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What does this mean? "My driver is an 8.5-degree Titleist 905R bent to 10 degrees." The player is Charley Hoffman.


They are discussing this on Golfwrx and it looks like nobody really is sure what this means. This is from the What's in my bag, in Golf Digest. Some think GD made an error. Nobody knows if it means open, closed, 1.5*, 2*, more loft, less loft, etc. So who can give us the straight scoop. I would guess that only clubmakers know about these type of things.

it means they took and 8.5* (loft) and bent it to 10.5*.....i'm sure there's an advantage from doing this somehow, but i don't know why he wouldn't just get a 10.5* or 10*, but i do know that tour guys are very precise with their launch angles and spin rates and that's probably why

It' mean that they took an 8.5* head and bent it to 10* of loft. This is not something the average clubmaker would or should do. but the guys in the tour van or factory shop can do some playing with the loft and get away with it. The reason they didn't just get a 10* head is because the 905R comes in 9.5* or 10.5*, not in 10*.

why wouldnt he bend a 9.5* or a 10.5*? why the 8.5*? just curious

My guess is he had a 8.5, and not the others. Just a guess.

An 8.5 has a more open face as opposed to a 9.5.

That would explain it. Thank you for that info.

First off, the 905R is a bore thru clubhead. This means the hosel can only be adjusted if he is using a steel (or some other metal) shaft.

Second, when you bend a low lofted driver to a higher loft, then you cause the trailing edge of the sole of the clubhead to move closer to the ground. This is literally a driver with bounce.

And no, I don't know why he would do that. Someone said that the 8.5 had a more open face, but I can't find any info on that. If that's the case, then maybe he just wanted a 10* open faced driver.

BT

I don't see why having a little bounce on a driver would be a problem. Unless you plan to hit a gall off the deck with it. And I don't remember noticing that Charlie Hoffman was usiing a steel shaft, and I think I would have noticed that. Not many steel shafts in drivers these days. The guys in those tour vans have more toys to play with, and they can do things with clubs the average club maker can't. If they do manage to ruin a driver, no big deal, they just order another one for free.

Never said it was a problem and I'm well aware they have state-of-the-art machinery. But as for bending the 905R bore thru head, there is only about 1" of hosel above the clubhead and the shaft goes all the way through. So what they have to do is bend it after it's shafted. With graphite, this will crack the shaft inside the hosel, essentially weakening it 1" inside the clubhead. If the shaft breaks free while swinging, the clubhead will be flying and I hope no one is in the way. For safety reasons, this is not supposed to be done with graphite. Only steel, Ti and other alloy shafts. One exception is the BiMatrix which has a steel tip section.

BT

First off, the 905R is a bore thru clubhead. This means the hosel can only be adjusted if he is using a steel (or some other metal) shaft
This is exactly what you said, and what my reply was too. No reason a steel rod couldn't be inserted in the head, bend the loft to 10*s, then remove the steel rod. Quite simple to do, and well within the skill level of the tour van guys. They could do the same thing with an old piece of graphite shaft, then remove it and install the real shaft. I'm sure they could find a 3 or 4 inch piece of shaft to use.

In all of this, the only questions I really have are, how do they take a metal as brittle as titanium (even the old 6Al4V is brittle), and bend it that much? Are the newer alloys that much more pliable than the old ones? We were always told that even stainless can only be bent a max of 2*. The titanium alloys I'm familiar with are much more brittle than stainless.
If we have someone who's into the processes & alloys in use now, I'd really appreciate some sort of answer on this.

Hoffman said in the article, "The UST Proforce V2 graphite shaft is 44 1/2 inches. I used to play steel, so I like a heavy swingweight of D-5." I have to say that they wrestled with this over on the Golfwrx forum and nobody seemed to really come up with a definitive answer. Far be it for me to know the answer. I STILL don't know WHY he would have a 905R 8.5* bent to 10 degrees! I don't know HOW it is done. I don't know WHO does it. I don't know WHERE it is done.