Can shafts wear out?

[brettfan]

So our club had a demo day and the Taylor Made guys were there.  I didn't really need anything as I am happy with my game right now but I didn't have anything else to do so I thought I would go out. I have no intention of replacing my irons or wedges but I thought I would hit the M1 driver and 3 Wood just for fun. I currently have a Titleist D15 driver (Rogue Black 60g shaft) and accompanying 3 would. I seemed to hit the Taylor made stuff pretty well compared to my current driver but their launch monitor wasn't working so was hard to have an apple to apples comparison, particularly since there was a pretty good tail wind that day.  They tried to match the shaft in the Taylor Made as close as he could to the shaft I currently have.

I got to talking to the guy from Taylor Made he told me he thought the problem was that the current shaft on my Titleist club was "worn out". He told me that with a reasonably high swing speed like mine (usually about 105mph) the shaft became become more "floppy" over time. He even told me that his son swings pretty hard and has to change his shaft twice a year due to this problem. This seemed pretty reasonable at the time but when I got home I started thinking about this more and it now sounded crazy to me. Is it possible that I could meaningfully alter the swing characteristics of a 2-year-old shaft just with normal use?  Or was this just the greatest salesmen ever, trying to get me to buy a new $250 shaft?

 

Not that it matters much (this was meant to be a general discussion about whether "wearing out" as shaft is even possible and not a specifically about any particular shaft) but he fit me for a Kuro Kage 60gm stiff shaft with a mid kick.

 

 

Edited May 8, 2017 by brettfan

[DeadMan]

My guess was that the club head is much more likely to cave in before the shaft wears out. A little googling told me I was correct:

http://golfweek.com/2013/02/04/shaft-month-q-fujikuras-david-schnider/

That says graphite shafts do not wear out. That guy is either wrong or making up stuff for a sale. Either way, don't buy anything from him.

[Club Rat]

  On 5/8/2017 at 5:09 PM, brettfan said:

Not that it matters much (this was meant to be a general discussion about whether "wearing out" as shaft is even possible

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Shaft fatigue can happen under certain conditions.
Most will occur when abused by a player in various manners, such as a Club Slammer, or Club Thrower.
Under normal conditions, it's not likely, but various materials are subject to flaws during manufacturing.
Also, elements like heat, moisture, excessive exposure to water (placing clubs in a bucket of water for long periods)
can have negative effects. To say a shaft loses it's flex characteristics such as stiffness or torque would take conditions excessive to manufacturing testing. Here is a good read - Shaft Failures 

And, normal everyday wear of clubs rubbing against shafts can deteriorate the surface in spots and cause the shaft to fatigue. One of the most common problems with shafts is them breaking above the hosel with both irons and woods. Basically IMO, shafts are designed to withstand the continues twisting while flexing at the same time under a certain load amount, but they are more often to break rather than have just a general loss of performance.  

[NCGolfer]

  On 5/8/2017 at 8:09 PM, Club Rat said:

Basically IMO, shafts are designed to withstand the continues twisting while flexing at the same time under a certain load amount, but they are more often to break rather than have just a general loss of performance.  

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Agreed.  I think that's a good summary.  

OP, I wouldn't lose any sleep about your shaft losing flex or changing its performance.  It's much more likely that you will develop a crack or some other flaw in manufacturing that manifests itself in some way.  As long as I've been playing and as many clubs I've hit I think I've only had one break that was "unintentional."  

[WUTiger]

One problem with steel shafts can be internal rust. Contributing factors can be:

• Sensicore shaft inserts (anti-vibration) which accumulate moisture. This can be a problem in high-humidity locales like Florida.
• Golfers who play in sub-freezing weather and bring their clubs into warm rooms might get condensation inside the steel shafts. When the military operates in arctic conditions, soldiers keep their weapons outdoors. Bring them inside tents, and the cold metal starts sweating condensation.

[jamo]

Unless there is any visible damage (permanent bending, corrosion, particularly bad wear due to rubbing) or a manufacturing defect, shafts - particularly graphite shafts - shouldn't "wear out."