Today, I will show you how to make custom-fit (custom length) golf clubs for your toddler/kids.
Whether your toddler is a 12 month year old who’s 1.5 feet tall or a 3 year old 2.5 feet tall, making custom-fit golf clubs can dramatically improve chances of your child playing better golf.
The problem is that most of toddler/junior golf clubs bought off the rack at the retail stores or online are too long for these young, aspiring golfers.
If you want your child to be as good as Tiger Woods or to simply enjoy golf at an early age, it’s vital that you either cut junior golf clubs to fit their height or make toddler golf clubs from scratch as I am showing you in this blog post.
For one, most 2 year olds already possess enough muscle strength to hit a golf ball except there’s no golf clubs made for them!
By making these custom-length golf clubs, your child will be able to get a head start on golf, perhaps play better than you by the time they reach 9.
One of my friend’s daughters is trying to play golf and my friend has asked some advice so I’ve decided to make this 7-iron and driver for her.
And yes, plastic golf clubs would work too but real golf clubs would be ideal if the toddler wants to start improving his/her game from day one.
So, here it goes, this is actually my first attempt at making junior golf clubs and I haven’t done clubmaking in 10 years so I am a bit rusty. But bear with me as I get the job done.
First, you will need some of the most basic golf clubmaking tools listed here:
Epoxy – You can get any regular epoxy at your local hardware store. Golfsmith and other golf clubmaking stores sell these golf epoxies but they are pretty much the same thing so you don’t need to spend extra $5 on them, just get it for cheaper at Home Depot. I got mine for like $5 at Home Depot btw.
Sand Paper – You will need some sand paper to prep the shaft so you can epoxy your clubhead to it. If you have machine tools, that might work too but for the purposes of saving money too, you can just use some plain sand paper.
Shaft Cutting Tool – You can use a fine-blade saw or a machine tool to cut your shaft. If you don’t have them, the other best way is to get one of these golf shaft cutting tools. I have had mine for over 10 years and they are great for cutting golf shafts plus they don’t take up much room if you live in a small apartment. ($9.99 at Golfsmith)
*Note – You can get the Chop Saw, which might be better if you are making a whole set of clubs.
Junior Clubheads – For starters, you can probably start with any junior golf clubhead. I went with a Snake Eyes Junior 7-iron($8.99) and a driver($17.99). (There’s even cheaper ones too over at GolfSmith, check it out here.)
Junior Golf Grips – Junior golf grips are slightly smaller than regular grips and you will need these. I got the Junior Tour Velvet grips ($1.79 each) but there’s other choices as well.
Double-sided Grip Tape – You need a double-sided grip tape so you can stick the golf grip onto the golf shaft. For this, I highly recommend the water-activated grip tape which requires no toxic solvents and easy to apply with plain water and a bit of soap. Traditionally, you had to use toxic solvent plus a double-sided tape, which is faster to install but bad for our environment. (plus costs more for the solvent).
Ferrules (optional) - For a finished look, you will want to get some ferrules. The ferrules are different for irons($2.99 for dozen) and woods($2.49 for dozen). But these are optional, they don’t really do anything but add to the overall “look” and do not affect the perfomance of your toddler golf clubs.
Standard sizes for iron ferrules are .370″ in diameter and wood ferrules are .335″ in diameter. If you get special shafts you might need a custom ferrule but for most golf clubs, these sizes are standard, even for adult golf clubs. There’s more styles of ferrules to choose from here but make a note that you get the right sized ferrules.
You might also want to consider getting a Ferrule installer if you want ferrule installation to be quicker/easier.
Total Cost
Total cost per club should be pretty cheap $20 per iron and about $30 per wood, still cheaper than buying off the racks. Plus, the golf tools you buy can be used over and over for future clubmaking, not a bad investment at all. I’ve also used the minimal number of tools here as I don’t like having big tools or spending too much money on them. (yet at least)
Not only are it’s a great skill to learn but as your toddler grows up, you will be able to provide them with custom shafts, which they will need if they are going to take golf to the next level.
How to Find the Right Length for Fitting the Golf Shaft
Before making the golf clubs, you will want to find out exactly the length your toddler needs to hit the ball optimally.
Measure out how long your golf club should be by setting the shaft on your toddler child. Then, make a mark with a permanent marker. As a rough guide, try to get about 50 degrees from the ground to the child’s hands. Where their hands end on the shaft should be where you should mark the golf club.
Don’t worry if you do it the wrong first time, you can always cut the shaft and put a new grip if you make it too long.
