Are RIPIT Golf Grips the Most Unique Product in Golf?

Ten bucks says you’ve never seen a green golf grip that depicts a koala hugging a beer before. 

In this day and age, it’s almost impossible to find a piece of golf equipment that’s genuinely unique. Something that, no matter how hard you look, you won’t find anything else like it.

Yes, it’s almost impossible. But then there’s RIPIT Grips.

RIPIT is based in Queensland, Australia, and it’s easy to find some Australian flavor in the lineup, including that beer-hugging koala-patterned grip, called the Bloody Ripper. 

The RIPIT philosophy mentions ruffling feathers and serving players who embrace a Saturday night vibe. Check out the designs and you’ll see that’s not just talk.

Speaking of those designs, where do they come from? It turns out, Watts didn’t need to go far to find help transferring his ideas from inside his head to the butt of his clubs.

“I was lucky enough to have a cousin who is a graphic designer,” Watts said. “We have always gelled in a way where he understands my sometimes left-field ideas. He refines them and collaborates with me to somehow take our imagination and turn it into not just a piece of art, but a piece of art that has been refined to perform as an elite golf club grip.”

One day a package from RIPIT showed up on the doorstep. It was RIPIT’s Iron Set, which includes eight grips. 

Unpacking RIPIT Grips is delightful. Each grip comes in its own two-piece box. The padded box that holds the grip slides out of a sleeve, and the package as a whole is quite impressive. That packaging sets a high bar for RIPIT Grips, one that the grips themselves live up to.

This set held four grip designs, two of each, but customers can build their own sets however they want. Keep things consistent with eight of the same grip, or completely mix it with eight different patterns, it’s totally up to you.

RIPIT also offers a 3-pack of grips, the Wedge & Wood pack.

In addition to adding style, the patterns built into the grips really do instill confidence in your connection to the club. The grips themselves are made of multi-compound rubber and favor a relaxed taper

“Overall shape was so important,” Watts said. “The additional taper we had at the tail end of the grip was something we learned aids in a more relaxed swing.”

RIPIT also considered alignment in its grip designs, even though it’s not as obvious at first glance as it is on other brands’ grips. Every RIPIT grip has an alignment mark at the top and bottom end, and some of the patterns were created with alignment in mind.

While the RIPIT style leans towards the party vibe – but don’t get us wrong, there are plenty of design options that cater to all golfers – it’s clear that Watts is very serious about the product. He spent three years developing and refining the grips until he was as satisfied with the grips’ performance as their appeal.

“Within that three-year period of R&D there were so many factors that led to making a high-performance, styled golf grip,” Watts said. “The designs themselves were the most taxing. We wanted to make sure our design added to the feel and grip. The intricacy of the background prints was so important to help the grip hold its feel for its whole lifecycle. In every design, we make an effort to incorporate fine details that express the art itself, with the feel for the golfer being our first priority.”