How often should a graphite shaft snap/break?

[tyche]

My 70TX diamana d+ just snapped near the tip, unbelievable!

 

Was just taking practice swings, hit my finish position and felt something at the end hanging.

 

How often should a shaft snap? Especially a high quality stiff one? I thought this shaft would last me years, but now only 3-4 months,

I guess not.

 

 

 

[Stuart_G]

Almost Never - assuming proper use and no abuse (including unintentional - see below). BUT it doesn't matter how expensive the shaft, manufacturing defects can happen so it's not impossible. However, I'd say they are quite rare but can happen. The problem is it can be extremely difficult to pin down a cause after the fact - although it never hurts to contact the club manufacturer for warranty purposes (or shaft manufacturer for new aftermarket purchases).

 

But here are some relatively common things that can change that and cause damage w/o the player being aware of it:

1. Heel hits. Only takes one bad one but repeated heel hits can build up damage over time to break at a later time. And with modern very forgiving drivers - the hits do not have to feel all that bad to contribute to the damage. Use some foot powder spray to check this.

2. Hitting your back with the shaft on the follow through.

3. Poor storage practices - especially with respect to storage in the trunk of a car. The driver being the longest club can easily be pushed on or against something else in the trunk, or the side walls - or even from closing the trunk. Bags falling over from a standing position or falling off a cart also apply here.

4. Build errors: For second hand or pulls - not using an extractor when pulling or changing adapters. Tipping beyond the reinforced parallel tip section - or over prep of the tip. - although in those cases I'd usually expect the break to be closer to the hosel so unlikely in your case.

5. Poor fit for shaft - significantly too soft tipped for the swing - particularly when combined with #1 above.

[tyche]

Cheers Stu,

 

I’m gonna go ahead and say it’s most likely post 3. I also add +13g head weight to my driver so that may have contributed.

 

Nonetheless, there are times I try and suffocate my golf bag into my trunk (driver only fits diagonally). My driver in the golf bag only barely fits length wise and I push it through the trunk walls to fit freely diagonally sometimes. It may be clanking as I turn on roads too, and I don’t use a head cover. I have also dropped my bag maybe twice in my whole time golfing, could these possibly contribute?

 

However, I just don’t see how clanking clubs can effect it, I would say the other thing I do that may have contributed would be using my driver sometimes as somewhat of a leaning/walking stick to hold my weight when I bend down and grab balls/tees from the floor. Would this contribute?

 

 

 

Surely shafts should not be this fragile. The fibres and the middle filled part all snapped.

 

Anyway, take a lesson from me folks, damn!

 

 

> @Stuart_G said:

> Almost Never - assuming proper use and no abuse (including unintentional - see below). BUT it doesn't matter how expensive the shaft, manufacturing defects can happen so it's not impossible. However, I'd say they are quite rare but can happen. The problem is it can be extremely difficult to pin down a cause after the fact - although it never hurts to contact the club manufacturer for warranty purposes (or shaft manufacturer for new aftermarket purchases).

>

> But here are some relatively common things that can change that and cause damage w/o the player being aware of it:

> 1. Heel hits. Only takes one bad one but repeated heel hits can build up damage over time to break at a later time. And with modern very forgiving drivers - the hits do not have to feel all that bad to contribute to the damage. Use some foot powder spray to check this.

> 2. Hitting your back with the shaft on the follow through.

> 3. Poor storage practices - especially with respect to storage in the trunk of a car. The driver being the longest club can easily be pushed on or against something else in the trunk, or the side walls - or even from closing the trunk. Bags falling over from a standing position or falling off a cart also apply here.

> 4. Build errors: For second hand or pulls - not using an extractor when pulling or changing adapters. Tipping beyond the reinforced parallel tip section - or over prep of the tip. - although in those cases I'd usually expect the break to be closer to the hosel so unlikely in your case.

> 5. Poor fit for shaft - significantly too soft tipped for the swing - particularly when combined with #1 above.

 

 

[Stuart_G]

> @tyche said:

> Cheers Stu,

>

> I’m gonna go ahead and say it’s most likely post 3. I also add +13g head weight to my driver so that may have contributed.

 

Hard to say but I don't think the added weight is likely contributing all that much. Maybe a little bit for those cases of the clubs being dropped but likely not for the other possible causes.

 

> @tyche said:

> Nonetheless, there are times I try and suffocate my golf bag into my trunk (driver only fits diagonally). My driver in the golf bag only barely fits length wise and I push it through the trunk walls to fit freely diagonally sometimes. It may be clanking as I turn on roads too, and I don’t use a head cover. I have also dropped my bag maybe twice in my whole time golfing, could these possibly contribute?

>

> However, I just don’t see how clanking clubs can effect it, I would say the other thing I do that may have contributed would be using my driver sometimes as somewhat of a leaning/walking stick to hold my weight when I bend down and grab balls/tees from the floor. Would this contribute?

>

 

It's generally not so much a bit of clanking or bumpy roads - but rather more often something hitting the head with enough force and that causes the shaft to hit the edge of the golf bag - and that's where the damage occurs. e.g. something under the head holding it up but the trunk presses down on the bag when you close it. If the head itself is clanking because it's loose that's usually not an issue. If the bag is clanking up and down while the head is resting on something and at least partially supporting the weight of the whole bag - that's completely different. The old stocking style head covers may have helped a little bit but few of the newer ones would make any difference. Dropping can be an issue if it's from high enough - again it's usually the head hitting the ground and that causes the shaft to hit the bag edge or divider.

