Bang goes my 3-wood :-(

[albie999]

Just practising on my Sim in the garage, and bang .. there goes the head of my 3-wood, snapped at the joint between head and shaft.

So .. was just thinking, I presume most clubs tend to have a length of life in them. I have had this club for coming up to 3 years, and for the first 2 of it's life, it was being used as a driver replacement, until I bought a Driver, it now just comes out occasionally. However, as I have been getting better, so has my club and ball head speed, and therefore the force that must be going through the club

This was a Ben Ross HTX 3-wood, so nothing truly expensive, but just wanted peoples thoughts on all clubs potentially having a life, and also ... therefore, when buying second hand, are you at risk of this?

 

[r0wly86]

graphite or steel shaft?

All shafts will have a lifespan, steel lasts longer in terms of breakage but will age harden over time and become stiffer. Graphite will stay the same flex throughout it's lifetime but is prone to cracking.

3 years is very short, under normal stresses, so not smashing into the ground or whatever it should last many many years before breaking

 

[sunshine]

The force of hitting a golf ball isn't enough to smash a club shaft, even after thousands of shots. I can think of 3 reasons:

1. The club has been smashed into the ground, or something else, which weakened it.
2. The shaft is defective. Contact the manufacturer, they may offer a goodwill gesture.
3. The club is a fake, and the shaft is plastic. I saw this happen once at a driving range. The guy was distraught that he had smashed his mate's brand new TM driver, but the pro spotted it was a fake straight away.

 

[albie999]

The club has hit the ground a few times, both in the sim and whilst on the course, but then a fairway wood does tend to make contact with the ground

 

[Grant85]

I think you are just very unlucky, or perhaps the club has been subjected to abnormal force or had some other impact from something else.

A well made club should last for literally a lifetime worth of normal usage.

A lot of Pros famously don't change their fairway woods for years.

 

[duncan mackie]

The force of hitting a golf ball isn't enough to smash a club shaft, even after thousands of shots. I can think of 3 reasons:

1. The club has been smashed into the ground, or something else, which weakened it.
2. The shaft is defective. Contact the manufacturer, they may offer a goodwill gesture.
3. The club is a fake, and the shaft is plastic. I saw this happen once at a driving range. The guy was distraught that he had smashed his mate's brand new TM driver, but the pro spotted it was a fake straight away.

At least 5....

4. Shaft gets stress damaged in the bag - either from constant rubbing or tapping on another club head. Tiny touches over time cause the damage until it let's go. Happens with fishing rods left resting against something hard in car or boat.
5. Sabotage by other half...

 

[simmb]

I have rarely had a club break in real life golf but in Sim golf I have had 3 or 4 in the past year or so. More shots being hit with the same club over and over and constantly hitting into a mat I am guessing takes it toll.

 

[Wolf]

Could just be natural wear over time in the bag and the odd knock on ground created a weak point.

Happened to me 10 years ago playing in the Medway Open at Darenth Valley, 36 hole comp and in the 5th tee of my first round my driver snapped during impact about an 2 inches above the ferrule. Never seen it happen before or since. I bloody loved that driver, made a horrendous noise when you hit bt it did find fairways.

 

[Crow]

The hickory shaft on my Gibson mashie snapped a year or so back, I glued it back together as it was along the grain but it went again on Sunday and this time a clean snap, curtains.
I'd send it back but Gibson's went out of business years ago.

 

[clubchamp98]

Have the clubs been in an aeroplane?
Them guys are not to careful throwing them about.
Have a good look where it’s snapped for any flaws.
Email oem and just ask for some advice , you never know!!

 

[USER1999]

Some clubs, Callaway and TM particularly are really badly put together in China. Way too much glue goes up the shaft, and the shaft cracks off near the hozel. My 5w was a recent victim. Not even 1 year old.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Sounds like natural wear. Hitting regularly onto a hard mat at a range or in a garage is going to eventually add stress to the shaft. If the clubs are also left in a garage with large variances in temperatures it will affect the clubs