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Golf club refinishing

How to Remove the Nicks and Dings from a Golf Club (and polish)

Last updated Jun 02, 2023

How to Remove the Nicks and Dings from a Golf Club (and polish) featured image
Headshot of Zach Gollwitzer

Written by Zach

In the world of refinishing, this is by far the most important preliminary step.  After years of use, golf clubs will get beat up, and in order to make them appear "new," it is important to remove these signs of use.  When I first began learning how to refinish golf clubs, it took me a while to learn how to do this.  There aren't many tutorials out there specific to the technique that is shown in the video below.  Anyways, this is the first step in ANY refinishing process.

The second half of the video walks you through the polishing process, which is commonly used for refinishing vintage putters.

Before Starting This Tutorial, Your Club Must

Materials Needed

  • For removing nicks and dings
    • Protective Gloves (preferably not baggy ones like I'm unfortunately using in the video) and Eye-wear
    • 6" Bench Grinder/Buffer with 1/2" arbor holes (the cheapest and most readily available deburring and polishing wheels fit are 6" in diameter with 1/2" arbor holes)
      • There is a difference between a "bench grinder" and a "bench buffer".  A bench grinder is generally used for grinding/sharpening metals, and thus, has guards on it.  If you buy one of these, you may consider removing the guards (at your own risk).  A bench buffer is for polishing wheels and is not as protective.  Most bench buffers will be able to handle a deburring wheel, but they are not made for it.
      • The ideal setup would be using the bench grinder for the deburring wheel, and the bench buffer for the polishing wheels, but is obviously a more costly setup.
    • 6" x 1/4" x 1/2" fine deburring wheel (You might have to look around for this one.  These aren't very common)
    • 6" x 1/2" x 1/2" fine deburring wheel
  • For polishing
    • Sisal wheel - This is going to do the bulk of your polishing and should be used with the black polishing compound (you can also use brown and white compounds if you are patient enough)
    • Polishing wheels  - For final touches.  Use with finer polishing compounds (i.e. red, green, blue)
    • Wheel set (if you don't want to buy separately)
    • Polishing compounds

Note: when finding a bench grinder, the size of the grinder doesn't matter.  A 6" or 8" grinder will work, but be sure to match the wheel sizes to the grinder size!  I recommend purchasing the bench grinder first, and then purchasing the wheels that will fit it.  Yes, the materials are expensive, but all the materials listed above will last a long time.  I have been using the same bench grinder and wheels for three years now, and expect to use them (wheels) for another year at least!

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About me

Zach Gollwitzer
Zach Gollwitzer

Hey, I‘m Zach, the founder of The DIY Golfer! I created this site while playing D1 collegiate golf with a simple mission—I wanted to learn the golf swing and get better at golf myself.

Fast forward a few years, and my “journal“, The DIY Golfer, has been viewed by millions of golfers worldwide looking to do the same with their games. my mission is to make golfers more consistent in just a few hours a week through advanced practice strategies and timeless, first-principle golf instruction.