Do Tip Adapters Wear Out?

[IndyBonzo]

I have been doing some driver testing.  All of a sudden one of my most trustworthy shafts is yielding spinny slicey shots on any swing with some effort behind it.  This is very uncharacteristic for this shaft, and if I hit the same heads with similar shafts I do not experience the same thing.

I began to fault the grip.  But it looks and feels brand new, and is solidly attached to the shaft (or so it seems).

Yet it almost feels like there is slippage on impact.  

The adapter is showing some wear on the upper cog.  See the pic below. 

The adapter is not swiveling on the head in its entirety; the epoxy still holds.  Any chance the adapter cog is allowing the head to turn open a bit at impact based on this wear and tear?  Or am I crazy blaming the club/adapter and not my swing?  I don't think I am crazy.  (But then, most loonies don't . . ..)

I plan to pull the adapter and replace it and see if that fixes the problem.  If that doesn't work, I will replace the grip.  If those together don't fix it, only the loon can be to blame.

Nonetheless, I am curious if anyone else has experienced this and was able to identify the adapter as the problem.

P.S.  Yes, I know the cogs are not locked together in the photo, and no, I did not try to attach a head with the adapter in this configuration.

 

 

Edited June 24 by IndyBonzo

[Hoyoymac]

@IndyBonzo Perhaps.

Over the years I’ve either experienced personally or witnessed hosel adapters fail to seat properly, tighten completely or catastrophically fail.

The types of failures that I’ve seen include epoxy failures, adapters breaking, screws breaking, screw or adapter threads getting worn, cross threaded or damaged, adapters with movable cogs like Callaway and Titleist getting worn and/or damaged, and shaft breakage at the adapter. 

I’ve also seen golfers tighten the screw too tight or not tight enough which caused problems.

Occasionally adapters will get dirt or corrosion on them and the head will not seat properly, tighten completely or even get stuck on the adapter after unscrewing the bolt.  This can lead to all kinds of panicked attempts by golfers to rectify the situation often making things worse in the process.

Some adapter screws have o-rings or stop washers on them to help seal and prevent loss of the screw.  They are small and easy to misplace or lose.

More than once I’ve seen people quickly try and make adjustments at the range or on the course and lose or break something rendering their club inoperable.

When in doubt go slow, use the right tools, take things apart in an environment where parts are less likely to be lost, clean everything up and try again.

[IndyBonzo]

Helpful.   Thank you.