My 6 Iron Snapped......

[jayt1234]

I have a set of 2000 Callaway X-14’s that I bought from Callaway Preowned 2 years ago when I started to play. I am 6’4, but bought standard length and lie angle with the proprietary constant weight shaft.

Well the end of last year I started playing much better as a result of bending more at the knees, and then proceeded to have 1” added to the shafts and regripped with larger grips this past December. Last night I went to the local golf store to make sure the lie angles were correct (which they were), but on my last shot off of the plexiglass the head of my 6 iron snapped off and smashed into the wall of there driving area. It was a clean break right where the head and shaft connect.

Is this a common break point in steel shafted golf clubs? It scared the crap out of me, and I was left thinking this could have been lethal on the course. Does adding an extension compromise the strength of the shaft? Because the swing weight certainly has increased a noticeable amount. Any feedback concerning whether lengthing does anything to the strength of the shaft, or club breakage in general would be appreciated.

[C.B.]

Did the shaft snap or did the head snap off clean from the tip?

Basically, there is an epoxy that binds it all and sometimes an air bubble gets into it during the setting process. Eventually the force will cause the epoxy to break clean and send the club head down the fairway. It happened to a set of Nickent's I played with for a while.

If it was the epoxy, it can happen to any iron and isn't too uncommon. Plus it is easy for a golf shop to fix.

If the shaft actually snapped, well I guess Callaway clubs really do suck as much as I've always said...

[BogeyGolf]

Funny thing is my 10 year old son recently broke the shaft at the hosel on his Callaway C4 Driver. Callaway customer service was very good in offering to repair the club. I will be sending in the club head very shortly.

I play Callaway X-14 Pro series in graphite shafts and have never broken any of my shafts. Common sense would tell me that steel shafts are less likely to break than graphite. I don't know your playing ability or your swing but I'm guessing breakage at the hosel might be from hitting it fat, especially if you practice quite a bit on hard mats.

[Sels41]

That sucks.....

[AJW]

My seven iron broke like that just last week it sucks but what can you do. At least they still make constant weight shafts and getting a new one fitted shouldn’t be a problem.
Having shafts extended doesn’t weaken them any it’s just a small extension under the grip and you don’t put any force there.
When you hit the club head into the ground the shafts still moving forward but the head just hit a fairly solid substance if the shafts going to break anywhere it at the join of head and shaft.

[PA Jayhawk]

I would probably just chalk this one up to hitting off of Plexiglass. I have heard for years that hitting off of mats can change the lie of your club, I would reckon that Plexiglass may be a little worse. If a mat can change the lie of a club which is much harder than the shaft, I would imagine that the impact on a harder surface with no cushion could in fact snap the shaft.

[dorkman53]

On the original post, it mentions a "clean break". How clean? Is the shaft really broken, or (as others have suggested) did the head simply come off the shaft. There is an enormous difference in how you would handle the situation. If the glue simply came loose and the head fell off (this has happened to me more than once), it's a very simple matter to simply get the head glued back onto the shaft. It should take a clubmaker just a couple of minutes, though you probably wouldn't be able to play the club for a day. It shouldn't cost more than a few dollars to get this done. Do NOT send the club back to Callaway just to get a head re-glued. You'll spend WAY more on postage than the cost of a re-glue at a local shop, even if Callaway would do it for "free". It would also cost you several days of turnaround time, vs. one day with a local clubmaker. If the shaft truly broke off, then Callaway should get involved. They have a reputation for good customer service.

[jayt1234]

On the original post, it mentions a "clean break". How clean? Is the shaft really broken, or (as others have suggested) did the head simply come off the shaft. There is an enormous difference in how you would handle the situation. If the glue simply came loose and the head fell off (this has happened to me more than once), it's a very simple matter to simply get the head glued back onto the shaft. It should take a clubmaker just a couple of minutes, though you probably wouldn't be able to play the club for a day. It shouldn't cost more than a few dollars to get this done. Do NOT send the club back to Callaway just to get a head re-glued. You'll spend WAY more on postage than the cost of a re-glue at a local shop, even if Callaway would do it for "free". It would also cost you several days of turnaround time, vs. one day with a local clubmaker. If the shaft truly broke off, then Callaway should get involved. They have a reputation for good customer service.

Yeah, the shaft cracked right at the connection. The store sent it back to Callaway that night and do not expect there to be any problems, though adding the extension may be an issue for them. Either way I could care less about the expense if I had to pay to fix it, I was more worried about this happening on a regular basis since I had never seen or heard of a steel shaft breaking before this.

Thank you

[Horseballs]

Most Callaways have little to no hosel. It's a clubhead design that allows them to put the weight from the hosel in other, more beneficial places. They call it an inverted or internal hosel. If you have ever shanked your 6 iron, you may have weakended the shaft where it connects to the clubhead. Also, I don't know for sure if the X-14's have this design feature, so this may be total crap.
It happened to a friend of mine in his Callaway woods...