I Keep Breaking Shafts…

[Skyhawk]

Hi All,

So quick story to set this up; I just picked up golf this year as a way to both satisfy my itch for something competitive and to help bond with some of my coworkers. This winter I did my research and waited until I found a set of Adams Tight Lies on sale and pulled the trigger about two months ago.

The local club just opened about two weeks ago and I've made 3 trips so far for a total of 5 buckets of balls at the range. The first two buckets were as terrible as you'd expect of someone trying to swing a golf club like they used to swing a baseball bat, but other than that fine.  But halfway through the third bucket, after hitting a tee shot with my driver I actually heard that wonderful sweet spot ding only to look up and see my driver head hit the 50 yd flag. It broke with maybe a millimeter of the shaft sticking out above the hosel. Disappointing, but I continued.

On the fourth bucket after rebuilding a little confidence, I pulled out my 3 Wood. It broke after about 3 swings in the exact same spot.as the driver. So now I'm really annoyed, but I figure maybe I just got a bad batch of clubs.

Luckily, I have a friend who is much more experienced at golf than me who loaned me his old Taylormade R580 driver with a stiff shaft. You guessed it; broken after about 6-7 swings, same spot.

So obviously I've accepted it's me, but I can't figure out why. These were all tee shots, so while I may be skimming the ground, I definitely don't feel as though I'm hitting it hard. I am 23 and played college football, so I'd say I'm a bit stronger than the average person, but aren't clubs designed to be a little tougher than this? When I brought my two clubs to the pro shop to have them send them back to Adams for the warranty, the pro looked at me like I had three heads, but did mention something about scuff marks on the top of the head and needing a stiffer shaft (I didn't mention the stiff one I had broken...).

Any advice would be appreciated; I really want to get into the game, but I'm sidelined for a while waiting for replacements, and I'm definitely going to be trigger shy after that. I'd like to make these clubs work for a while because I feel as though I've already dumped a fair bit on money into a game I haven't even had a chance to play, but if different equipment is the only solution, I might be able to look into it.

Thanks.

[Midway]

Ive been playing for probably 10 years and i have never seen someone break a shaft, so not sure what you got going. I've heard of shafts breaking when the club head hits the ground with a driver but not very often.

[SCfanatic35]

I have never heard of anything like this.  Are you teeing off on concrete and taking a divot? Are you hitting weighted golf balls? I have seen a few club heads fly off or a shaft break, but not 3 from the same person in a short period of time. If I were your friends I would definitely not loan you any of my clubs til you get it figured out. Good Luck.

[Skyhawk]

Teeing off on grass, and no, possibly skimming the ground but definitely no dirt flying. As far as the balls they look like pretty standard range/practice balls. And I felt terrible about the club even though it was his backup sitting in storage, I've already ordered an exact replacement from eBay before he can refuse.

[SCfanatic35]

I was thinking you bought someones junk clubs until you said you did it to a friends club.  That is very strange. Is the weather where you are at really cold?

[Skyhawk]

Nope, this has all been in the past week, and it's been 60-70 every time I've gone out.

[bkuehn1952]

My assumption is we are talking about graphite shafts.  If one misses a shot badly and nicks the ball with the shaft, a small crack can develop. Down the road the head will separate.  I have experienced this with a club once.

I suppose a beginner might consistently mishit the ball and contact the shaft now and again but three clubs in a row seems really odd, especially since they were not all from the same set.

Now older steel shafts sometimes develop corrosion where the shaft enters the hosel and they can snap but that shouldn't occur with graphite.  A mystery!

[MS256]

My son had one break like that a few years ago but he had just bought a used club and was trying it out. We assume there was damage or a defect in the shaft because it hasn't happened again (and his club head speed is MUCH more than it was back when that shaft broke).

That doesn't explain breaking 3 of them and one from a separate set. For all of those shafts to be defective would be a big coincidence so it's a mystery.

There are plenty of people out there with freakish club head speed that don't have that problem.

[Old1964]

I broke two shafts in my life.

The first happened when I was attempting to hit a driver off the deck - hit the dirt firmly behind the ball - swung through and ended up holding the grip and about 4 inches of shaft.

The second was very different. Teed the ball up. Hit a good drive - or so I thought, but the flight was all wrong. Looked down and the head was dangling from a thread right where it was glued into the head.

Opposite ends.

