Well...there goes my clubhead.

So, I "had" a tee time today for 18 holes of golf.  I went out to the practice range to warmup.  Same routine as always, wedges,irons, woods and then driver(My new Ping G30 LSTech)

So I tee up for my driver.  First 3 hits were straight boomers.  The 4th was hit the heel and produced a huge hook to the left.  I stopped and stopped to check what I was doing,  I looked for the ball mark on the club face--exactly where I thought it was, and you could see the 3 other solid hits too(range uses yellow, so on a black face it's easy to see).

So I turned my head over to check my hosel adjustment and find that the toe end of the club has a humongous dent...the kind you would see if you ran your club-head over with a cart or took a hammer to it.

I canceled my tee time and rush back to the store from where I bought it....like 3-4 days prior.

Store manager:

"Nope this was definitely caused by you topping the driver and or smashing the club down on a ball deliberately"..... yeah, because those 4 shots I took didn't just magically loft up in the air like any other driver shot....and also I like to waste money.

Manager:  "We'll call Ping and see what they say, cause we aren't replacing it." 10 minutes later, "nope...Ping wants to charge you for another clubhead which will be the price of a new club."

After a few heated minutes of discussion about their "warranty" and my personal phone call with Ping(they told me the store would replace it...even with that damage).....the manager was starting to loose his cool.  He eventually told me that he could go find a used clubhead and swap it out "BUT THIS WILL ONLY HAPPEN ONCE, BECAUSE I AM NOT TAKING THE LOSS AGAIN!!!!"  Seriously man, you only work for the company selling clubs, it's not coming out of your pocket.

I'm at a loss here.  I'm frustrated with "you can probably guess the name of the retailer" and the beautiful, but wasted day at the golf course.   I called their corporate headquarters to complain about their angry demeanor(I didn't flip out, they did) and even they said that was totally uncalled for.  I understand they relented and gave a very gently used replacement head....but the entire point of their warranty was "no hassle returns, even if it's been played" ...heck I'd have just taken my money back if it was going to be that big of a problem.

So, tell me guys.  How exactly could this have actually happened?  I mean I've had my Taylormade SLDR driver for months and I never had a problem there(I totally baby my clubs).  Heck my dad tops the ball all the time with his Callaway XR and that's never happened to him.  I tee the ball so there is about 1/4 of it peaking over the head of my driver.  I mean 4 solid hits and crunch, 400 bucks potentially down the drain.  I didn't create a divot on any of the shots and the tee flew out of it's holder like normal.

That is aweful.  I just bought clubs not too long ago since I am a beginner, and at the driving range I was hitting my 8 iron out of grass.  I had only hit this club about 15 times and the head came clean off, flying out about 25 yards.  I was stunned.  I checked the clubhead and although I am a beginner you could see absolutely no marks that would indicate heavy impact.  They worked with me and fixed the head.  My playing partner told me that the clubs being made in China now are just not as good of quality as they used to be.  Said they either put too  much glue or not enough glue or some other issue.

Glad I didn't have the same issue you did, I would have handled it the same way and maybe even escalated on principle alone.  Its amazing what a properly written letter to the correct persons can produce with a little research.

Here is to hoping your replacement holds up.

Yeah, hope so too.  Honestly we were discussing this over dinner and came to the conclusion that the store probably never even contacted Ping.  They were just probably trying to save a buck and sell me a new one...and eventually relented when we pointed out that their used clubs were in the same shape.

I would agree, Adams told me to take to my shop and they would send it in, said could take to my local golf course and they would handle.  I have this feeling that they never sent it to be done and just fixed it themselves, put some glue on it and stuck the head back on, but hey, it works so I am satisfied.  The store probably dislikes the time it takes away from selling, its paper work, its more accounting, getting it back there, postage, etc.

I plead the fifth.

In all honesty if that was the case, I wouldn't have any clubheads. Just dont ask to see a picture of the bottom of my 5 wood.  Ouch....

Gear effect would normally cause an extreme heel hit to slice back to the right. A toe hit would cause a huge hook as you describe. I would guess you hit the toe and that the ball smudge on the heel was from a previous session.