Just don’t make it too short, then you will have to install a new shaft so…
How to Cut the Golf Shaft
Obviously, if you have a power tool or get the Chop Saw, you can easily cut the shaft but if you get the shaft cutting tool, you can follow these directions.
Simply set the shaft to the shaft cutting tool in the middle groove then adjust the knob so it fits tightly.
Rotate the shaft once and tighten the knob a 1/4 of a turn, then keep repeating until the shaft if cut.
You should get a nicely cut shaft like here:
And save the leftover shaft for later as it can be used as a ferrule installation tool.
Video 1 of shaft cutting:
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How to Install the Ferrule (Optional)
If you’ve decided to install the ferrules, there’s some extra steps to do, otherwise you can skip this step.
*Note – If you bought the Ferrule Installer, follow directions for that, it should be MUCH easier/faster. I am just showing you my hack without spending extra $10.
First, fit your clubhead to the tip of your shaft snuggly. Then make a mark with a permanent marker where your clubhead ends on the shaft. This will be where the ferrule must stop.
Next, apply some oil or WD40 to the tip of the shaft so you can easily slide your ferrule in.
Next, put the ferrule on the tip of the shaft. If it get stuck just bang it softly couple times until the ferrule goes in.
You should get to this point where the ferrule is about here. If the ferrule is stuck, don’t worry, we will use the leftover shaft piece from earlier to bang it down a bit.
Using the leftover shaft piece (you can also cut it even shorter so it’s easier to use), then place it on the ferrule.
Use a hammer to bang the ferrule down the shaft. Don’t hammer too hard, just a little tap at a time.
If you go too far down and it gets stuck for good, you might want to try bang it down the opposite way but use something plastic to wedge it on the other side 45 degrees. (Watch my wood installation video as I get it down too far.)
Don’t try to get it all the way to your mark btw, you can get it almost there, then fit your clubhead and start banging the clubhead until it pushed the ferrule in place.
How to Install/Epoxy the Clubhead to the Shaft!
Next, once you are done getting the ferrule in place, let’s prep up the shaft for installing the clubhead.
Take a small piece of sand paper and sand the shaft until it’s nicely “sanded”. Of course, if you have a sand belt and machine tools, use that too.
The shaft tip is now ready for epoxying the clubhead on:
Next, squeeze out some epoxy and mix it with a toothpick.
Once mixed, apply the epoxy mix to the tip of the shaft.
Now slide the clubhead down the tip of the shaft and you should be done, make sure to wipe off any excess epoxy with a cloth. Don’t use paper towel as it will get stuck on the club and make an ugly mess.
Depending on the epoxy you got, it might take couple minutes before the epoxy settles. You can carefully install the grip right away or wait couple minutes to make sure the clubhead doesn’t move.
Video of Ferrule Installation:
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How to Install the Golf Grip!
Yey, you are almost done and installing golf grip is one of the easiest jobs so this might also be helpful if you have old golf grips and you want to install new grips.
First, you willl want to measure out and mark where you want to stick the double-sided grip tape on the shaft.
Take the end of the shaft and place the junior golf grip side-by-side. Mark with a permanent marker where the grip ends on the shaft.
Put the grip tape on the shaft and take off the unsticky sticker thingee.
*Note – You can also do double or triple layers of the grip tape if you’ve cut the shaft a LOT or you simply want a larger grip.
Next, get the golf grip and cover the hole at the butt end of the grip with a ball marker or a golf tee like this:
Then put a small bit of soap, I used regular handwashing dish soap here.
Fill the grip with warm water and shake it so you get soapy mix.
Now, pour that water over the double-sided grip tape you applied to your shaft.
Put the grip on the shaft now, noting that the logo(or whatever mark you want on the grip) is aligned with the leading edge of the clubface. (or parallel to it)
Once the grip is all the way in, you can pull the ball marker (or golf tee) out, you should hear a nice “swoosh”!
You can also adjust the grip once it’s on the shaft, you have approximately 30 minutes before the soap water starts drying off so make your adjustments here.
After everything is done, set the golf clubs against a wall for at least 12 hours before testing it out on the course.
If you are in a hurry, you could go out to the range in couple hours but probably best idea to let the epoxy cure enough and the grip to dry off completely.
Video of how to install the golf grip:
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You should get something like these two clubs:
Congrats! After making a couple of these clubs, it shoudn’t take you longer than 5 minutes to make a golf club.
As you can see, golf club making is relatively easy and you can save a lot of money too in the process.
Even if you don’t use this guide, I am sure you have friends who are avid golfers and perhaps you can tell your friends about it. Thanks!
Here’s more videos for reference:
How to Install a Toddler’s Golf Club – Wood Driver:
Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode
