Durability of modern clubs

[Captain_Black.]

I have heard of several horror stories recently of durability issues of modern clubs.
With the ever increasing quest of more distance & lighter weight, are manufacturers pushing their luck?
I have heard of several stories of carbon fibre driver heads breaking / cracking.
One guy I know personally bought a new Stealth driver, one week later whilst having a lesson with the pro, the pro said that club doesn't sound right, can I have a look?
On inspection the pro said it's cracked, have you dropped it, no said the guy, not a chance.
So it was sent back to Taylormade under warranty, they rejected the claim, saying it was misuse.
So the guy sent the club to a specialist company nearby who specialise in examining tools & equipment.
They tested it & carried out an X ray, they wrote an engineers report to say in their opinion it was a manufacturing defect.
The club was returned to Tayormade with the specialist report & they still rejected the claim.
The shop then gave the guy a new driver as a good will gesture & to preserve their good name.

Anyway.
I bought a brand new set of Callaway Rogue ST Max irons at the of October.
Because of the bad weather, I have played 9 holes on maybe 5 or 6 occasions from the end of Oct until now.
Yesterday, I went out to play nine holes, I hit a tee shot on the 8th with a 4 iron, it was a horrible shot & didn't sound right, I looked down at the face of the iron & it had cracked!
Before anyone says anything, I am very careful with my clubs, this iron has only hit a golf ball, not a tree root or a stone.
I have spent today trying to sort this out, the shop offered to replace the iron, but sourcing one with the right shaft was going to be tricky.
But, tbh I had lost all faith in my new irons & I knew going forward I would be forever inspecting every club after every shot.
Luckily, the shop where I bought them we're very good about it & I am in the process of exchanging them for a different make.
But it did make me think that the manufacturers continually building these clubs with thinner faster faces is not good for durability (mine didn't last 6 weeks!)

 

[BiMGuy]

Unfortunately, things break. This happening wouldn’t put me off using the other irons. Those faces are welded in, and it’s to be expected that occasionally one of them won’t be quite up to standard.

The push towards thinner and lighter may make things more prone to cracking.
I’m very cautious about using my driver in freezing temperatures.

But, I’ve had heads fall off and faces crack on clubs 20 years ago. So who knows.

 

[Wabinez]

The issue with hollow headed irons sadly, its not great.

Blades for everyone

 

[BiMGuy]

The issue with hollow headed irons sadly, its not great.

Blades for everyone

I used them for years hitting thousands of balls and never had a problem. Maybe because I don’t hit the ball hard enough

 

[Orikoru]

Stealth drivers are well known for being poor quality. I heard no end of stories about the faces caving in or breaking off since they came out.

Rogue ST Max are the same irons I use though, I've had them over a year now and not had any problems, so very surprised to hear that. Normally I find Callaway's quality very high. Just bad luck on this one I think.

 

[Imurg]

The only club of mine that has cracked or caved in was the Big Bertha driver I won in 2014..it developed a crack at the back,of the head above the sliding weight mechanism.
Callaway replaced it even though it was a prize and nearly a year old...
Had a couple of iron heads go flying but the majority of my breakages have been shafts - and mostly not because they've been thrown....

 

[Crow]

The only club I've had where a head has failed was a Dunlop 460cc driver bought for £15 from Sports Direct or some such, the crown deformed and cracked, but that was after a couple of years and for £15 you can't expect much better.

 

[Backache]

The only club that I had fail was a mizuno driver which I bought ex demo from the pro and the shaft cracked when I hit a basket I was using to try and stop an out to in path. I took it back to try and get a replacement shaft. Mizuno didn't have one but replaced the entire club free of charge.

 

[Billysboots]

What looked like a relatively new Stealth driver was dumped in the bin by our 5th tee a few weeks ago. The head was cracked across the crown. I’m surprised the owner didn’t at least salvage the shaft from it, which was worth a few bob.

With regard to durability, I’ve never had an issue with any of the kit I’ve bought in over 40 years, apart from one driver years ago which had the head detach. But in fairness, I suspect I had contributed to that as, in those days, I wasn’t beyond slamming the club head in the ground if I’d carved one miles right. Which was often.

Other than that, whilst I’m not disputing the fact that some will have clubs fail on them, I’ve not experienced it and I’m not aware of too many who have. I think modern clubs, especially at the more expensive end of the spectrum, are generally pretty solid.

 

[r0wly86]

The issue with hollow headed irons sadly, its not great.

Blades for everyone

I think to be fair old style blades from like the 80s give the impression that blades are impossible to hit unless you're very good.

Whereas I think modern MB like I play with are hitting like those razor blades and in terms of ease to hit are no different from my old cavity backs

 

[Slab]

It'd be weirder if there wasn't tales of broken/defective clubs & no surprise if it were proved to be more common now than a generation or two back

I can't think of anything built with more durability (& repairability) now than it was say 30-40 years ago

 

[Klimski]

Without going full conspiracy mode: I do think that manufacturers have figured out that applying really thin coats of black paint - that show wear and tear very quickly - has a sales advantage: folks who want their clubs to look brand new will replace them much sooner!

 

[pendodave]

It'd be weirder if there wasn't tales of broken/defective clubs & no surprise if it were proved to be more common now than a generation or two back

I can't think of anything built with more durability (& repairability) now than it was say 30-40 years ago

My ex alphasud says "hold my pironi"...

 

[Neilds]

One of my golfing mates had a Stealth driver and used yellow Callaway (I think) balls. The balls discoloured the red face and the Pro Shop sent photos to TM who sent a new Stealth 2 head for him to use. Not seen him for a while so not sure if this head has discoloured as well but he was happy at the time with the free replacement