Broke my driver

So I bought a Maltby CT250 Flight Control driver head and Maltby CT250 shaft back in May, and had it professionally built. Probably played 15 rounds or so with it and have generally been very happy.

Until today, I was playing a round and on the 16th and the stupid thing broke off between the ferrule and the hosel. I know that a half decent shaft shouldn't be too expensive, but I don't think I have hit more than a couple of hundred balls with it, and I am a little pissed off. Do you think I have any recourse to the club builder and/or golfworks?

Will this have damaged the head in any way?

Thanks for the input

I have built clubs for many years. This should not happen. I've made a set for the brutal golfer, with a violent steep swing, and he is still using the clubs after 5 years of frequent use. Having said that, I've also seen several clubs at courses and driving ranges broken. One was a woman, who had a brand new brand name driver head fly into the range on her first try with it. The shaft did not break, the bond broke.

In your case, a check of the top of the hosel may show a common cause, according to where it broke. See if the inside rim has been chamfered so there is no sharp edge that would have cut into the graphite. Most heads are made with the chamfer already prepared, so it's ready for graphite shafts. If not, you have to grind the chamfer with a bevelling bit. The ferrule has a chamfer also, so the epoxy fills in the two "cones". If this is not the cause, the shaft may have been defective, etc. If the shaft was defective, there may be recourse to Golfwork, but that may have to be assessed by the clubmaker.

In most cases, big store retailers, in conjunction with brand manufacturers such as Callaway, would guarantee the clubs. Unless the damage was caused by negligence, a good clubmaker might replace the club also.

I'd take the matter to the clubmaker to see what could be done.

Oh, unless there is a problem re the hosel chamfer which has to be resolved, there should not be any damage to the head. The broken shaft has to be reamed and cleaned out.

Ted

Thanks for your reply.

I had a look at the inside of the hosel and it does appear to be chamfered, and it seems that the shaft actually broke about 4mm inside the hosel.

I'm going to take it to the PCS club-builder and ask his opinion of what happened, and see if he feels inclined to rebuild it for me.

That's a strange break. Usually the portion of the shaft inside the hosel, being encased in the "sleeve" of epoxy and the hosel itself, should not break. It could have been a torsional stress that caused it.

It should be a non-starter. Your clubmaker should be doing a reshaft (you may have to spring for the grip), but it shouldn't cost you a dime.

You'll return it to him, he'll drill the shaft out and return the broken one to GW.

Thanks for the replies...

So I spoke to Golfworks, who asked where it had broken and immediately said that it was an installation issue and that I need to take it up with the club builder. (Apparently if you put too much epoxy in the hosel some will rise up the shaft and create a stress concentrator.)

I then took the broken shaft and head to the club builder who made my clubs, who looked at it, um'd and ah'd and finally said that he could see no real reason why it had broken, and said that he sees lots of broken drivers and that it was just an issue with graphite, particularly as this is a lightweight shaft (50ish gm). Unsatisfied with this, I said that I was a little pissed that I was going to be out of pocket on a club that I had only hit a few times.

He then started looking through his stock of shafts and produced an Aldila VS Proto 'ByYou' and said that it was a much better shaft (and showed me the GolfWorks catalogue with the $180 price tag) and that he would fit that for free. Needless to say I was very grateful, and though that it had all worked out fine in the end. The Aldila was a VS 65 Stiff model that he had pulled (I assume - there was a grip on it which he replaced and there are a couple of dings on it).

Today (after playing an excellent round of golf sans driver) I went to collect my new and improved 'big stick' but didn't have time to try it out, went home and am now trying to work out if I got a good deal or not. I looked into the VS Proto, and it seems that the 60, 70 and 80 models are aftermarket shafts, whereas the 65, 75 and 85 are the shafts found in some OEM clubs (eg ping, adams, maxfli) and are only available as shaft 'pulls' or when an OEM sells excess stock which ends up on eBay. Anyway, it seems that you can get the shaft for around $70 new and not the $180 I was told, and mine isn't new!

I read a number of different theories: some say the only difference is in the Moniker x0 being aftermarket and the x5 being OEM but they are exactly the same shaft. Some said that the materials and technology is the same but the x0 is made to higher tolerances than the x5. Others say that the x5 has a similar profile to the x0 but is made from lower quality materials.

What do you think? Did I get a good shaft? Should I have pressed the issue harder and demanded a refund/new shaft. Are there issues associated with using a pull from another club?

I ended up leaving the old shaft with the builder as that seemed to be his preference and I wasn't going to press the issue.

The replies you received are quite correct - the club fitter/builder should cover the replacement. Trust me, because I've been there for the last 20 years, the shaft would go straight back to the distributor and get a credit/replacement shaft.

In the end, as long as the replacement Aldila shaft works for you I think you've done okay. Forget any concerns about the quality of Aldila or whether it was a "pull" or stock shaft - Aldila is a high quality shaft that all the big manufacturers have on their custom spec list. I agree $180 for the shaft is not a likely figure - $70-$90 is more like it.

You might consider the weight but even then the difference in weight between the heaviest and lighest make very little difference to most players. The biggest factor is shaft is flex, kick point and torque. Compare your Maltby shaft to your yours looking at the kick point and torque, that'll give you a much better idea of the difference between them.

__________________
Golf is easy ... once you know how.
Graham Arnott, teaching professional
Kelrosa Golf Studios
www.kelrosagolf.com
Class 'A' PGA Member
Full Member: World Golf Teachers Federation (GB&I)

Generally speaking, I don't send home a broken shaft, either - I have to send it back to get the credit on my end; and you got another shaft at no cost (ie you traded me a broken shaft for an unbroken one).

There are some issues between the OEM shaft and an aftermarket shaft for sure.

However, (and I may have just gotten lucky), I actually bought a VS Proto 65 (pulled fresh from an OEM driver as an aftermarket upgrade was going in), and have profiled and played it beside my VS Proto 60. There was no difference in profile, and no weight difference either (once cut to the same lengths). So you're probably OK with the Proto.

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PCS Class 'A' Clubfitter

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I say it too often: If it's golf club shaped, you can play with it.

For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.