Light Weight Steel Shaft Bends

[Adam C]

Just wanted to get a little poll from people who

1. Have light weight steel shafts (say under 95g)

2. That are at least 5 years old

How many irons in your set are actually bent? You might not have noticed but I have a theory that you will have at least one or two bent shafts in the bunch if you look down the shaft from the grip end and rotate it. Take a close look and let me know. I have been noticing a good number going through my shop and am wondering if it's a larger issue.

Thanks for your help!

[Release]

I'll check on the few sets I have when I get home ( label says 95, but we all know the raw weight is closer to 10X ) but, It's a phenomenon for the tapered tips  to have bent tips after being used for awhile, even the ones just over 100 gm.    Very typical for bent taper tips from 105 gm to 95 gm.  Don't know why but many had this happened.

Never heard the bent shaft per se,  Unless someone with a higher swing speed really should be playing a heavier shaft ended up using a light weight shaft. 

[BeCu]

On 8/17/2020 at 3:01 PM, Adam C said:

Just wanted to get a little poll from people who

1. Have light weight steel shafts (say under 95g)

2. That are at least 5 years old

How many irons in your set are actually bent? You might not have noticed but I have a theory that you will have at least one or two bent shafts in the bunch if you look down the shaft from the grip end and rotate it. Take a close look and let me know. I have been noticing a good number going through my shop and am wondering if it's a larger issue.

Thanks for your help!

I have had several steel shafts that have bent over the years. The early iterations of the True Temper sub 90 gram shafts. One in particular that always bent was that GS75/GS85 gram models. That was several years ago. The other was the first KBS Tour models. Got rid of all the bent ones. The bent shafts btw were long and mid irons - visible after a pull. Don't remember short irons being bent, probably because they were tipped extra (parallel) and/or thicker/heavier internal walls for short irons (both taper/parallel). My theory anyway. 

[Release]

One set shows slight bent on the shaft was a set I used heavily through the 80's.  Ben Hogan Edge ( the first of the forged CB ), this set had bend played and practiced off the mats and traveled overseas with me for many years.  It was the light weight Apex 4.  

Another set showed slight bend toward the tip is the TT EP95 which I rotate in several sets of heads.  Never would look and found the slight deformation of the tapered tip if I didn't look closely.  These are among my personal 30+ sets of irons .  Have no idea about the others sets which flew through me in the past years..... some of them probably had a slight bend but no one was picky and equipment crazed like today's golfers.  

Back then, if it works, don't fix nothing.

[Release]

Talked to a few friends who are still running quite a bit of golf clubs through their shops.  Most of them agreed that the light weight construction of the modern golf equipment was the main culprit for the equipment failure.

The golfers these days are stronger, many of them are not eh typical golfers from just a few decades ago.  Before we'd picture mostly retired folks, those not in their top physical shape in the sport of golf.  These days, many golfers cross over from other sports, young, strong and fit.  

The promotion of lighter, faster, more distance had been going on for quite awhile now and reached the limit of what we could do with the available material within the conforming limit set by the USGA.  Lighter thinner construction in the golf shafts ( steel or graphite )  used/abused by stronger golfers = more premature equipment failure .

The engineers designed the $500 drivers knew all of these, therefore , part of the price we pay for the new driver had the failure rate numbered in for return and replacement.  Same thing with the automobile industry, they figured in the rate of failure, sometimes even worse when they figured in the rate of accident from the design and the payoff rate from settlement.  We asked , why then not build a better vehicle ?  Because the price tag will be out of reach by most of the consumers if they build the best possible product, and those products might be around for decades because of superior quality which is not good for the OEM because they want to sell you another one, very soon in the future.

[iacas]

On 8/17/2020 at 4:01 PM, Adam C said:

Just wanted to get a little poll from people who

Why didn't you create a poll, then?

[Adam C]

9 hours ago, iacas said:

Why didn't you create a poll, then?

I said poll but I really just wanted to hear specifics on who and what clubs had this issue.

[iacas]

38 minutes ago, Adam C said:

I said poll but I really just wanted to hear specifics on who and what clubs had this issue.

You asked how many were bent. That’s a poll. People can elaborate in a post.