breaking shafts

[rhoadesfish]

I have broken several shafts 4 irons and one driver in the past month. Shafts are breaking about mid shaft. I am fairly new to golf and have a handicap of about 22. Initially I blamed it on my clubs but i bought a set of taylor made burners and today broke my sand wedge hitting it from the fairway. l rarely take much of a divot. I think the shaft may be braking when the club hits my back on the follow through. I broke my driver on a 240 yard drive with the tee still in the ground.
I use regular flex shafts and I swing harder than inwould like to but my best drives are only 250 and my 7 iron about 135. I reak online that mid shaft breaks are almost always club abuse but I never abuse my clubs. Any advice or has anyone heard of a problem like this.

[Kiwi Player]

I have broken several shafts 4 irons and one driver in the past month. Shafts are breaking about mid shaft. I am fairly new to golf and have a handicap of about 22. Initially I blamed it on my clubs but i bought a set of taylor made burners and today broke my sand wedge hitting it from the fairway. l rarely take much of a divot. I think the shaft may be braking when the club hits my back on the follow through. I broke my driver on a 240 yard drive with the tee still in the ground.
I use regular flex shafts and I swing harder than inwould like to but my best drives are only 250 and my 7 iron about 135. I reak online that mid shaft breaks are almost always club abuse but I never abuse my clubs. Any advice or has anyone heard of a problem like this.

You think? Don't you know exactly when it breaks?

I also have this trouble with drivers. I break the shaft all the time wrapping it around my back on the follow through. It necessitates carrying at least 4 different drivers which severely limits the number of wedges I can carry. I've tried all the different shafts out there but none can stand up to the torque I generate. Coaches, pros, better players etc have tried to get me to throttle back and swing more smoothly but I just have to grip it and rip it. All those broken shafts are worth it though - nothing beats nailing a 380 yard bomb down the middle.

[Pky6471]

I have broken several shafts 4 irons and one driver in the past month. Shafts are breaking about mid shaft. I am fairly new to golf and have a handicap of about 22. Initially I blamed it on my clubs but i bought a set of taylor made burners and today broke my sand wedge hitting it from the fairway. l rarely take much of a divot. I think the shaft may be braking when the club hits my back on the follow through. I broke my driver on a 240 yard drive with the tee still in the ground.
I use regular flex shafts and I swing harder than inwould like to but my best drives are only 250 and my 7 iron about 135. I reak online that mid shaft breaks are almost always club abuse but I never abuse my clubs. Any advice or has anyone heard of a problem like this.

I also broke several shafts myself... I hit the club so hard a ball went 450 yds and 1/2 of the club went 250 yds

[jetdriver]

The only shaft I ever broke was a Ping eye 2, 2iron. I smacked the hitting mat out back on the prior swing and did not bother inspecting it before I took my next mighty whack. I soon observed the head and three quarters of the highly polished shaft spin against the bright sunny sky around it's newly found center of gravity. It would have been a beautiful sight had it not been heading for the neighbor's window. In reality the newly minted missile landed at the roof's apex of my dumba$$ neighbor's house next door. I had to gather all my stealthy super-human abilities to retrieve said article without reducing myself to a door knocking woos.

[dorkman53]

A B.S. thread like this starts every year or so on GR. The theme is always the same. Either the shafts keep breaking with no apparent explanation, or they've gone through 3 driver heads in the past week that all cracked due to their astonishing swing speed. I wouldn't completely rule out one of the regulars starting up a new character.

I, too, have a problem with broken shafts. I broke my putter shaft 3 times last year, after sinking several putts in a row of over 100 feet in length.

[Not a hacker]

I honestly did break the shaft on my 5 iron a couple years back, but that was when I threw it about 20 yards at my bag but unfortunately it struck it at the wrong part of the revolution and it snapped like a twig. I was surprised at how easily it broke. $40 to fix, the last club I will ever throw.

I have also caved the face in on a driver once about 10 or so years ago. It was a cheapish driver, but I was striping it before it broke and was pretty pissed when the face cracked. I tried to get another one made up but never could get one quite as good. I was using cheap rocks in a practice round before caving in the face so that may have had somehting to do with it.

