How to Bend Golf Clubs Lie Angle at Home [5 Easy Steps]

Are you having a hard time making your shots and hitting the ball?

Is your ball flight falling more than flying, or maybe, flying away from your dreams of golf prowess?

Before you hang up your golf clubs and deem yourself a golf failure, consider that the problem may not be you.

It may be the club.

After all, golf is a relationship between you and your club. Your golf club has got to put in some work, too!

If you needed a sign to bend your golf clubs and make them do some of the work for once, here it is!

Let’s go on this simple step-by-step guide to help you get the process perfect to a tee.

Are you ready to bend some irons? Let’s get to it.

Bending Golf Clubs at Home: A Step-By-Step Guide

First of all, you need a lie and loft machine that can help measure and bend your golf clubs.

You won’t be able to adjust the lie angle of golf clubs properly without this machine.

You can buy one from a golf club part manufacturer or a golf club repair center.

While it may be a bit pricey, a lie and loft machine is a good investment to make if you are serious about golf.

1. Place the Club Head in the Machine

The first thing to do is place the iron in a horizontal face attitude position in the lie and loft machine. 

1. Position the score lines so that they are parallel to the radius surface that’s between the two Vertical Face Fixture bars.
2. Sit the clubhead sole on the two Irons Sole Clamps. These will rotate when you engage the top clamp. It will prevent slipping by capturing the club.
3. Position the toe stop so that the club’s face can slide in and out of the face fixture easily.

Things You Need to Make Sure:

• The toe stop is adjusted so that you can easily find a horizontal position for the club’s face by sliding it in and out of the Face Fixture.
• The position of the club is at a perfectly square angle. If it isn’t, you may get tilted or improper measurements and adjustments not based on a square.

Once you have adjusted it properly in the machine, it is time to measure.

2. Measure Loft and Lie Angles

Once the club is secure in the loft and lie machine, it’s time to measure the loft/lie angles. 

1. Engage the shaft plate under the shaft.
2. Position the lie plate under the shaft. This way, you can read the loft and lie angle. 

If the lie angle is the same as the stock, the irons are bend virgins.

If it is different, it could have been previously bent or a custom order.

This is something to keep in mind while making adjustments. Most of the time, these adjustments are one degree flat or upright.

3. Adjust the Angles With the Bending Bar

Once you know the correct angles from the lie fitting method, it’s time to beeend with the bending bar.

1. Position the bending bar as low as you can on the iron’s hosel.
2. Apply pressure on the bending bar against the hosel to bend it to the desired degree. You can apply pressure a little bit at a time with little bumping motions. 

CAUTION:

Don’t just jerk the bar.

That can change the angle much more than you need and make things more difficult in the long run.

4. Remeasure Loft and Lie Angles

Do a second measure to be sure that you have the right angles.

If they aren’t to your satisfaction, repeat the last two steps and measure them again.

When you’re happy, remove the club and bar.

5. Test Out Ball Flight

If you’re happy with it, it’s time to test it out!

REMEMBER: Take note of any changes or new patterns in ball flight.

If you’re happy with it, then congratulations! You have successfully bent your golf club at home with the same method of tour professionals.

If you aren’t happy with the resulting ball flight, you can repeat the bending process until it satisfies you.

Why Do You Need to Bend Golf Clubs?

The golf club’s lie angle is one of the most critical factors in golf ball flight direction and curvature.

If the lie angle is off, the golf club may not square and sole itself properly, making it difficult to hit balls accurately.

If the golf club can’t sit on the ground properly, the golf ball may not go where you want it to.

Adjusting the golf club’s lie angle is usually necessary for those above or below the standard height.

You may also want to bend your golf club head to fit different standards.

For example, the Japanese standard for the lie angle is typically 1-degree flatter than its Western counterpart.

Thus, if you were to switch from a Western club manufacturer to a Japanese manufacturer like Miuras, you would need to make the lie angle steeper by 1 degree.

How to Know If You Need to Bend Your Golf Club

A sign that you don’t have the proper lie angle will be if you notice that the club does not feel like it sits naturally or needs a lot of adjustment at setup.

If you are unsure whether or not you have to change your golf club’s lie angle, we recommend going to a professional for a professional club fitting. 

Sounds pretty scary? Don’t fret. Let’s go over what happens at a club fitting:

1. The professional puts a piece of lie angle tape on the bottom of the club.
2. You will be asked to hit golf shots off a lie board, a hitting surface made of plexiglass material.
3. Every time you hit balls off the lie board, a mark will be left on the bottom of the club where the tape is.

If there aren’t any problems with the angle, the hits of the ball will be precisely at the center of the club head bottom. 

If it requires adjustment, you will see how much it needs to be adjusted at the bottom of the club head. 

PRO TIP: Given the force that comes with playing the game continuously over time, it may be a good idea to bring in your clubs for a club fitting from time to time.

Bending vs. Lengthening

Modifying the club is usually recommended when a golfer is above or below the average height.

You can either lengthen your club shaft or change the lie angle.

Is It Better to Change the Lie Angle Over the Length Between the Two?

The most straightforward answer is that it is the cheaper option and is a bit easier than changing the length.

When adjusting the length, you will need to take off the grip to complete the project, which, of course, can make you spend quite a bit of money.

However, there is no need to remove the grip when changing the lie angle.

Changing lie angles is also one of the easiest adjustments to DIY!

Things to Consider Before You Bend Your Golf Clubs

There are some things you need to consider when bending irons at home.

#1 Material

Now, don’t get all bend happy.

There are certain “unbendable” clubs out there that you shouldn’t even attempt this on.

This includes cast club heads made of industrial steel or even forged clubheads remade of the wrong steel.

The only clubheads that can be easily bent without risk are forged soft steel clubheads, like those made by Miuras, Honmas, Vegas, and TR20.

#2 Change in Swing Weight

It is worth noting that swing weight changes when you change the lie angle.

A new lie angle can make the club longer or shorter.

For example, flatter lie angles result in slightly longer clubs and heavier swing weight. More “upright” lie angles, on the other hand, will be slightly shorter.

While these changes are often not that significant in most golfers, they can make a difference to a golfer who is way above or below the average height. 

Such golfers would need a -3° or +4° lie angle, changing the weight by about 1 unit per 4 degree lie.

#3 Change of Bounce

Bounce is significant with irons and can make or break the game. 

Remember that bounce changes with loft.

Let’s take, for example, a 56° wedge. Such a wedge would create a 12° bounce. When the wedge is adjusted to 58°, it will result in a 14° bounce.

However, if the same club is adjusted to a 54° bend, it would result in a 10° bounce.

Bounce Is Proportional to Wedge Angles

It is thus essential to consider this when changing wedge angles.

How do you play? Do you prefer more or less bounce?

These are essential things to keep in mind when bending irons at home.

Conclusion

The golf club is just as crucial to the game as the golfer is. The lie and loft angle of the golf club can make or break your ball flight.

Bending your golf club is one of the easiest ways to adjust the loft and lie angle of your club for a more fulfilling game, just like one of the tour professionals.

It may be tempting to blame your shots solely on a lack of practice, but maybe, just maybe, you might want to listen to what your club says sometimes:

“It’s not you; it’s me.”