Experienced club makers I need your help. I have a two part problem. The first part is that while on the range the other day I somehow managed to crack my Adilia NV 75 stiff flex shaft. From what I can tell I hit the ball right on the screws and just after impact the shaft cracked right at the top of the hosel causing my driver head to go flying down the range. I couldn't believe it! My swing speed is around 110 mph, which is slightly higher than the shaft is gauged for (95mph-105), but I cant believe a couple extra MPH of stress would cause the shaft to snap like that. Can anyone tell me why it happened? Was the shaft flawed, or was the club possibly built by any inexperienced club maker?
Secondly, how the **** do I get the cracked piece of shaft out of my club head now? Thanks in advance
Last edited by shaderunner : September 3rd, 2005 at 12:23 PM.
Reason: language
What kind of head was it? Who installed it? Did they know what they were doing? Sounds like a burr was left inside the hosel and caused the shaft failure.
there are a few reasons this might happen, the club head might not have been coned for a graphite shaft, It could have a shart edge, it might have been a pull out shaft, possibly the assembler might have gouged the shaft when he prepped it for assembly. the easiest way to remove the remaining shaft from the head is drill it out.
The head was a Alpha reaction V2. Nice head, and I've always had good experiences with their components. I got the club off Ebay and I have contacted the seller reference who assembled the club and how to resolve the issue. I was just curious what might have caused the shaft failure so I could negotiate a fair resolution with the seller. It appears he should take full responsibility...but we'll see
Unlikely that your swing speed is high enough to break the shaft unless you hit the ball with the shaft rather than the clubhead! Breaks at the hosel are almost always due to bad installation; top of hosel not coned or, if it was pulled out once already, it could have been damaged in the pulling. More rare is epoxy inside the shaft up to the top of the hosel causing a shear point at the hosel. Shaft failure should is very rare with Aldila shafts but the seller should be able to tell you if this was a new shaft or not? It also depends how many times you have hit it? Good luck.
Be careful if you are going to do it yourself. It is possible to drill to far into the head if your not experienced enough to know when to stop. I've seen even seasoned club makers do it by accident. Depends on the makeup of the head.
David Keith is totally correct. A lot of manufacturers place a small plastic plug at the end of the hosel bore. If you drill too deep and bore through this plug the remaining piece can fall through into the hollow area of the head causing an annoying rattle. They are very difficult to remove. I have fabricated various size steel shaft tips to use for this purpose. I cut 3 slits on the tip of each steel shaft tip with a hack saw. Place in the drill and bore until it bottoms out. This will get the bore depth you need when you drill it out.
Everyone was quick to say the head caused your failure and it could be, but more often then not it could have been the ferrule loosened. What causes this, is not enough abrasion of the tip of the shaft to penetrate the ferrule. Because the shaft and ferrule are smooth the epoxy will not hold well. Ferrules come loose on anyone clubs, Titleist, Ping, all of them as well as localclub builders. This is the prime reason to stay away from EBAY when dealing with clubs. Any reputable clubmaker will warrenty his work.
The ferrule being loose {if it was} is very unlikely to cause the shaft to fail, more than likely inproper installation of the shaft was the problem. As far as staying away from E-Bay I take offense to that , I sell on E-Bay and I am a PCS Class A clubmaker I only sell quality clubs. However as stated there are some club gluers on E-Bay trying to make a fast buck and have4e no clue what they are doing. TO ALL OUT THERE WHO WOULD LIKE TO BUY ON E-BAY BUT ARE AAFRAID OF GETTING BURNED HERE ARE SOME TIPS.
1 FIND OUT IF THE SELLER IS A PCS CLASS A CLUBMAKER to be this you must pass a difficult written and then a skills test.
2 Check feedback rating if not 100% POSITIVE STAY AWAY
3 WATCH OUT FOR GREAT DEALS if it seems to good to be true it probably is.
4 Communicate with the seller before you buy, ask if he can custom fit the club for you, Flow the shaft, swingweight or shorten if necessary.
Quality is available on E-Bay especially E-Bays golf stores, check out the buyer and good luck to all.
Ken Boucher
PCS class A clubmaker
I agree that either using a take out or a mistake when putting it in could be the problem, but there is also the possibility of the club being damaged by accident. I have seen shafts snap in that area from being hit on the ground too hard. Did the club ever get slammed into the ground hard or did you ever let an inexperienced player use it who may have done this? I remember a couple years ago when my friend let someone use his new Ping TiSi. The person came down too steep, slammed the club into the ground, and snapped it.