[jt1135]

I know a guy that actually broke his shaft while in bed with his wife. Painful experience according to him.

[Horseballs]

I'm guessing if you stop hitting your back on your follow through, this shaft breaking problem will go away.
Abuse is in the eye of the beholder. Sometimes, a wife beater feels justified hitting his wife when dinner isn't ready. Sometimes the priest thinks he's doing God's work when fondles the altar boy. It's still abuse, and so is your follow through.

[Larryrsf]

I have broken several shafts 4 irons and one driver in the past month. Shafts are breaking about mid shaft. I am fairly new to golf and have a handicap of about 22. Initially I blamed it on my clubs but i bought a set of taylor made burners and today broke my sand wedge hitting it from the fairway. l rarely take much of a divot. I think the shaft may be braking when the club hits my back on the follow through. I broke my driver on a 240 yard drive with the tee still in the ground.
I use regular flex shafts and I swing harder than inwould like to but my best drives are only 250 and my 7 iron about 135. I reak online that mid shaft breaks are almost always club abuse but I never abuse my clubs. Any advice or has anyone heard of a problem like this.

Buy a Whippy Tempomaster 7i. Learn to hit balls straight with it. It comes with a very good brochure and video. If you patiently work through the incremental drills and acquire the necessary skills and unlearn some very bad habits, you will learn to grip with a super light pressure and swing centrifugally instead of using the club like a garden hoe. www.tempomaster.com

Larry

[lorenzoinoc]

I went through the exact same thing with my shafts. Mysteriously they just kept breaking. Then one day I realized what was going on. It was monkeys. A family of monkeys somehow was getting into my garage, climbing into my bag and gnawing on the shaft mid-way down. Then the shafts would break during a swing.

The little bastards must have thought it was hilarious. Well, I had a couple of barrels in my garage and I think that may have been the problem. I can tell you there was nothing fun about them.

As soon as I got rid of the barrels my shafts stopped breaking. So check for monkeys and if you need to get rid of any barrels you might have.

[lorenzoinoc]

Buy a Whippy Tempomaster 7i. Learn to hit balls straight with it. It comes with a very good brochure and video. If you patiently work through the incremental drills and acquire the necessary skills and unlearn some very bad habits, you will learn to grip with a super light pressure and swing centrifugally instead of using the club like a garden hoe. www.tempomaster.com

Larry

It's not his swing, it's monkeys. Duh!

You probably would just put a bunch of poison down and kill them all. It's always the same thing with you, Larry, just get rid of something you don't like.

[lorenzoinoc]

By the way, I'd appreciate it if you all could try and avoid sarcastic organ grinder comments.

[mongrel]

Buy a Whippy Tempomaster 7i. Learn to hit balls straight with it. It comes with a very good brochure and video. If you patiently work through the incremental drills and acquire the necessary skills and unlearn some very bad habits, you will learn to grip with a super light pressure and swing centrifugally instead of using the club like a garden hoe. www.tempomaster.com

Larry

"Whippy Tempomaster" sounds like the professional name of that 6'3" Swedish dyke who manages the local B&D shop. She's a magician and can make your shaft all but disappear in about 3.8 seconds.

[SoonerBS]

I'm guessing if you stop hitting your back on your follow through, this shaft breaking problem will go away.
Abuse is in the eye of the beholder. Sometimes, a wife beater feels justified hitting his wife when dinner isn't ready. Sometimes the priest thinks he's doing God's work when fondles the altar boy. It's still abuse, and so is your follow through.

According to the threads I have been reading lately, all actions and people are to be tolerated by everyone. Therefore, the husband is fully justified to hit his wife and she needs to tolerate him, and the priest who tries to show his love for the altar boy needs to be tolerated as well. Shame on anyone who would discriminate against husband who shows his affection by landing a battery cable across his wife's jaw, or hates on the pious priest who is caught with his dick up a little boy's arse.

Let's be sure to practice what we preach on this forum, guys . . . . .

[jt1135]

But can she do it 99% of the time?

