Build Shop Hacks/Tricks

Whether you’re a builder for a top fitting company, a Tour truck tech, or any trade requiring mass production, the game’s name is speed and efficiency.

In my heyday, my quota was from one to one hundred and fifty clubs daily. Swing weight is off? Tear it down and start all over again. Flex is off? Get busy. No one wants to stay past eight hours when there’s golf to play and things to do. Here are a few tips and tricks I’ve picked up during my time in the building to breeze through the building steadily.

In between classes during the COVID era, it was a protocol that we wipe down all tables. Before that, we flicked the air compressor switch and blew everything off every desk, fixture, nook, and cranny. Clearing the desk for wiping meant moving the Mitchell Golf TourGauge Swing Weight Scale. Every time the Swing Weight Scale changes locations, it must be re-calibrated to ensure proper weighting on its new surface. Here’s a top tip from several Tour trucks: build a shelf solely for the Scale, calibrate it once, and leave it alone!

Now like every piece of electronic on the planet, it needs charging, right? No one wants to be caught in a low-battery or dead-battery situation— car, phone, or in this case, the Mitchell Golf DigiFlex 2.0 Frequency Meter.

It’s a simple solution: plug it in. (Believe it or not, people have called me asking how to charge it back up). But what if a workbench or desk is nowhere near an outlet? Slide the display unit off its rails and find the nearest socket. Pretty easy! However, getting it back on the rails is a different ball game. Rest assured, and I got your back. Using the USB-A to Mini-USB cord, plug the Mini-USB into the back of the display unit as usual, but connect the USB-A to a portable battery or power bank instead.

While I do get significant players, big-time fitters, and retail giants at the Studio, most students have opted to go their way and forge their small businesses. Smaller businesses are known to have tighter budgets, and the last thing you want to do is throw money away. One of the biggest culprits known to throw funds right into the trash can are the belts, specifically the graphite belt. While the porous texture creates the grit to abrade your graphite, it sometimes houses the paint you just took off and tends to gunk up. I spray my belt with compressed air between every set. While you’re at it, don’t forget to shoot a gust of mood at your cutting wheel, too.

Speaking of belts, I do want to throw this in here because it’s a pet peeve of mine: should you get a burr on the tip end or butt of your steel shaft, don’t use your 80 Grit belt to smooth it out. Because the belt spins downward, placing a rough edge against it effectively takes chunks of the grit off the belt, rendering it useless sooner than later. Instead, smooth out any burring using the side of your cutting wheel, and your 80 Grit will see extended life.

Now the most significant tip to hammer home is one we’ve been preaching since the dawn of Mitchell, but we’ll keep saying it: spray down your machines occasionally with WD40. Do I need to repeat it for the people in the back? We get it— metal will rust, especially ours, but our black oxide is a controlled rust that adds durability. How durable exactly? Ask our Director of Golf Ops, Patrick Gallagher, on the Pre-Owned section of the website. Listings are few and far between because nobody turns their gear in. Some machines out there are almost thirty years old. Planned Obsolescence isn’t our thing.

For more tips for your golf shop man cave, like bench types, tool brands, and everyday tips and tricks, follow Mitchell Golf on all social media or shoot us an email at INFO@MITCHELLGOLF.COM