Golf Forums

There is no problem in cleaning your grooves, but according to equipment guru Frank Thomas and a Q&A on his website:

Frank,
After many rounds and lots of practice the grooves on your wedges are naturally going to wear down. Can they be "re-grooved" rather than buying new wedges? Thanks.
--Brian

Brian,
I have been asked this question many times and feel the need to be more specific about how to go about getting your grooves reconditioned.

First, let me say that using a hand-held groove tool is a risky way to recondition the grooves in your wedges. The reason is that as soon as you alter (recondition) the face of the club it is considered new and ruled on accordingly.

“Rule 4 1-b. Wear and Alteration, states; “A club that conforms with Rules when new is deemed to conform after wear through normal use. Any part of a club that has been purposely altered is regarded as new and must, in its altered state conform with the Rules”

This means for example, even though the face is concave or the grip has indentations for you fingers because this is how it wore down through normal use, it is OK to use it without penalty but as soon as you start reconditioning the club it must be considered new.

A hand held tool will not only do a number on the grooves but will most likely render them non-conforming because of the tight specifications the USGA has for grooves, i.e. depth, width, ratio of groove-width to pitch, radius of groove edges and even groove straightness. These specs are difficult to maintain even for an accomplished custom club maker with a milling machine.

The question is; are you better off getting a new wedge rather than trying to recondition an old one?

First, don’t try to recondition it yourself. Second, to get it done professionally may take up to six weeks depending on whether the club head is chrome plated or not. Most forged iron clubs made of mild steel, will need to be protected from rusting, which requires a layer of chrome to be deposited on the head after the grooves have been milled, rolled or stamped into the face. Some clubs are forged but made of stainless steel, which do not require chrome plating. These, as with most cast clubs can be re-grooved and do not need the additional protective layer of chrome.

To get your wedge i.e. the GAP or Lob Wedge (not your Sand Wedge which doesn’t need sharp grooves to be effective out of the sand) re-grooved you can send it to GolfWorks. To get more details regarding how and where to send it call their toll free phone number (800) 848 8358. It will cost about $20 for a club that does not need to be rechromed which will include the shipping both ways. You can add another $12 if the club needs to be chromed. GolfWorks will make sure that the clubs conform with the rules.

In many cases, the lack of being able to get the ball to do Yo-Yo tricks on the green may have little to do with the condition of the grooves, but rather the condition of our technique.

We should also recognize that under dry conditions where there is not grass intervening between the ball and the club face �" off a tee or tight fairway -- a sand-blasted face will do as well as a face with brand new grooves. It is only when grass juice gets between the clubface and the ball that the grooves really start doing their thing. This only happens out of relatively light rough not the real juicy 4” stuff where it doesn’t matter what type of grooves or condition of those grooves makes any difference.

So if you feel you need to recondition the grooves in your wedges because you don’t want to give up an old friend call GolfWorks. If you would just like to make a change �" wedges don’t change very much in style or shape --you can buy a new one which will cost about $110. If you do decide to buy a new wedge make sure it has the same specs, i.e. bounce, loft and lie as the good friend you are about to give up.

BTW The 2024 exempt status for clubs not meeting the new groove rules does not start until Jan 1,2011. In other words you have until the end of this year to purchase or alter clubs to the old non conforming groove rules.