Alright so I just made 2 mallets. I bought a bunch of golf clubs (mostly drivers but one kid’s cause I liked the material and there are some midges), 10 ft of 2" diameter conduit pipe (from a google search I know its not the best to use but that and white PVC were my own legal options), and loctite. Cut the club’s head off, drilled a hole into a 6 inch piece of pipe and shoved the club in with generous amounts of loctite. Sound right? They seem to be sticking well but I’m going to let it cure overnight.
I asked about ABS pipe at the hardware store and the guy looked at me like I had three heads. I’m not sure what else the pipe I’m supposed to use is called but the plan is to play with crap mallets for a bit until we can raise money to order ski poles and the mcmasters polyethylene pipe. I just don’t have the cash to front that much and I really want to start playing as soon as its warm
loctite will probably hold you for a little while, and since these are your ‘shit’ mallets and are eventually getting replaced i wouldnt worry about it, but when you make your next batch, throw a bolt through the side of the head going through the shaft.
Yea I talked to my parents about it and they don’t really think our drill will go through golf clubs. What kind of tool do I need? Should I get hockey tape and add that to the golf grip or is that only for ski poles? Can someone guessimate the length of their pole. Not sure how long these should be but it seems like a decent height once I’m on the bike.
all you need is a drill and a bit to make a hole. as long as you dont have a bare grip area, and the hole is plugged, i wouldnt worry about it too much. and mine comes up to my waist
I started our polo game here in AA. I talked to a few friends to see if they would want to play and started building some mallets. I have always use ski poles (downhill poles to be exact) and wood, pvc, hdpe, and abs for mallet heads. All of the first mallets I made were pvc and wood. The wood works well (croquet heads) and is durable, but a bit heavy. PVC even in the summer breaks to easily. ABS and HDPE are the best materials for mallet heads I have found. The ABS heads are lighter and not as strong, but often easier to find and cheaper than HDPE (high density polyethylene).
In the year and half we have been playing we have changed locations three times and even still play in the winter in the basement of a parking structure. Our only problem now besides the cold is we get the same people out each time. We need to find a way to recruit some new players. The one thing I will say is we are way better than when we first started. I remember those first games and the skill all around has improved greatly with practice. Most of us have even built polo specific bikes as well (i.e. low gears, single brake, and SS or fixed).