What causes golf golf equipment to interrupt? We now have the solutions.

Welcome to Gear Questions You’re Afraid to Ask, a GOLF.com sequence produced in partnership with Cleveland/Srixon Golf.

It occurs to the most effective of us. And the worst. Inevitably, sooner or later, whether or not throughout transit, transport, or throughout the course of play, you’re going to have an gear breakdown, and one thing will both break, bend, dent, or in some way be rendered unusable.

I do know firsthand. It occurred to me final Friday.

On the primary swing, my “new” driver (new as in solely 4 months previous) broke a couple of half-inch above the hosel. Oddly sufficient, it broke post-impact, remaining intact till I reached down to select up my tee.

Query is, was it one thing I did whereas hitting the ball? Or was my driver’s demise the results of one thing else? Typically, except you wildly miss the middle of the face you in all probability received’t injury a membership throughout the course of regular play. Odds are the preliminary injury occurred earlier than I teed off (the precise motive is detailed beneath).

Let’s take a look at a couple of of the most typical methods a membership can break or get broken so badly you may not use it. And, for a refresher, the Guidelines of Golf clarify that should you injury a membership throughout regular play, you may nonetheless use mentioned membership so long as it’s nonetheless intact and useable. What you may’t do is exchange it till after your spherical — I do know, that doesn’t make any sense both.

Widespread causes for breakage:

Your bag falls over

That is so frequent that I’m betting you may keep in mind the final time it occurred to you. For those who’re a walker, generally when your bag falls over it’s not that dangerous. Particularly when it ideas over on the grass. However, on the cart path or close to the clubhouse? That’s the place the injury may be catastrophic.

That is very true for luggage that fall off the again of golf carts — a end result often from both forgetting to lock your bag to the cart or from defective/free straps that don’t maintain your bag securely. Or, possibly it was a horrible prank. Both method, the blunt drive trauma of bag on concrete or cement is sufficient to snap a graphite shaft, bend a metal shaft and depart some main scuffs or dents in your clubheads.

Your golf equipment aren’t correctly organized in your bag

I do know, this doesn’t look like it’d result in a shaft break however compound a poorly organized set along with your bag falling over, and you may injury your stuff. I do know as a result of for this reason my driver broke. Previous to my spherical, my golf equipment fell over within the car parking zone. I didn’t’ suppose a lot of it, however I had a big mallet (with no headcover) in the identical membership slot as my woods. Apparently, when my golf equipment fell the putter hit the bottom first (I’ve an enormous dent on it to show that) and my driver shaft struck the sharp finish of the putter head, evidently cracking it.

This might have been averted had I put my putter some place else in my bag.

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Too little or an excessive amount of epoxy

That is much less frequent however nonetheless prevalent amongst do-it-yourself golfers who’ve a blowtorch and a vise grip and demand on doing their very own clubmaking. That’s superb and we encourage it, however ensure you have a fair hand when utilizing epoxy used to fuse the shaft to the clubhead.

Having not sufficient may ship the top flying off, and get this, having an excessive amount of epoxy (particularly should you get it contained in the shaft) could cause brittleness on the intersection of shaft and clubhead.

Jingle jangle within the cart

Your cash may not “jiggle jiggle,” however your golf equipment do whether or not you stroll or experience in a cart. You could suppose driving will result in a smoother experience to your golf equipment, however that’s not all the time true should you pay on onerous, bumpy golf programs. These bumps, skids, and even slight moments when the entrance or again of your cart will get airborne may result in the shafts urgent onerous towards your bag’s membership separators, inflicting fractures and/or breaks. Additionally, you might suppose it’s a good suggestion to over-tighten the cart’s bag strap, however overdo it and you can choke your set, rising the chance of a bend or break.

Bonus tip! All the time hold your headcovers in your golf equipment and use your towel between them for an added layer of cushioning.

Vary mats

Not solely can vary mats be the demise of your wrists and elbows however hitting down onto a variety mat locations far more stress on the shaft than does hitting from the turf. Vary mats generally aren’t that thick and it’s an inch or much less earlier than you’re putting onerous concrete or cement. Hitting this type of floor over time will invariably result in bent loft angles and even some damaged shafts.

Tree roots and embedded rocks

The mere notion of swinging a membership at full power wherever close to a tree root must make you nervous. And rightfully so, as many golfers have skilled vital accidents resulting from putting a hidden tree root slightly below the grass. The identical goes for putting an unexpected rock. Each can apply huge torque to a shaft, inflicting a bend or break.  And certain, a visit to your physician.

Rust

We’ve talked about this one earlier than, nevertheless it bears repeating. Rust could look cool on the clubhead, however should you get water inside your metal shafts, it’s no bueno. Rust may eat away on the shaft from the within out, inflicting breaks that aren’t solely scary, however downright harmful. This is the reason anytime your golf equipment get moist, it is best to all the time dry them out of the bag as quickly as doable.

Large misses and mood flare-ups

Whether or not you’re liable to lacking the candy spot (we imply in a giant method, like method off the heel or the toe) or you’ve gotten a knack for taking out your frustrations in your gear—your golf equipment don’t deserve the abuse. For those who can’t hit the broad aspect of a barn and also you’re making contact in locations on the clubhead that aren’t essentially meant for impression, a lesson must be your first plan of action to cease denting, cracking or bending your gear.

Second, in case your mood is getting the most effective of you and also you’re damaging your golf equipment throughout matches of rage — cease. Take a stroll. Drink some water. This isn’t the PGA Tour.  

Journey

We saved the worst for final. Journey is hard in your gear, particularly should you don’t pack your golf equipment correctly in your journey bag. The bottom line is to pack issues tightly so there’s much less room for bends and breaks. Higher but, be sure your bag is balanced and supported with merchandise like a Stiff Arm.

Some golfers go as far as to place their golf equipment of their baggage the other way up (clubheads down) to forestall breakage, and whereas we haven’t tried that ourselves, it seems like a good suggestion. Extra padding is all the time higher and once more, be sure issues are good and tight.

Lastly, keep in mind to test your gear for cracks, breaks, and bends once in a while.  And never simply that, take note of regular put on and tear as properly. This implies checking your grooves, your lie angles (they will bend over time) and make sure to test that any removeable weights or adjustable hosels are tightened and safe. With some TLC, your golf equipment will final a very long time.

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