[lm0159]

Amusing anecdote:

Shmuck hits a heavy wedge at a 110 yard par three; proceeds to takes a minor strop; proceeds then to smack his bag with said wedge; approaches next tee - a par 5 500yarder - removes driver from bag; it's in two pieces - OOPs! True story.

Anyway it transpires when he got home, and put his bag back in the garage, he caught a glimpse of a monkey escaping from the bag in question - it's an epidemic.

[oldplayer]

Amusing anecdote:

Shmuck hits a heavy wedge at a 110 yard par three; proceeds to takes a minor strop; proceeds then to smack his bag with said wedge; approaches next tee - a par 5 500yarder - removes driver from bag; it's in two pieces - OOPs! True story.

Anyway it transpires when he got home, and put his bag back in the garage, he caught a glimpse of a monkey escaping from the bag in question - it's an epidemic.

I play golf with a guy who smacked the front of the bag in the same way with an iron. Broke all three graphite shafts in one go (driver, 3 and 5 wood) that he had just had installed at great expense.

[Kiwi Player]

I play golf with a guy who smacked the front of the bag in the same way with an iron. Broke all three graphite shafts in one go (driver, 3 and 5 wood) that he had just had installed at great expense.

That is hilarious.

I play with a guy who is fine if things are going Ok but is a notorious club thrower when things go awry and he is always tossing his clubs against his bag. Last week I noticed he was playing an odd looking 5 iron and 7 iron. Turns out the usual clubs are broken and in for repair so he is making due with some crappy old makeshift clubs to fill out the set.

[mongrel]

Amusing anecdote:

Shmuck hits a heavy wedge at a 110 yard par three; proceeds to takes a minor strop; proceeds then to smack his bag with said wedge; approaches next tee - a par 5 500yarder - removes driver from bag; it's in two pieces - OOPs! True story.

Anyway it transpires when he got home, and put his bag back in the garage, he caught a glimpse of a monkey escaping from the bag in question - it's an epidemic.

Unamusing (for me) anecdote:

In the early '90's, Taylor came out with a driver (19*) and "fairway driver" (12*) with ugly brown heads and composite inserts called "Zylex" or some such that were real rocket launchers. Value City, a national US discount chain store, bought up Taylor's remaining inventory after the clubs were mostly rejected by the marketplace and priced them real cheap to move ASAP. I bought a driver with the standard Taylor stiff shaft and could hit it real good. The next week I found a fairway driver with a "tour select" extra stiff shaft and scarfed it up. Went up the next day, a Saturday, to see my step ma and pa and hit the club out back on their 6 acre spread and it was a real monster off the tee and turf. Sunday morning I came back home and took it to the range with just my pitching wedge. Got me a bucket and started warm-up practice swings with the PW. Laid the new fairway driver against the knee wall between my stall and the one to my right. On my last intended full swing warmup PW, I was at the top of the backswing when a friend of mine yelled my name and I looked up to see who it was. Of course my swing went wide and karate-chopped the new fairway driver's tour extra stiff shaft clean off a couple inches north of the hosel.

[dorkman53]

I honestly did break the shaft on my 5 iron a couple years back, but that was when I threw it about 20 yards at my bag but unfortunately it struck it at the wrong part of the revolution and it snapped like a twig. I was surprised at how easily it broke. $40 to fix, the last club I will ever throw.

I have also caved the face in on a driver once about 10 or so years ago. It was a cheapish driver, but I was striping it before it broke and was pretty pissed when the face cracked. I tried to get another one made up but never could get one quite as good. I was using cheap rocks in a practice round before caving in the face so that may have had somehting to do with it.

I don't want to threadjack this illuminating thread, but your story reminds me of the last time I slammed a club into the ground. I had some nice Bridgestone forged irons but hit a PW shot fat, and like an idiot, I slammed it into the ground. Well now....what do you think was hidden underneath the grass? There was a small rock, and it cut a gouge horizontally across the sole of the club about 1/2" long and perhaps 1/16 - 1/32" deep. Pretty hard to explain that gouge on the basis of a normal swing......
I learned my lesson about adolescent tantrums using my clubs.......never again.....I just kick a nearby tree.......no....wait.....that's how I broke my foot.......but that's another story......

