Will Golfsmith replace my 3-wood?

[WhiteSoxFan]

I bought a Taylormade V-Steel 3-wood from Golfsmith on May 15th. I've hit it at the range during 4 or 5 sessions, and I've hit it off the tee during a round twice. I haven't hit it at all during a round other than that because I'm not confident hitting it off the deck yet. In total I've probably hit it less than 150 times.

Yesterday, on the 9th tee box I take a couple of practice swings while my playing partners are teeing off. It sounded and felt like there was some sand in my shaft. I step up to my ball, take another practice swing and tell my playing partners about the sand feel and sound. I hit my ball and the shaft breaks in two right in the middle, the head end flying about 15 yards. (The shot was money, about 220 right down the pipe.)

I have never abused this club in any way or used it in any manner other than what it was intended for.

Do you think Golfsmith will replace it altogether as a warranty issue, replace the shaft and regrip it for me for free, or tell me I'm screwed and totally responsible for it myself? Anybody else ever have any similar experiences with clubs and warranty issues?

[Norm66]

Not sure why you don't just call them and see. We can't tell you and they can. That said, I imagine they'll replace it no problem.

[WhiteSoxFan]

Obviously dude. I'm going to go up there as soon as I can - maybe at lunch today. I was just wondering what the sandtrappers thought would happen because I'm kind of anxious about it and I've never had anything like this happen before. I thought it would be an interesting topic to discuss prior to the fact, and then I'll report what actually happens. Thanks for participating.

[MGP]

If Golfsmith won't replace it, there's a pretty good chance Taylor Made will.

I've only ever had one issue with a Taylor Made club. I called their 800 customer service number and they took care of it right away.

[sandtrap]

make sure to let us know what happens

[BigAl5150]

TaylorMade's warranty policy is here . Golfsmith's Return Policy is here . As long as you have your receipt, you should be able to exchange it on the spot for a new one. If you don't have a receipt, Golfsmith will ship it back to Taylormade to be replaced.

[WhiteSoxFan]

Thanks Big Al.

[CG031]

Idk about golfsmith but I know Dicks Sporting Goods will give you a brand new one free. My friend had this happened TWICE to an Adams 5-wood and both times he's got brand new ones for free. So - They should fix up everything just fine free of charge - If not you should contact Taylor Made customer service and complain to them.

[tigerwho?]

Most likly they will replace it. Why wouldn't they its a faulty product.

[WhiteSoxFan]

I took it up to Golfsmith on my way home from work. They didn't even ask for my receipt and said all they can do is send it back to Taylormade. I guess because the V-Steels are discontinued product, and they "did a buyout" of them, they can't just exchange it like they would with current year product. So, they are sending it to Taylormade for me, and it will be 3-4 weeks before I know what happens. They said something about TM looking at it under their special lights of some kind to determine if it was a defect.???

[WhiteSoxFan]

So, here's what happened. Taylor Made did not warranty the shaft, and it got sent back to Golfsmith. The dudes at Golfsmith then hooked me up. They found a nice used shaft - Graphite Designs YS6.1 Stiff.

Apparently they keep shafts lying around that they take off of clubs when they do re-shafts. They aren't allowed to reuse these shafts for some reason. Titleist would get pissed if they took the shaft off of a Titleist and threw it on a Callaway. They are supposed to saw them in half and throw them out. Instead they keep them around for guys like me.

So, for $40 under the table (cash, no ticket, no register, no receipt) they gave me the shaft (which is apparentlly a $70 shaft), reshafted my 3-wood, and put a new grip on for me. The shaft had previously been in a Titleist of some kind. He said I would really like the shaft and it's much better quality than the stock shaft that was in there. He said the stock shaft is like a $3 shaft. The new one, although used, appears to be in really good condition - it's painted blue and doesn't have any nicks or scratches in the paint. You would be hard pressed to even know it's used just looking at it.

So, while the outcome isn't as good as having it warrantied, I'm pretty happy with the deal I got, and I'm excited to go hit it this afternoon.

[Spectrums]

Well, that's a good ending. It's amazing how cheap some of the shafts on clubs can be.

[Manystyles]

Yeah. I buy all my clubmaking supplies from golfsmith. Frankly, you can't get them cheaper. Golfsmith has a 115% guarantee (they cover the difference in cost plus 15%) and I can avoid shipping by having it shipped to my local store and

BUT, it's customer serivce that makes them stand out. Stuff like this. I've had components I bought from them fail and all it takes is a phone call to customer service and they send you out a new one. If you're part of their rewards program they can even look up the purchase in the computer.
You have to be nice, and understand that golf compnents are like everything else, even under good quality control things will break.

As to the cost of golf shafts the flipside of what was said above is also true, you would also be amazed at how some of the lower priced models of shaft perform well. Aldila's VX for under $9 (which can be had that cheap on sale, I've gotten some for around $8) is a great shaft for a beginner and should allow them to keep the same shafts until they get their handicap down to the mid-ranges.

I actually use the VX in my "trunk clubs", which are just a small set I keep in a range bag in my trunk for times when I just need to get to the range, or when I'm driving and I pass a golf course and I don't have my regular clubs. I've broken one shaft trying to hit around a tree and it was no big whoop. They aren't that stiff but a bit of extra tip trimming solves that.