do drivers go dead?

[marty]

I allways hear of softball bats and stuff that go dead after alot of use. Does the same happen to these newer drivers.

[WUTiger]

Back in the day of persimmon-headed clubs, drivers heads seemed the most likely to get cracked, because golfers pressed the most on them. (Also, an occasional angry golfer would tee off on a stone tee-box marker after snap-hooking his drive OB.)

I cracked two wooden driver heads as a 20-something - through normal use, of course.
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Fast forward to the era of metal woods and jumbo-headed drivers: Last week at the local golf shop, some high school and small college players were talking about club durability. A couple of the power hitters said they had dented in multiple driver club faces, and had other friends who had done likewise.

Some golfers blame it on drivers built with thin faces to flirt with trampoline effect. These drivers might end up with interior damage after lots of use. Sometimes the face caves in, other times it might feel "strange" from internal cracks.

Also, if you have a clone or a counterfeit, the quality control just might not be there to start with.

Any club smiths know the mechanics and stress failures behind these jumbo-driver tales I've been hearing?

[marty]

ya sounds like they are sacrificing some quality for a few extra yards. I dont have any of those problems yet but I just allways wondered about that

[is2linda]

I have heard drivers do lose distance after repeated abuse, but in most part they last for long time.

[billysandy]

I was watching a long drive thing briefly and a commentator said that whilst using a driver at the swing speeds they produce, a part of the driver can become weak/dead and show no kind of weakness when looked at. These were long drive golfers.