Ever since I started playing golf almost two years ago I have never purchased a pre-assembled club either name brand or no-name brand. I have always build my own clubs with club components such as the club head, shaft, grip etc. I learned to build clubs from a golf class that I took at OSU called "Golf for Business and Life." The business part was not the business of making golf clubs but rather how to use golf as a business tool. The main advantage of custom golf club fitting is that the clubs can be considerably inexpensive compare to pre-assembled clubs. Also custom built clubs may help improve the game.

Several online as well as brick and mortar vendors sell golf club components. Hireko is an online golf club equipment vendor that sells some great club components for very inexpensive price. Like most vendors Hireko sells both club components as well as custom assembled clubs. Hireko is not just a distributor but in fact Hireko manufactures several brands such as Acer, PowerPlay, Dynacraft, Oxygen etc. So basically buying from Hireko just means that we buy directly from the factory and that may be the reason for such an inexpensive price.

Many of us buy name brand golf clubs such as Callaway, Nike, Ping, Taylor Made, Titleist etc. Unfortunately for beginners like me, the name brand does not provide an awful lot of benefits; some of the Hireko brands can be as forgiving as the name brands but at the same time cost much less. Of course one has to spend some time in researching about various golf club terminologies and siff through a lot of web pages before arriving at the right club component based on their athletic ability and physical characteristics.

Building golf clubs is not very difficult. Basically the club head has to be glued to the shaft; and the grip should be glued to the shaft butt. There is little more to it than what I mentioned here. 

• Club heads: Each club head weigh differently and hence in order to have similar "swing weight" for each club the length of each iron has to adjusted appropriately. Usually the length of each successive iron vary by half an inch. As the weight of the each iron changes the shaft stiffness should also be changed for better feel and control. The club head itself has several parameters which make a club more forgiving or less forgiving; some of the parameters are the bounce, loft, lie, offset, sole width etc. PurelyGolf and GolfSpyder are websites with a lot of information about golf club components. Hireko also has a lot of info about club head design.
• Shaft: One can choose a steel shaft or a graphite shaft based on one's athletic ability (swing speed). For older men and women graphite shafts may be ideal since the overall weight of the golf club decreases with a graphite shaft. Steel shafts are much cheaper than graphite but demand moderate to high swing speed. The swing speed dictates the flex (or the stiffness of the shaft); appropriate flex is important both for feel and control. The flex included both the type of shaft chosen based on one's swing speed as well as the shaft tipping which may increase or reduce the stiffness of the shaft. Trimming the tip to vary the shaft stiffness is called as shaft tipping.
• Grip: Even though grip is often not considered as the most important component of a golf club, there are several aspects to it as well. People will large, long fingers may need mid-sized grips which is an option seldom seen in pre-assembled clubs.

Hireko has offered several online webminars about club making and has a lot of information on its website as well.

The clubs can be built with regular hardware that may be available at the local Lowes or Walmart. To cut the shafts (steel shafts) a tubing cutter may be used. A bench wise such as, Pro Tour Vise Grip (Vise Mount), is needed while cutting the steel shaft as well as when griping the shaft. A Vice Clamp may be needed to grip the shaft strongly on a vice. The grip is stuck to the shaft by using grip tape, which are two sided tapes. In order for the grip to slide smoothly into the butt of the shaft grip solvents are often used. The club head is glued to the shaft using metal epoxies. In case of the irons, ferrules may be used for cosmetic purposes.

My first set which included (4I, 6I, 8I, PW, SW and a putter) was built from components bought at golfsmith (another golf components vendor). The club heads were game improvement irons with bounce of at least 2°, lie of at least 60°, a lot of offset and a undercut cavity for added forgiveness. They were made with stiff True Temper Lite XL Iron Shafts. Then came my odd set of irons (3I, 5I, 7I, 9I) built from Hireko Power Play System Q Dual club head.

These heads have interchangeable screws with different weights; by differentially adjusting the weight at the toe and heal of the club head one can theoretically fix swing issues (such as problems with slice or a hook). The clubs were built using
Apollo Standard Steel shaft. These were also game improvement heads but since the even and odd had different feel and weight I did not really used these set of irons a lot.

A few months back I bough Acer XK irons for my new set of irons. The set included 4I - SW including the AW (approach or gap wedge). The clubs were built with stiff Apollo Stepless Steel Shaft. This shaft was the the most inexpensive shaft for my swing speed. I would have like to have this build with True Temper Dynamic Gold, but it was almost four times more price than the Stepless Steel. I gripped it with a Royal Sand Wrap retro grip. The shaft was trimmed for stiff flex. I must say that I am extremely pleased with this set of clubs. The club looks fabulous and the club is designed to be very forgiving. The ball flight is beautiful and the trajectory is near perfect. I have also gained a lot of distance with this set of clubs. Hopefully I will get a chance to review the club head in a later post.

Right now Hireko has a close-out sale going on. If you are beginner it is a great opportunity to buy some inexpensive club components to build the club. Check out the sale flyer below.

Do not forget to visit HirekoGolf channel on Youtube to watch some of the club fitting webminar before you get started on building your own clubs.