Callaway got it right

Huskypride28 · April 18, 2006

FT3 head with interchangable shafts

I was in Golf Galaxy yesteday and in their hitting room was a glass box case with about 6 to 8 FT3 heads and aligned next to them were every aftermarket shaft and flex you could think of. The heads come with a screw and the shafts have a special tip attachment so that the head can be screwed on and off the shafts. The rep just asked me what loft and shaft I wanted to hit and he just popped off the head and screwed it on to another shaft. It was incredible! I wish other OEM's would do this. I've never been able to test different shafts on the same head before. I'm not a huge Callaway fan but they got major points from me on this one. Nike, Titleist, TM should take some notes!

Placebo · April 18, 2006

IMO that will be the natural progression for all the mfg's. I"d be surprised if the shaft mfg's don't follow suit and start designing their shafts to accomodate this kind of setup. It would be nice if some VIP's would get together and agree on some kind of standard for this before the proprietary patent systems start turning it into a debacle similar to the PC industry..... Bleh!

I think it is a great idea and a huge benefit to the shaft mfg's.

proclubbuilder · April 18, 2006

There is a company called club conex that introduced a similar product a few years back. I have to say it has been a long time coming. Most company's fitting carts have way too many variables and by the time you get through a fitting session, you have forgotten most of what you tested. All of the demos I have feature this same setup and it has worked really well for me. Nakashima golf has a new driver that allows you to change the shafts whenever you want, and even allows you to lock it into several different positions so that you can see how spine alignment really affects ball flight.

sandy · April 18, 2006

I was in Golf Galaxy yesteday and in their hitting room was a glass box case with about 6 to 8 FT3 heads and aligned next to them were every aftermarket shaft and flex you could think of. The heads come with a screw and the shafts have a special tip attachment so that the head can be screwed on and off the shafts. The rep just asked me what loft and shaft I wanted to hit and he just popped off the head and screwed it on to another shaft. It was incredible! I wish other OEM's would do this. I've never been able to test different shafts on the same head before. I'm not a huge Callaway fan but they got major points from me on this one. Nike, Titleist, TM should take some notes!

Excellent system and the left handers love it since no one ever stocked a good selection of shafts and heads for them due to sales.

TML · April 18, 2006

How do they assure that the screw-in drivers have the same feel as the actual driver you end up buying? Wouldn't there be a difference in the fitting cart driver vs. the driver permanently glued together? or is the FT3 a full screw-on driver?

Johnny · April 18, 2006

How do they assure that the screw-in drivers have the same feel as the actual driver you end up buying? Wouldn't there be a difference in the fitting cart driver vs. the driver permanently glued together? or is the FT3 a full screw-on driver?

they supposedly figured this out...so it's like a real shaft "epoxied" in.

kiwidave · April 19, 2006

nakashima do it as well. Expect there's never get expoxyed, you can switch out shafts when ever you want

www.nakashimagolf.com

Huskypride28 · April 19, 2006

How do they assure that the screw-in drivers have the same feel as the actual driver you end up buying? Wouldn't there be a difference in the fitting cart driver vs. the driver permanently glued together? or is the FT3 a full screw-on driver?

I didn't notice any difference that it was screwed on. It felt like it was glued in there just as tight. I even took the head and gave it a little shake to see if it was loose and it didn't budge an inch. Great set up to find the right shaft/head combo. Kudos to Callaway!

CashmereGoatJ · April 19, 2006

Burrows golf used a similar system for fitting with their Powersphere drivers.

Clemson656 · April 19, 2006

Golfsmith has this tool for sale for quite a while.

If OEM's want to do this, they have to make sure that the system will perform with no problem. I read that the shaft has to be taken out and re-tighten to make sure that it will not be loosen or get too tight to be taken off. For this reason, I'm not sure it could pass the USGA regulations.

sigmamason · April 19, 2006

I think Henry Griffiths started this a few yrs back. Most of the people that are Henry Griffiths fitters use their system. I suspect that since HG is more of a niche product offering, the Callaway system will reach more people simply due to the sheer number of accounts that they have.

Huskypride28 · April 19, 2006

Golfsmith has this tool for sale for quite a while.

If OEM's want to do this, they have to make sure that the system will perform with no problem. I read that the shaft has to be taken out and re-tighten to make sure that it will not be loosen or get too tight to be taken off. For this reason, I'm not sure it could pass the USGA regulations.

Callaway isn't selling their drivers like this. It's for fitting purposes only which is why I liked it so much. Once you find the right shaft and loft combination, you then buy it glued in permanently.

Placebo · April 19, 2006

Wouldn't it be nice if someone invented an adapter of sorts that could take any existing shaft and combine it with any existing club head without making any modifications to either the shaft or the club head? Obviously the fit would have to be snug enough to stay attached through gorilla swing speeds and feel like it is epoxied, as well as be easily attachable/detachable. Would be challenging to pull off but I don't think its impossible. Thoughts?

Huskypride28 · April 19, 2006

Wouldn't it be nice if someone invented an adapter of sorts that could take any existing shaft and combine it with any existing club head without making any modifications to either the shaft or the club head? Obviously the fit would have to be snug enough to stay attached through gorilla swing speeds and feel like it is epoxied, as well as be easily attachable/detachable. Would be challenging to pull off but I don't think its impossible. Thoughts?

Yeah that would be nice, but I would constantly be buying new heads and shafts. Not too good on the wallet.

joey3108 · April 19, 2006

Club connex doesn't give the right total club head weight and make the hosel design way to high IMO

THe right way doing this is to get the light weighted head to compensate the weight on the connector and redesign it w/ a few option of hosel heigth to get the right feel of the shaft reaction.

I've been trying to find a machinist who can help me putting a reverse thread screws ( for right hand club )and build me an adapter for it w/ several different height and get the right total static weight on the heads.

THis is indeed a good idea for a fitter to be able to give more to try for the customers, but it sure is more expenses also to have all this in the shop, especially who handle a lot of high end shafts.

Joe