[lm0159]

Heartbreaker, you have my sympathy mon ami; my colleague in my anecdote deserved all he got.

[Kiwi Player]

Unamusing (for me) anecdote:

In the early '90's, Taylor came out with a driver (19*) and "fairway driver" (12*) with ugly brown heads and composite inserts called "Zylex" or some such that were real rocket launchers. Value City, a national US discount chain store, bought up Taylor's remaining inventory after the clubs were mostly rejected by the marketplace and priced them real cheap to move ASAP. I bought a driver with the standard Taylor stiff shaft and could hit it real good. The next week I found a fairway driver with a "tour select" extra stiff shaft and scarfed it up. Went up the next day, a Saturday, to see my step ma and pa and hit the club out back on their 6 acre spread and it was a real monster off the tee and turf. Sunday morning I came back home and took it to the range with just my pitching wedge. Got me a bucket and started warm-up practice swings with the PW. Laid the new fairway driver against the knee wall between my stall and the one to my right. On my last intended full swing warmup PW, I was at the top of the backswing when a friend of mine yelled my name and I looked up to see who it was. Of course my swing went wide and karate-chopped the new fairway driver's tour extra stiff shaft clean off a couple inches north of the hosel.

Geez the driver must have been close to the balls you were hitting. A PW shaft is not that long. Lesson learned for next time? Leave the other clubs out of range of the club in your hands!

[mongrel]

Geez the driver must have been close to the balls you were hitting. A PW shaft is not that long. Lesson learned for next time? Leave the other clubs out of range of the club in your hands!

Absolutely correct. And the other lesson is to remember that it is just a club. One that seems wonderful at first will always let you down later.

[collegegolfer]

Shafts break all the time. However, your situation seems a bit unique. A friend just got a new driver and I asked to hit it. I bombed one about 280 on the range and the clubhead went about 150 through the air. Snapped the shaft right at the head. The funny part was that he paid an extra $250 for this particular shaft. It was obviously worth it. They did send a new one within about a week.

[qtong]

The only time I have ever broken a shaft was when I wrapped my sand wedge a tree after I duffed a pitch onto the green during a playoff hole in my club championship. Other than abuse (intentional and unintentional) I don't know ANYONE who has broken a shaft. Well. my buddy's head came off the shaft but that was due to a shitty job on the pro shop's part but not putting enough glue in when he had it reshafted.

[collegegolfer]

The only time I have ever broken a shaft was when I wrapped my sand wedge a tree after I duffed a pitch onto the green during a playoff hole in my club championship. Other than abuse (intentional and unintentional) I don't know ANYONE who has broken a shaft. Well. my buddy's head came off the shaft but that was due to a shitty job on the pro shop's part but not putting enough glue in when he had it reshafted.

Shafts break all the time. It's more common than you'd think. Yes, many are due to the player intentionally breaking it but shafts and faces do crack/cave in as well. However, it wasn't more than 5 years ago at a demo day I saw 3 of the same brand driver break.

[Kiwi Player]

Shafts break all the time. It's more common than you'd think. Yes, many are due to the player intentionally breaking it but shafts and faces do crack/cave in as well. However, it wasn't more than 5 years ago at a demo day I saw 3 of the same brand driver break.

Let me guess! Callaway?

[SoonerBS]

Let me guess! Callaway?

Taylormade or PING?

[FreakOfNature]

Taylormade or PING?

Certainly not Taylormade. Only the ball breaks with one of those...

TM's customer service is every bit as good as Callaway's, only you rarely hear about it for some reason.

I had a TM 320Ti (purchased as a used demo club) come loose from the shaft and they sent me a brand new, never-used replacement 320Ti under warranty. True story. That's the only TM club I've ever had an issue with.



FON

[CPS]

Certainly not Taylormade. Only the ball breaks with one of those...

TM's customer service is every bit as good as Callaway's, only you rarely hear about it for some reason.

