Hi Britt, curious your thoughts on the right setup for a home shop loft and lie machine or machines. I’m looking to do irons and putters. Probably 10 sets per year and a handful of putters. How should I go about it?
Thanks!
My preference is to have a good iron bending machine and a good golf club gauge. Also, I would have a separate putter bending machine. Even though you can bend some putters on certain iron loft and lie bending machines, there are many you can’t. The reason for the golf club measuring gauge, as I have always said, they are more accurate when measuring the specs. Iron bending machines are usually accurate for loft measurements, but not necessarily lie angles because they are all based on measuring off the grooves, which are not always in sync with the actual lie when the club is sitting in the center of the sole. The bending machine does tell you how much you are bending. The actual loft and lie number must be identified in a club gauge.
As to what to get, depends on your budget. Of all the choices we have currently, I like the GM1036 basic Golf Mechanix Loft and Lie Bending gauge. I would either mount it on a stand alone stand that I could work around or mount it on a swivel base like the GM1066, either on the stand alone base or on a workbench. As far as a putter bending machine, the Compact Bending machine kit (GM1000K) or the Golfworks Putter Bending machine kit (MA2021K) that comes with the bench mount stand. Both of the putter bending machine kits come with the bending bars as well. As far as bending bars for the irons you would need to get those separately. I prefer our heavy duty double 15/45 (GM1088) and the GW1036 Short hosel bending bar. You should be able to do any irons with those bending bars.
As far as a club gauge, we have several to choose from, again depending on how much you want to spend. You might look at the GM1002 or the GW1004.
Lastly, you should have the GW0140 iron Bending protection tape for bending irons. It helps minimize marks on the face and sole of irons when bending. We have brass hosel protectors as well, but our guys usually just use a heavy duty masking tape and tape the hosels before bending.
There are a lot of good bending machines out there and you’ll just have to decide what works best for you and your budget. Let me know if you have any questions.
Britt Lindsey
Thank you for the high level of detail. I’ll start shopping these recommendations!
you’ll also need a loft and lie gauge if you don’t have one already. don’t rely on the loft and lie machine for accurate angles.