip onto a longer iron and a driver to try out. If all goes well, they’ll regrip them all properly with grip tape, as the blow-on isn’t a long term solution. 

The grips I tested included the midsize Golf Pride Align MCC +4 (which I previously used in standard size), the Jumbomax grip (medium size version of the one that Bryson DeChambeau uses), and some Winn grips. I can’t name all of the ones I tried, as I didn’t keep a list.

As you can see from the title of this review, I ended up with the Grip master. The grip just felt right for what I needed.

Construction

For those who don’t know Grip Master, these grips are made of leather. I always assumed that leather would be a problem with wet grips, but these grips become tackier when they’re wet and plenty tacky when they dry.  

The construction on these grips is bulletproof. I Have fellow golfers who have been using these for over two years and they’re still going strong, minimal signs of wear and tear and still tacky.

Grip

When you first get the grips, they need to be activated. When people tell you they will get very sticky it almost seems hard to believe. As you start to use them, the moisture from your skin will make them very tacky, and it only takes a handful of swings to get them to a point where there is no way they will slip out of your hands. 

The level of tackiness on these grips is extremely high, potentially too tacky for some people. It takes a little getting used to, but I’m now comfortable and I find it nice to be able to soften my grip.

Where these grips really shine is in the wet. Our club champs were held in torrential rain and holding the club became a challenge. Quite a few of the players in my group (A grade) had challenges keeping control of the club using Footjoy rain gloves. With these grips, that simply won’t be a challenge. They get more grippy when they are wet.

The grip weights are marginally lighter than conventional grips if the weight of the leather is a concern.  

When compared to Golf Pride MCC +4 align, the weight comes in at 49 grams for the Golf Master  vs 53 grams for the Golf Pride. 

In midsize, they come in at 58 grams for the Golf Master vs 67 grams for the MCC+4 Align.  

Feel

Feel is a personal thing. These are hard, but still feel soft enough to grip comfortably. Grip Master have a variety of different grips that have slightly different feel. The tour wrap has a wound leather similar to a tennis racket or gold pride wrap. 

They also offer a grip where the stitching is at the back of the group, similar to the align grips. With one of the versions you can feel the alignment due to the stitching at the back, the other has the stitching flush with the leather so it feels closer to a normal grip. I preferred the wrap-style grip. 

Pricing

This is where the bad news comes. They certainly are not cheap coming in at almost three times the price of traditional Golf Pride grips. The grips retail at around $31 per grip. By comparison, the MCC +4 Align is $11. It does get pricey when you start getting 16 clubs gripped. I have two extra wedges for practicing, and an extra club as I switch between a 2 iron and 5 wood depending on the conditions. Windy is 2 iron, not so windy is 5W.

When you look at pricing, you must equate price to value for money. If you spend 11 bucks on a grip that only lasts six months, spending 30 bucks on a group that lasts for four times as long is much better value for money. This doesn’t even take into account the inconvenience of having to take your clubs in and get them regripped.

Buy once, buy right.

How have the grips impacted my game?

I wasn’t sure what impact these would have on my game, I was expecting the impact to be primarily my trigger finger problem due to the larger grip. The impact has been substantial. I’m hitting the ball better than I’ve ever hit it because I can hold the club with a much softer grip. I can hold it softer because every time I go out, it’s like wearing a brand-new glove.

I’ve been rebuilding my swing, and at this point, my SkyTrak shows that my level of consistency on irons is now close to scratch. Part of the benefit of the soft hands is that I can now swing with a slower tempo but still achieve the same or better distance results with greater accuracy. I equate it to your accuracy with a 75% swing, except you are getting full swing distance benefits.

As I move into the next stage of working more on my short game, I’m starting to see improvements in soft hands as well.

Conclusion

Despite testing these grips before buying, I was concerned about the cost. It’s a lot of money to spend on grips that you may end up disliking. The resale value on used grips is nearly zero, so getting it wrong could be costly. 

Having used them now for over a month weeks, I have no regrets. They are amazing, the best grips I have used to date, although I would expect nothing less for the price range. 

If you have the budget to put these on, I’d highly recommend them.