I had a TM 320Ti (purchased as a used demo club) come loose from the shaft and they sent me a brand new, never-used replacement 320Ti under warranty. True story. That's the only TM club I've ever had an issue with.



FON

According to the club makers I know, they say TM easily wins the caved face contest among all manufacturers. This is all apples and oranges though, the stuff made 20 years ago was better, end of case. TM's original Burner was well-machined and well-designed and worth the price tag. Today's soda can R7's can't hold a candle to the old stuff.

I think the golf industry is going to have to learn that their equipment is not "elite" anymore. I mean Samsung and Sony televisions have dropped 600% in price because of cheaper manufacturing technologies. We all know it's much cheaper to make club heads and shafts now. And yet the price points haven't moved down (like LCD TV's did).

[jetdriver]

According to the club makers I know, they say TM easily wins the caved face contest among all manufacturers. This is all apples and oranges though, the stuff made 20 years ago was better, end of case. TM's original Burner was well-machined and well-designed and worth the price tag. Today's soda can R7's can't hold a candle to the old stuff.

I think the golf industry is going to have to learn that their equipment is not "elite" anymore. I mean Samsung and Sony televisions have dropped 600% in price because of cheaper manufacturing technologies. We all know it's much cheaper to make club heads and shafts now. And yet the price points haven't moved down (like LCD TV's did).

I use quality old stuff....ok im a cheapskate, but honestly when I have demoed new drivers, I am not much longer or straighter to justify the expense or limitation to having one overpriced unit only. Additionaly, I have found huge differences in feel and performance from identical drivers and irons by batch that one can only work out by using many different sets until you find the exceptional ones that are keepers.

[dorkman53]

The issues of balls, clubhead faces, and shafts breaking due to tremendous swing speed is just the tip of the iceberg. My swingspeed is so fast that the seismic forces generated by ball contact has been known to generate avalanches, earthquakes, and tsunamis all over the world. You have seen the news reports about these events? I think I have made my point.

[lorenzoinoc]

The issues of balls, clubhead faces, and shafts breaking due to tremendous swing speed is just the tip of the iceberg. My swingspeed is so fast that the seismic forces generated by ball contact has been known to generate avalanches, earthquakes, and tsunamis all over the world. You have seen the news reports about these events? I think I have made my point.

If I spent $600 on my wedges and $1,800 on my driver, I certainly wouldn't expect them to break. Shame on Scratch and Epon.

[Horseballs]

If I spent $600 on my wedges and $1,800 on my driver, I certainly wouldn't expect them to break. Shame on Scratch and Epon.

To be fair, companies like Scratch and Epon don't feel the need to make high performing, quality gear. They've made the assumption that serious golfers would recognize the scam in a $600 wedge and steer clear. Quality control is a throwaway when your customer base is a bunch of choppers buying status symbols.

[lorenzoinoc]

To be fair, companies like Scratch and Epon don't feel the need to make high performing, quality gear. They've made the assumption that serious golfers would recognize the scam in a $600 wedge and steer clear. Quality control is a throwaway when your customer base is a bunch of choppers buying status symbols.

You're right, the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of those that foolishly overpay for that stuff.

[dorkman53]

If I spent $600 on my wedges and $1,800 on my driver, I certainly wouldn't expect them to break. Shame on Scratch and Epon.

THESE are NOT the clubs I keep breaking, nor the ones that cause global environmental havoc.

This has happened when I have been in demo sessions, using crap made by Taylormade, Titleist, Cleveland, Mizuno, PING, etc.

The Indonesian volcano that just went off? That was due to a Titleist driver demo.
The sweet sound of the Epon or Scratch clubs making impact with the ball causes birds to sing sweet, lilting melodies, and the swingspeed generates cooling, zephyr-like breezes.

On the contrary, I was doing a Cobra 3 wood demo in New Orleans just a little over 5 years ago.......

[24putts]

Shafts are incredibly hard to break. For years, I kept a Hagen/Crenshaw 4-iron buried in a thicket on a local course for easy retrieval on my dusk practice sessions. The S300 shaft got all rusted up, but didn't break until I'd hit thousands of shots with it. Interestingly, I did the same thing with a Hogan FTX iron, also for several years, and the shaft never rusted at all. I think this must stand as at least a partial refutation of those who claim Hogan quality was bad after the Callaway takeover.