Hitting the dirt broke the first one - and will break if it is done hard enough...they are designed to hit the little ball not the Big Ball (Earth).

The second one was broken as a result of sliding around in the trunk of a town car - and at times the head of the driver would hold the one end of the bag up...and all the weight of the bag would hang on it. Fractures developed...

I'm guessing if you never hit the ground with a driver - that would be a good thing and you would never break another shaft.

[Mr. Desmond]

Take lessons and have the pro figure it out.

[k14]

A guy at my club (build like a brick *hit house) has broken 2 or 3 clubs. He plays off about 20 but when he collects one it will go easily 330 yards, not necessarily at the hole though. I think one of the drivers he broke was an adams too. Possibly could be to do with a really aggressive swing and the carbon in the shaft is not up to the task. He's now got a Titleist 910 driver and has had that for a while without it breaking. Get a stiff (or x stiff) shaft and see how that goes.

[Ole_Tom_Morris]

Nothing wrong with going with steel shafts. I have a couple of drivers that are not totally antiques shafted with steel. Obviously if you like a super light club you'd prefer graphite but with your strength...

Heard about long drivers breaking shafts, often in the follow-through as the shaft hits the back. LD shafts are a different animal from run of the mill players' shafts. Which is an idea: you can reshaft your clubs with shafts specially made for LD, but not a 4X of course.

Intriguing what the problem might be. Have you taken a motion picture of your swing? Is it jerky?

Graphite worries me. I worry about my graphite shafts getting jostled around in the bag, and so try to keep them in tubes and head covers that protect the shafts from getting nicked. I worry about my older graphite shafted clubs being dangerous because of the scratches on the shafts.

One of my drivers has a kevlar/graphite composite shaft that has reported failures. I've had no problems with it, but am conscious of the possibility every time I pick up the club.

Fishing rods and bicycles are two other areas where graphite can fail. Lot of fishing rods bite the dust drom getting caught in a door or hit against something. And bicycles! Imagine ownng a $10,000 carbon bike and getting the frame damaged. Imagine going downhill at 50 mph and having a carbon fork fail. For that reason I am unenvious of those with a super expensive ride (though I do have a road bike with a carbon fork; I look at it and worry :( ). And I prefer old fiberglass fishing rods. :)

[Meltdwhiskey]

I broke one once - and it is the only one I have ever seen broken.  It was on a hybrid and I attributed it to hitting a bunch of fat shots.  I wonder if your definition of skimming the ground might be different from someone else.  Taking a super-fast swing and hitting the ground would seem to be the most likely cause.  Even with the swing speeds on TV, I don't see clubs breaking.

Other than that, and an extension on the jostling OTM mentioned above, how are you transporting them on the way to the course?  Are the shafts in a bind? Is the road terrible?

Maybe some combination of the above?

[MPtheKid]

Originally Posted by Mr. Desmond

Take lessons and have the pro figure it out.

This. I have never heard of someone breaking multiple shafts almost one after the other. A pro will help identify what is going on with your swing and hopefully prevent more broken shafts in the future.

[Anthonytmagee]

Your hitting the ball with the shaft, rather than with the face of the club. I've snapped a couple drivers in my day doing what I said ironically one being and Adams also.

[Rainmaker]

Yeah . .it has to be that you're hitting the ball with the shaft sometimes.  I've broken one driver in my life - I made a normal swing and the head just went flying.  It was an old driver, not stored well . .just it's time to go.  But breaking them one after the other like that . .you'd have to be hitting the shaft or the hosel where it's glued in or something like that. 

 

[SavvySwede]

It is possible to break the shaft without heel/shaft contact. I once snapped a driver right in the middle of the shaft at the range . (A good 20 inches away the hosel)

[Rainmaker]

1 hour ago, SavvySwede said:

It is possible to break the shaft without heel/shaft contact. I once snapped a driver right in the middle of the shaft at the range . (A good 20 inches away the hosel)

Yeah - but the OP has broken 3 different shafts within 5 large buckets.  I think even Jamie Sadlowski could hit my driver 500 times without breaking the shaft.  The clubhead, yeah . but probably not the shaft, I don't think. 

 

Check this out.  This is *not* how I broke my driver that one time, lol.  Notice, though, the shaft is fine until it hits his back.

 

Edited May 10, 2016 by Rainmaker