Cracked Shaft, conforming club?

[Jono_3]

Hi All

I had a round yesterday in a foursome match. Towards the end of the round one of the players on the other side told me how his driver has been making a funny noise since the shaft cracked. He showed it to me and there was an obvious crack near the clubhead, but it wasn't in pieces or anything. The crack did not happen during the round, he started the match with the club like this, and he used the club during the round.

What is the ruling on this being a conforming/non-conforming club? and is there a time limit on calling this if it did contravene the rules?

(p.s. we won the match anyway )

 

[Deleted member 15717]

A crack in the shaft won't make it non-conforming. Dangerous to use possibly, but still ok

 

[Jono_3]

I didn't see it as a big deal, but just made me curious. Is it just if the shaft is bent that would make it non-conforming then?

 

[backwoodsman]

See rules 4/1b and 4/3c. The first says that if the club was a conforming club when it was new, it still is after wear through normal use. The second says that if the club was damaged before the start of a round, you can still use it provided it still conforms to the rules.

As the rules about clubs generally refer to size, shape and alignment, a crack is very likely to be ok, but a bent shaft may well be outside the permitted parameters. A tiny bend may still be ok but tolerances are generally only a few degrees.