My brother-in-law, an avid golfer, asked me to modify his putter. The putter has a white line for ball-hole alignment, but the line ends about 1/2" before the club face. He requested I put a painted hole in this part of the club to improve his ability to visually align the club, ball and hole.
The biggest challenge was clamping the club, while undertaking the tasks needed to complete the job. There is only one flat face on the club, the top front surface, where the hole is to go. The front face of the club is perpendicular to the top face, but slightly curved. The bottom has some flat areas, but is also slightly curved.
The width of the top flat is 0.635". The height gauge was set to 2.319" and the club was held on two vee blocks clamped together. A short line was scratched on the club. The club was then clamped to the vee blocks and a scribe was aligned with the center of the white line running across the top face of the club. This scribe then scratched a line making a crosshairs. This marking out is seen in the photos below.
The club was transferred to the mill for drilling. After some consideration the club was clamped to a block of wood on the table with two strap clamps. Wedges were used to keep the club reasonably level as it is clamped on a curved face. The spindle was aligned with the crosshairs as seen in the first photo below. A center drill was used to drill a small divot.
Drilling left a few tiny burrs. Not wanting to file them off for fear of scratching the finish, they were removed with a few light touches of a chamfering drill. The club was next clamped in the vise for painting. Black gel fingernail polish was used as it was available, having been purchased for a different project, though never used. A little drop of the fingernail polish in the hole with minimal cleanup using a rag and a bit of acetone gave the finished product. (The last photo is before the cleanup.)
