Golf Research In Play (GRIP) Three and Seven Woods Review

GRIP Hot Steel Fairway Wood
Look for it on Global Golf

Grade: A
Teacher’s Comments: These are well-designed, high performing clubs.

The GolfBlogger, considered by his students to be heartless and cruel, has a secret weakness for underdogs. The kids I most like to see succeed in class are the ones who have to work the hardest. In sports, I like to see the stars lose to hard charging unknowns. And in business, I love to see the entrepreneur slay the corporate giant.

One such David is a new company called Golf Research In Play (GRIP), designer and manufacturer of a complete line of golf clubs: drivers, fairway woods, irons, wedges and putters. They’re all original designs and are priced well below those of the big name manufacturers.

I have recently been playing with two of GRIP’s fairway metals – a three, and a seven wood. They are terrific clubs, and it’s evident that the shepherd boy has some fight.

The clubheads have a pleasing shape that’s not quite a triangle, but aren’t exactly a half moon, either. They’re broad at the beam, with a relatively shallow face: 33mm on the 7 wood and 42mm with the three. In overall volume, they’re a bit smaller than my TaylorMade R7s, and significantly smaller than my Snake Eyes woods.

I like low profile, smaller fairway metals, and these look just right. I also like the deep blue color in the finish. The one complaint I have about the appearance is that, on both the clubs, the ferrules do not blend smoothly into the hosel – something that a little wipe with acetone (or a slightly smaller ferrule) would have fixed.

The heads are constructed of heat-treated, H2045 cast stainless “Hot Steel.” GRIP says Hot Steel is lighter and stronger than that used in other golf clubs, and thus they were able to decrease the face thickness from the standard 3.0mm to 2.0mm. The thinner face results in increased ball speed

The GRIP Hot Steel Fairway Woods are designed with fixed weight ports in the back of the club that are supposed to position things perfectly for a high ball flight and low spin. The soles have a sort of v-shaped keel on them which reminds me of the TaylorMade V-Steel design, although it doesn’t extend from front to rear.

A random thought about fixed “weight ports.” If you can’t move them, why make them look like screws in a port? Just put the weights inside the club and give me a smooth sole. I don’t need to see a weight to believe that it’s there.

Grips are soft, and from the pattern look as though they are manufactured by Lamkin, although there is no marking. The shaft on the models I received are graphite, and have a “Players Choice” logo, but no manufacturer is listed. The clubs also came with very nice zippered head covers.

Distance on these clubs is terrific – right in line with what I get out of my TaylorMades, and longer than the Snake Eyes. Ball flight is high – much higher – than either of my other two woods. Thus I didn’t get as much roll, but didn’t lose any distance either.

The shape and size of the clubhead make this one of the few woods that I’ve been able to play very successfully from the rough. On long shots from the deep grass, I typically put the woods away and play one of the two hybrids that I play. On a hunch, however, when I missed a fairway and found myself sitting down in the weeds, I tried the GRIP 7 wood from about 190. It was perfect. The head cut through the grass, the ball sailed high, cleared the frontside bunker and rolled to the back of the green.

Ok. So it wasn’t perfect. It was long. But the point still is valid: these woods work out of the rough. That makes them very versatile, indeed.

Here’s a final thought: if you’re loathe to replace your treasured three wood, why not give the GRIP seven wood a try? Higher handicappers especially may be amazed at how much easier it can be to hit a seven wood than a four iron – or even a four hybrid.

And now that we’ve hit colder weather, it makes even more sense. Balls exhibit their peak performance when the temperatures are 80F or higher. As the temperatures fall into the 60s, you’ll lose at least a club length; into the 40s, more like two. That means you’ll have to hit longer, lower flying irons at unaccustomed distances. I’ve found that hitting woods – which for me tend to fly higher than their equivalent irons – is the solution. In colder weather, I play with both a 7 wood AND a 9 wood. The sweeping motion of a wood swing also is more conducive to the harder winter ground.

In all, I really like these offerings from GRIP, and hope to see more from the company. They’re an especially good buy considering the price: $79.95 each, 2 for $139.95 or 3 for $189.95. That’s a deal you can’t beat