 

Which reminds me - worn padding on the bag edges or separators can speed up or increase the amount of damage. Some bag rash is no big deal by itself - but the padding does help reduce the stress for those other various impact issues.

 

If you put the broken shaft in the bag - is the breaking point right at the same place where the bag edge or divider would contact the shaft? It's not a definitive test by any means but if so, it's probably not a coincidence.

 

Bottom line is the shaft wasn't really designed to have anything impact it directly with any force. Graphite is actually a lot better in that respect than steel. But having a swing that 'needs' a 70 TX Diamana means less damage is needed to get to the failure point. I know it's a pain, but if you regularly need to use a tight car trunk - you might want to consider taking the head off of the shaft when you transport.

 

I'd also suggest using foot powder spray to check your face impact consistency. If there are any heel side tendencies, it will quicken the progression of any damage caused else where.

 

[tyche]

It's a couple of inches below the breaking point, could the possible clanking of other steel clubs on graphite have resulted in it? Also, it is DEFINITELY the 'thinnest' point of the shaft.

 

Do you think using the driver as a cane, placing my body weight on it when picking up tees and balls was the greatest factor? I do remember when I subconsciously do it, that it bends around that point the more I put my weight on it, I don't see anything else as being that great of a contributing factor or adding enough mass. I'm around 185lb so pushing myself up leaning on the driver, after picking up a tee or something off the ground repeatedly, I would think, would have damaged it?

 

In terms of heel strikes, possibly, however I still hit it quite straight most of the time, if anything a slight fade and very very rarely a hook/draw, I definitely do not hit it near the hosel 'all' the time, though it would probably happen here and there. I just feel like a shaft should be able to take mis-hits, that it is sturdy enough to take that type of 'normal' wear and tear

 

> @Stuart_G said:

> > @tyche said:

> > Cheers Stu,

> >

> > I’m gonna go ahead and say it’s most likely post 3. I also add +13g head weight to my driver so that may have contributed.

>

> Hard to say but I don't think the added weight is likely contributing all that much. Maybe a little bit for those cases of the clubs being dropped but likely not for the other possible causes.

>

> > @tyche said:

> > Nonetheless, there are times I try and suffocate my golf bag into my trunk (driver only fits diagonally). My driver in the golf bag only barely fits length wise and I push it through the trunk walls to fit freely diagonally sometimes. It may be clanking as I turn on roads too, and I don’t use a head cover. I have also dropped my bag maybe twice in my whole time golfing, could these possibly contribute?

> >

> > However, I just don’t see how clanking clubs can effect it, I would say the other thing I do that may have contributed would be using my driver sometimes as somewhat of a leaning/walking stick to hold my weight when I bend down and grab balls/tees from the floor. Would this contribute?

> >

>

> It's generally not so much a bit of clanking or bumpy roads - but rather more often something hitting the head with enough force and that causes the shaft to hit the edge of the golf bag - and that's where the damage occurs. e.g. something under the head holding it up but the trunk presses down on the bag when you close it. If the head itself is clanking because it's loose that's usually not an issue. If the bag is clanking up and down while the head is resting on something and at least partially supporting the weight of the whole bag - that's completely different. The old stocking style head covers may have helped a little bit but few of the newer ones would make any difference. Dropping can be an issue if it's from high enough - again it's usually the head hitting the ground and that causes the shaft to hit the bag edge or divider.

>

> Which reminds me - worn padding on the bag edges or separators can speed up or increase the amount of damage. Some bag rash is no big deal by itself - but the padding does help reduce the stress for those other various impact issues.

>

> If you put the broken shaft in the bag - is the breaking point right at the same place where the bag edge or divider would contact the shaft? It's not a definitive test by any means but if so, it's probably not a coincidence.

>

> Bottom line is the shaft wasn't really designed to have anything impact it directly with any force. Graphite is actually a lot better in that respect than steel. But having a swing that 'needs' a 70 TX Diamana means less damage is needed to get to the failure point. I know it's a pain, but if you regularly need to use a tight car trunk - you might want to consider taking the head off of the shaft when you transport.

>

> I'd also suggest using foot powder spray to check your face impact consistency. If there are any heel side tendencies, it will quicken the progression of any damage caused else where.

>

 

[Stuart_G]

> @tyche said:

> Do you think using the driver as a cane, placing my body weight on it when picking up tees and balls was the greatest factor? I do remember when I subconsciously do it, that it bends around that point the more I put my weight on it, I don't see anything else as being that great of a contributing factor or adding enough mass. I'm around 185lb so pushing myself up leaning on the driver, after picking up a tee or something off the ground repeatedly, I would think, would have damaged it?

>

 

Impossible to say but I wouldn't' think so for an occasional occurance. It's not great for the shaft but just bending wouldn't normally be an issue. It's usually some type of impact against the shaft you need to worry about the most. So the case of a drop of some excessive pressure in the trunk then the iron heads against the shaft could be a potential issue.