Hitting a sweet long drive is one of the best feelings in the world, but sometimes that rattle from the drivers club head can be so high pitched and loud it sounds like a bomb going off. No one wants to annoy their playing partners or people on the course with such a loud explosion.
This article will explain how you mute a golf driver’s head, how to get the rattle out of your driver’s head, and what the liquid glue known as a hot melt or rat glue used to quiet drivers do to your driver’s head.
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How To Mute Golf Driver Sound?
- Remove the driver’s shaft with a puller, assuming it is a graphite shaft. Use a vice clamp soften it first using a heat gun, and cut the shaft using a sharp knife.
- Remove stop at the bottom of the hosel. It needs to be removed to prevent the epoxy from entering the head, causing more rattling.
- Remove the plastic hosel by using a hand drill with a small drill bit (1/8″).
- Rip some cotton into strips and slowly add them into the hosel by pushing it through with a narrow instrument; a 1/8″ pin works well. Use a golf ball and tap it on the club’s face while holding the hosel to hear the pitch of the club head.
- Keep tapping the clubhead with the golf ball, and add cotton until you reach the desired pitch.
- Re-attach your golf shaft.
Cotton is an excellent inexpensive way to reduce the bang of your driver, every cotton ball weighs 6/10ths of a gram, and it doesn’t take a lot to impact the sound of your driver. However, using lightweight density foam could easily ad 20g to an already heavy driver ad, and it is a lot messier and more expensive than using cotton.
Pick up a huge bag of cotton balls for a bargain on Amazon here.
Don’t go crazy with adding cotton balls, as adding 1.6 grams (3 cotton balls) equals a one swing weight point increase. If you add 20 cotton balls (12 grams), your driver sound will go from a cowbell to a dead thud, and no one wants that.
It’s far easier removing a graphite shaft than a steel one. You need more specialized tools for steel. Please read my detailed guide to see what equipment you need and how to remove a steel shaft.
You may need the following equipment, all available on Amazon, especially if you have a steel shaft, although there is a cheap, effective way to remove shafts without added equipment which you can learn more about in my post.
Products You May Need To Remove A Drivers Clubhead
How Do I Get the Rattle Out of My Driver’s Head?
- Remove the driver’s shaft with a puller, assuming it is a graphite shaft. Use a vice clamp soften it first using a heat gun, and cut the shaft using a sharp knife.
- Clean the epoxy core with a long rod and wipe out the excess epoxy with a cloth.
- Remove the plastic stop in the club via a 1/8″ drill bit, carefully drip the clubhead. If it doesn’t remove the plastic, stop, take a long screw, tap it in, then pull it out. It prevents the stop from falling inside the head.
- Use a springe and add rattle stop into the clubhead to trap the loose debris; add more of the liquid into the sole of the clubhead if possible. After, move the clubhead around to transfer the liquid.
- Install a plastic stop into the hosel to prevent the epoxy from creating a rattle later. Use the shaft to force it in.
- Re-assemble the golf club.
Before you do ANYTHING to fix your club’s rattle, remember it is very easy to apply hot melt, irreversibly damaging your club incorrectly. Don’t so I didn’t warn you!
Firstly you must identify where the rattle is coming from. Many modern drivers, fairway-woods, hybrids, and some irons heads are hollow, so there is sticky glue inside the head to trap the loose debris, causing the rattling sound.
Or there could be a rattle in the shaft from epoxy or a lead tip pen. Regardless you have to remove the club head no matter what driver you have.
Suppose you have an adjustable driver like the fantastic forgiving Callaway epic max driver available for a bargain on Amazon. In that case, you could unscrew the clubhead and shake out the loose debris that causes the rattle. Remember adding adhesive will add weight to your driver.
We use rattle stop (or hot melt), a thermoplastic adhesive that starts in a state of solidity and liquefies with applied heat, usually via a hot glue gun. Then, it dries and solidifies to stop the loose debris from creating that annoying rattle.
Remember adding 1.6 grams of adhesive will increase the swing weight of your driver by one 1 point, so don’t go crazy! Please see above for links to get all the products you need.
TaylorMade is one of the best golf brands on tour, but how do they message up to the competition? To know for sure, please see my deep dive into the famous golf brand in my article.
What Does a Hot Melt Do to a Driver’s Head?
Hot melt is a vibration dampener. Nearly all pros use hot melt to reduce vibrations in their drivers, improving the sound and feel. Depending on the location of the hot melt, the material can change the center of gravity, improving the club’s trajectory.
Hot melt is a thermoplastic adhesive that starts in a solid-state and liquefies when applied, then dries and solidifies. The material is used for many purposes, including rat traps, hence the nickname ‘rat glue.’
Club builders apply the hot, liquified glue into the driver’s head, then tilt the driver’s head to get the liquid into a specified location from it dries the sole of the clubhead ideally. Unfortunately, once it’s dry, it’s very difficult to remove. Many amateur DIY golfers have ruined their clubs forever, inserting the glue incorrectly.
One squirt of the hot melt from a glue gun (get one from Amazon) can produce a gram or more of weight.
Club builders apply the hot, liquified glue into the driver’s head, then tilt the driver’s head to get the liquid glue into a specified location before it dries. Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to remove when dried; that’s where amateur DIY-ers get into trouble.
One squirt of hot melt from the glue gun can produce a gram or more of added weight. For example, 1.6 grams increases the swing weight of your driver by one 1 point. So if you go crazy with the glue, it will dramatically impact your club’s weight & feel.
Where you put the hot melt will change your club’s center of gravity, similar to using lead tape. For example, glue in the front of the clubhead will lower the ball’s trajectory and spin while adhesive in the back of the head will raise launch, improving forgiveness, glue in the heel will introduce a draw while glue in the toe will cause fades.
The difference between lead tape (Amazon) is that the tape can easily be removed, but the dried hot liquid inside your driver’s head isn’t going anywhere!
Always remember pros and tour-level club manufacturers will never insert hot melt into a clubhead for no reason. They usually have a purpose like improving the ball flight or fall; they know EXACTLY where they want the glue to go and how much they need to achieve their objective.
You are a DIY golfer; for a complete guide on re-grip golf clubs and what tapes you can use, please read my detailed guide.