[Kiwi Player]

To be fair, companies like Scratch and Epon don't feel the need to make high performing, quality gear. They've made the assumption that serious golfers would recognize the scam in a $600 wedge and steer clear. Quality control is a throwaway when your customer base is a bunch of choppers buying status symbols.

So they not only sell over priced clubs but they also stole Callaways business strategy.

[CPS]

This has happened when I have been in demo sessions, using crap made by Taylormade, Titleist, Cleveland, Mizuno, PING, etc.

In the cycling world, a Canadian company now owns Schwinn, Roadmaster, GT, Mongoose & Cannondale. All once good start ups run by cyclists for cyclists. Now everything is made on the cheap with clueless MBA's running each brand into the ground (or out of bike shops and into the big box retailers).

I predict it's only a matter of time before Titleist, PING, Callaway, TM, & Cleveland will be exactly the same story...

[daveperkins]

I never broke a shaft, ever. VERY tough to do. Can't do it over my knee OR hitting a tree with a horizontal swing.

I did once shatter a clubhead. It was a Powerbilt persimmon 5 wood. I happened to be videotaping my swing back in 1980.. clubhead shattered when it hit the ball, pieces flew in all directions, and I still remember (don't have vid anymore) that when I followed through I caught sight of the stub and did a big cinematic double-take.. it always seemed comical to me.

[dorkman53]

I never broke a shaft, ever. VERY tough to do. Can't do it over my knee OR hitting a tree with a horizontal swing.

I did once shatter a clubhead. It was a Powerbilt persimmon 5 wood. I happened to be videotaping my swing back in 1980.. clubhead shattered when it hit the ball, pieces flew in all directions, and I still remember (don't have vid anymore) that when I followed through I caught sight of the stub and did a big cinematic double-take.. it always seemed comical to me.

You're missing the entire point of caving in club faces and breaking shafts, DP. This is the INTERNET. There is NO way to verify a story. Go crazy.........

[CPS]

You're missing the entire point of caving in club faces and breaking shafts, DP. This is the INTERNET. There is NO way to verify a story. Go crazy.........

You're absolutely right. In fact, I just broke my brand new Fujikura. Broke it on the first practice swing. The underwriters at Titleist are being real pricks about replacing it. In order to get it repaired I have to first go on a launch monitor because the warranty doesn't apply to anyone who can swing over 170 MPH. Trying to look innocent, my lightest half-swings still registered 140 MPH... they ain't buying it...

[noshuz]

You think? Don't you know exactly when it breaks?

I also have this trouble with drivers. I break the shaft all the time wrapping it around my back on the follow through. It necessitates carrying at least 4 different drivers which severely limits the number of wedges I can carry. I've tried all the different shafts out there but none can stand up to the torque I generate. Coaches, pros, better players etc have tried to get me to throttle back and swing more smoothly but I just have to grip it and rip it. All those broken shafts are worth it though - nothing beats nailing a 380 yard bomb down the middle.

HA! I just realized how much I missed you guys!.....

[mongrel]

On the contrary, I was doing a Cobra 3 wood demo in New Orleans just a little over 5 years ago.......

I'll bet that 3 wood had a prototype VOO DOO shaft.

[dorkman53]

I'll bet that 3 wood had a prototype VOO DOO shaft.

No, I was doing a demo on that shaft shortly before that Haitian earthquake........

[daveperkins]

You're missing the entire point of caving in club faces and breaking shafts, DP. This is the INTERNET. There is NO way to verify a story. Go crazy.........

missing the point is my specialty. You should know that by now... unless.. you're really dead...

[FreakOfNature]

missing the point is my specialty. You should know that by now... unless.. you're really dead...

Miss the point all you like... what sails over your head can't hurt ya. Haha! You missed!

Miss the ball and it'll cost you a stroke, not to mention the risk of doing yourself bodily harm.

Weigh the risks carefully.



FON