I’ve now attended two LIV Golf events, and at both, I learned something remarkable from the one and only Bryson DeChambeau. This time, at LIV Michigan, I not only learned that DeChambeau has his grips installed with rubber cement, but that, apparently, it’s possibly more normal globally than solvent is.
It all started at LIV Australia. Bryson got a fresh set of grips from the Tour Van, the equipment truck that services LIV Golf, and as he went out to practice and play, the butt cap section of the grips started to come loose, so he could feel twisting in his top hand.
The solution was quickly found as some of the local crew down there suggested that Bryson use “Bostik Rubber Cement.” More specifically, Bostik Rubber Cement 1222, which is described on DynaCast Golf Group’s Australian website as “…a staple in the golf industry for many years. It is a light coloured, quick-acting general-purpose adhesive that is ideal for putting grips onto shafts.”
IDEAL FOR PUTTING GRIPS ONTO SHAFTS!? As if it were totally normal and not to be questioned.
This, of course, sent those of us on the Tour Van into a spiral. As we watched Jason Werner install these grips, Ben Guinta came over to Johnny Wunder and me to explain, which I captured on camera for Instagram.
The Cause and Effect
Essentially, what was happening is that because Bryson plays such large, heavy grips, the solvent typically used to install golf grips wasn’t evaporating properly, which meant that the tape was never adhering to the grip. There was also a small difference in the inner diameter of the grip and the outer diameter of the shafts, which caused the effects of any lack of adhesion to multiply.
What got us all scratching our heads was when we came into the Tour Van the next day and read the comments on that video together. Apparently, there are tons of people who learned to use rubber cement to install grips. Solvent? Never heard of her. And we started to realize that maybe the rubber cement trick was actually more globally used than solvent, just because of how diverse the conditions and environments can be.
Solvent may not work in every corner of the world, but rubber cement sure does!
And as with any Bryson changes, once he finds success in something, he sticks with it. So here we are at LIV Michigan, watching the Tour Van install Bryson’s new grips with rubber cement. But in this case, it’s your standard Gorilla Glue Rubber Cement that you’ll find at any local hardware store.
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