BEWARE the heated driving range in winter

[walk18]

Cracked the face of my beloved 905R at the range today. I've been playing there for years, it's a great place in the winter because they have the bays with the space heater overhead and you hit out into the range. A long time ago I had cracked a cheap driver there and I figured it was just because it was a cheap driver. Then I picked up the Titleist, and for 5 years it held up until today.

So now I'm thinking it has to have something to do with the cold air and the rock hard range balls they have. So if you have a place like this near you, be careful, maybe use an old driver you don't care about..

[GaijinGolfer]

Yeah, the heated driving range is definetly a place for irons only.  You will crack a driver simply because of how thin the face is and how easily they can crack in the cold.

[B-Con]

What does the heater have to do with it? Are you guys are saying that this is caused by a warm driver hitting cold balls?

[jamo]

I haven't had any clubs crack (knock on wood), but I did have a heater spark pretty badly once. That wasn't fun.

[Ernest Jones]

Originally Posted by jamo

I haven't had any clubs crack (knock on wood), but I did have a heater spark pretty badly once. That wasn't fun.

Especially when you have a 4' steel rod in your hand!

[Chipless]

Are you saying the issue is the super cold balls being much harder than normal?  And if so, does the fact that my local driving range keeps their balls indoors circumvent this potential issue?

[LBlack14]

It may have cracked in 100* heat and with an old gel core balata too. Things sometimes wear out.

[colin007]

im not sure that thing wouldnt have cracked anyways.  i wouldnt chalk it up to the cold.

[MiniBlueDragon]

I've seen a driver break during the winter at the range but it's not a heated range. I'd assume it's simply rock hard/cold/frozen balls rather than some type of drastic heat difference?

Do you normally keep the driver in a head cover to make sure it doesn't get "too" cold as well?

[The Road Dog]

Not sure if it's cold enough in Chicago yet for balls sitting outside to gain that much density, and would suspect the driver face itself as being weakened by

usage.  So what were the temperatures involved?

[caniac6]

I've cracked two drivers. Neither were in cold weather. Ping G5 & Taylormade 580xd.

[Kieran123]

Last Winter I was hitting golf balls with ice on them.

[1par2win]

For what it's worth last January a very similar subject came up. I e-mailed Titleist about the effect of cold on the driver faces. This is their reply.

Must be cold in Minnesota :)  I posed your question to our R and D group and here's what they had to say.  One caveat is that if you hit way off center on the club face, it is possible to damage the welding.

At the swing speeds under 120 mph it shouldn't damage the clubs.  Our testing speeds for our air cannon are significantly higher than their swing speeds and we use a fairly hard golf ball.
After a quick discussion with our research group and materials experts we agreed they are much more likely to damage the golf ball than the club face.

So there you have it.  Practice away!

Sincerely,
Cathi

Cathi Donahoo
Team Titleist
cathi_donahoo@acushnetgolf.com
1(888) TITLEIST

[B-Con]

I still don't get what any of this has to do with [i]heaters[/i]. Top Golf has heaters for when it gets cold, and I'm curious if there's a reason not to use it in specific during the cold.

[GaijinGolfer]

Originally Posted by B-Con

I still don't get what any of this has to do with heaters. Top Golf has heaters for when it gets cold, and I'm curious if there's a reason not to use it in specific during the cold.

I dont think it has anything to do with heaters.  It has to do with hitting frozen golf balls and cracking a driver face because it becomes more brittle due to the cold.

[LBlack14]

We have a heater that blows directly into the top of our ball machine. When it gets real cold some of the balls crack when hit.

[mymizunosrock]

I think its just a coincidence. Drivers can crack after a few weeks or months, some last years. I think 5 years is pretty good out of a driver that cops its fair share of punishment.

[Lefty-Golfer]

typically i only get 1.5 or 2 years out of a driver and then they run out of good shots...