Bending irons

[cbgolf]

Can anyone offer guidance on how to tell if a set of irons can be bent upright(2-3deg)?

 

Reason i ask is i intended to go somewhere get fitted and buy something(where i got fitted)

However if i come across something for a great deal(swap shop, ebay,golfdsicount etc)

i would consider going that route and have the clubs fitted for me aftermarket.

But i could only do that if i know the irons can be customized.

Obviously a length adjustment could be done but what about the lie.

 

Older stuff i might look into

 

adams a2 a2os

 

mizuno mx-19

 

wilson di5 di7

 

big bertha 04

 

nike ignite

 

armour silverscott os

 

cobra fp s9

[mat562]

Tough to say.

 

Most irons can be adjusted a couple of degrees without problems, although some finishes can be a bit temperamental and subject to marring or cracking.

 

Of the irons on your list, some have very short hosels - which can be a pain in the backside when it comes to bending them. The Callaway irons are best left to Callaway IME. Generally, a small adjustment is do-able and doesn't cause too many problems. If you've got a clubmaker/pro in mind for the adjustments (should they prove necessary) broach it with them beforehand to be sure.

[LowPost42]

As said, most irons can go a couple degrees without issue. The only time I get concerned is when I'm bending a bore-through iron, especially bore through graphite. I won't touch bore through graphite. I don't mind a little bending in the steel shafts.

[villa]

As the guys have said, most of these irons will probably go 2* if necessary. The Big Bertha's would have to be sent back to Callaway due to the short hosel but their customer service is impeccable (not sure about charges though).

 

I think I'm right in saying that all of the clubs on your list are cast heads which makes them slightly more susceptible to cracking. If so, you may have to sign a waver stating that if one of them breaks during the process, the clubmaker is not liable for the cost.

[cbgolf]

So if a club is cast i would be taking a chance. Think i will avoid doing this and buy from someone local.

[somainevent]

Im not an expert, but what I have heard is that most have to be bent only 1 or 2 inches at the most. I could be wrong though.

[thewitt]

Any iron can break when bending - cast or forged it doesn't make any difference.

 

Both heads have to be annealed after forming - cast and forged alike - to soften them enough to be bent without breaking.

 

For cast heads, this process can make them soft as butter if done correctly.

 

For forged heads, if this step is skipped or done poorly they have been "work hardened" and can snap just as easily as any other head.

 

Both can be bent.

 

Both can break.

 

It's not the initial forming process that determines how easily one or another can be bent, but the anneal process, and it's impossible to look at a head and know how well it's been annealed.

 

The advice about being careful with short hosels is very good - these are hard to bend in any case.

 

-t

[es1]

the Witt, once more you shed well informed light upon the question at hand. just for fun, how many times have you dealt the killer blow to an unsuspecting club head ? i assume you have adjusted thousands of clubs , but how many ended in fatality ? i ask because i draw great humour from the 5 lives that i have taken with aid of a bending bar.

[wildwilly911]

ive broke 2 out of probably 1000 and both were callaway knock offs. have never broke an oem but after doing it for awhile you get the feel for it

[thewitt]

I probably break one every 6 months or so on average - and it's usually a head that someone else has started and decided they are not going to continue with :wacko:.

 

Keep in mind that we bend dozens of sets a month in two different shops, so between us we see a great number of irons every year. Every set that gets built is adjusted for loft and lie before it leaves the shop. Every reshaft gets set back to "standard" or fit into the existing lofts and lies of the rest of the set - or we end up adjusting the entire set accordingly.

 

Very few people are actually playing irons that have a proper loft progression and an appropriate lie angles. If their clubs are off the rack and have never been adjusted - chances are they need to be tweaked. Off the rack Pings are the best - but most others can be helped a little right out of the box.

 

What's always interesting to me is when a "hard" iron just doesn't want to move at all no matter what we do. I've seen a 300 pound gorilla lean on a bending bar and not get an iron head to bend, break or move even a little.

 

We finally snapped one (a prototype test club made from unobtanium...) with a 6 foot "cheater" bar on the bending bar. The last time I did an iron design I had a dozen different steels and heat treatments sent to me from the foundry and bent them all significantly - some finally breaking in the process. That "Bang" when an iron lets loose still makes me cringe big time...

 

Most quality irons will bend with a careful application of pressure and the right bending bar. Anything can break though - cast or forged - and I've seen them both go many times over the years.

 

Anyone who tells me they've never broken an iron head simply has not bent enough of them yet :shok:.

 

-t