I’ve got friends whose garages look like the back of an old pro shop. There are bits of clubs everywhere, neatly lined up shafts, and vices that look like they’ve come straight from the set of a horror film.
They just love to fix and fiddle with their clubs and I bet plenty of you out there are just like them. So you’ll feel some solidarity with our column question, which is: “What do the rules say about attaching permanent weight strips to the back of any club?”
So what’s the story? Is lead tape legal in golf? Let’s take a look…
Lead tape for golf clubs: Can you use it?
To get a proper answer to this, we have to venture into the murky – and unfamiliar – world of the Equipment Rules.
If you’ve ever thought the Rules of Golf are dense, take a look at the regulations for clubs and balls. I’m glad I didn’t have to take an exam on these.
Anyhow, in Part 2 on the Conformance of Clubs there is a section on external attachments. It reveals there are two “long-standing permissible ‘external attachments’.” One of these is the use of a suction cup at the end of the putter grip to help players get the ball out of the hole. The other is “lead tape on the shaft or the head for weighting”.
The rule says: “While lead tape can affect the performance of the club and a rubber suction cup would exceed the diameter of the butt end of the grip, the use of both these items continue to be permitted on a traditional basis”.
There is a caveat for driver heads with a high Moment of Inertia but, that aside, you can add it. Don’t, though, take it off, alter it, or add to it during a round.
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That’s because – going back to the Rules of Golf – you’d be deliberately changing a club’s playing characteristics during a round. Rule 4.1a (3) doesn’t allow it.
Don’t get carried away, either, popping strips all over the place. “Any type of tape or similar material added to the face is not permitted for any purpose,” says the Equipment Rules.
But what if you attached some lead tape before the round, and it falls off during the course of 18 holes? Are you in danger?
Rule 4.1a (2) says that if a conforming club is damaged during a round, you can repair it or replace it – except in cases of abuse. A clarification to this rule says example of repair include “replacing lead tape that fell off during a stroke”.
It adds: “Given the nature of lead tape, if the lead tape will not remain on the club in the same location, new tape may be used”.
Regardless, Rule 4.1a (2) says that “no matter the nature or cause of the damage, the damaged club is treated as conforming for the rest of the round”.
So if you haven’t got any spare lead tape lying around your golf bag, you don’t need to worry.
Got a question for our expert?
Despite the changes to the Rules of Golf in 2019 and 2023, there are still some that leave us scratching our heads. I’ll try to help by featuring the best of your queries in this column.
What do you think of this lead tape golf rule? Let me know by leaving a comment below, email me at s.carroll@nationalclubgolfer.com or get in touch on X.
