What is the red plug inside my iron hosel?

[Walt Kowalski]

I bought a set of used fly-z pro's last month. The 7i looked re-shafted since it did not have the c-taper shaft sticker that the other clubs come with. Yesterday I snapped the club at the hosel after a round. Shaft did not shard, the club head just shot off from the shaft. When I went to epoxy it I realized the hosel was really deep and had a ridge in it about halfway down preventing a shaft from going farther. Took off my 8i head to see if it was the same and it had a red plug/filling in it up to the ridge line (pictured). I realize now that whoever had these before me obviously lost the red plug when they broke the club. What is it and what is it made of? What is the best way for me to fix it? It seems like plastic. I thought to fill it up with epoxy but that much epoxy would be hard to put in without any bubbles forming. Thanks.

Edited August 22, 2016 by Walt Kowalski

[iacas]

It might just help glue not go into the iron head. Some modern irons have a little hollow part.

Or it could help to ensure that the shaft goes to the right depth.

[IndianaDundee]

Reminds me of SMT Durometer wedges.  They have a rubber insert to eat up some vibration.

[Club Rat]

On ‎8‎/‎22‎/‎2016 at 9:42 AM, Walt Kowalski said:

It seems like plastic.

It most likely is a "Tip Plug" for obtaining a specific swing weight.

Check any golf outlet store or club builders in your area to determine the swing weight of your clubs and they can provide the materials for the repair. Since you indicate the club had been previously repaired or re-shafted, the person probably replaced the shaft without any consideration of the repair. Below is an example of Plug Weights.

Quote

Golfsmith 10 Gram Plug-Weights for Steel Shafts

Extremely dense alloy allows you to concentrate maximum mass as low as possible at the shaft tip. Simply epoxy the 10g Plug-Weight into the shaft tip just prior to assembling the club. One size works for wood or iron steel shafts.

 

[Walt Kowalski]

5 hours ago, Club Rat said:

It most likely is a "Tip Plug" for obtaining a specific swing weight.

Check any golf outlet store or club builders in your area to determine the swing weight of your clubs and they can provide the materials for the repair. Since you indicate the club had been previously repaired or re-shafted, the person probably replaced the shaft without any consideration of the repair. Below is an example of Plug Weights.

 

My current iron set has shaft tip plugs for swing weight and these do not look like it. And my weights were in the shaft tip not the bottom of the hosel. My swingweight scale measured out the set between D1 and D2.. Pretty close to stock. I called Cobra and they said it is most likely a shim that was created because of boring that probably took place to mess around with the head weight and they didn't want the shaft to get too far in the hosel. Sure enough, When I took off the 8i head to compare (the head that still has the red hosel plug intact) the 8i shaft had a metal swingweight plug in the shaft. The 7i shaft didn't. In all, I can tell a tinkerer had these clubs before me and polished them up before selling them off to 2nd swing.

[Club Rat]

16 minutes ago, Walt Kowalski said:

I can tell a tinkerer had these clubs

Probably true, I've never heard of anyone using "shims" in the club head for depth correction. Only when using smaller diameter shafts to fit a larger bore in club heads. Or ever heard of anyone boring the hosel to reduce swing weight. Seems like a waste of time.

Interesting, good luck with the repair.

[Piz]

If your club heads have "universal" hosel bores and the shafts are parallel tip; the plastic piece could simply be a spacer.  It is conceivable that such a precaution could be warranted by the nature of the assembly process.  

[Walt Kowalski]

On ‎8‎/‎23‎/‎2016 at 5:17 PM, Piz said:

If your club heads have "universal" hosel bores and the shafts are parallel tip; the plastic piece could simply be a spacer.  It is conceivable that such a precaution could be warranted by the nature of the assembly process.  

Why would a universal hosel bore go deeper than necessary though? Only to ad a plastic plug? Dampening/ feel?

[Piz]

Just speculating.  If a .355 tip is supposed to seat flush to the bottom of the bore; it may be necessary to use a spacer to prevent a .370 tip from seating too deep.  A bore is usually .005 larger than the shaft tip.  Without a stop it may be difficult to get a uniform depth when installing a .370 parallel tip shaft in a universal hosel.  (In a production-oriented environment)

Edited August 24, 2016 by Piz