How to Restore and Polish a Vintage Putter

Published Jan 04, 2016 | By Zach | Refinishing Golf Clubs
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Refinishing Golf Clubs Course

Refinishing golf clubs (mostly putters) is a fun hobby anyone can do at home. If you like to tinker, this is the series for you!

Polishing a golf club doesn't provide much utility to someone looking to use the clubs, but can make a collector very happy.  I like polishing vintage putters, but you can use this technique for any club, or any metal for that matter.

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Before Starting This Tutorial, You Must

Materials Needed

*When measuring the size of the wheels, it is formatted as follows:  diameter of wheel x width of wheel x diameter of arbor hole

  • Protective Gloves and Eye-wear
  • 6" Benchtop Buffer/Grinder 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)
    • I linked to a Buffer on Amazon, which I don't currently use, but looks like a good setup for what we are trying to accomplish here.  I already owned a bench grinder when I got into this, so didn't bother to buy the proper "buffing" grinder.
  • 6" Polishing wheels (they come in a pack, or you can purchase them separately.)
  • Polishing Compounds
  • Microfiber Polish Cloth
  • Simichrome Metal Polish

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.  The materials listed below are the materials that I have.  Yes, they are expensive, but all the materials listed below will last a long time.  I have been using the same bench grinder and wheels for three years now, and expect to use them for another year or so.

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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.

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