Inside Our Bench Grinding Process

Grinding a sole isn't a single motion at a spinning wheel. It's a sequence of small, checked passes, and most of the time at the bench is spent verifying rather than removing material. Here's what that sequence looks like on a typical iron or wedge.

Marking the Target Profile

Before any grinding starts, we mark the target camber and relief lines directly on the sole using a grease pencil, based on the low-point read and grind archetype decided during the fitting portion of the session. This gives the grinder a visual reference rather than working from memory alone.

The First Pass

The first grinding pass is always conservative — we remove noticeably less material than the target calls for. It's far easier to grind away more material in a second pass than to add material back after an aggressive first cut, so every grind at our bench starts light by design.

You can always grind more. You can never grind less. Every pass respects that.

Checking Against the Profile Gauge

After the first pass, the club goes onto a digital profile gauge that measures the sole's actual camber and width against the target spec. This step happens after every pass, not just at the end, which is part of why a full grind takes longer than a quick eyeball job would.

Subsequent Passes

Depending on how far the first pass landed from target, one to three additional passes typically follow, each checked against the gauge before deciding whether another is needed. Trailing-edge relief and heel/toe relief, when included, are usually cut as separate, later passes rather than blended into the primary camber work.

Finishing and Polishing

Once the profile gauge confirms the grind matches target, we finish the ground surface to remove tool marks and restore a clean, consistent texture — a rough finish can affect how the sole releases through turf, so this step isn't purely cosmetic.

Final Spec Check

Grinding shifts static weight slightly, so lie angle, loft, and swing weight are all re-measured after the sole work is complete, and corrected if the grind moved them outside the target range. Only after this final check does a club get marked ready for pickup.

The Takeaway

A proper grind session involves more checking than cutting. If a shop can turn around a full-set grind in a few minutes flat, ask what part of this sequence they're skipping.