Drivers with adjustable lofts well maybe not
From Wishon etech:
TWGT Technical Report on Adjustable Hosel Drivers Coming Soon
Many companies in the golf equipment industry are offering drivers with an adjustable hosel device. For all these drivers, the companies’ claim is that the drivers can be adjusted to a wide range of loft, face angle and lie fitting needs for golfers.
But can they really meet the different loft, lie and face angle fitting needs of golfers? Or are conventional drivers that are selected and bought with the actual loft, lie and face angle specs established in the design of the head better for fitting golfers?
Based on our depth of knowledge of adjustable hosel devices, Wishon Golf is skeptical of the claims the companies are making about the specifications of the adjustable hosel drivers or woods. Our knowledge of adjustable hosel devices comes from the fact that TWGT’s founder, Tom Wishon, created the first set of woods offered with an adjustable hosel device in 1995, 16 years before any other company introduced their models.
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The AHT woods (AHT = Adjustable Hosel Technology) that Wishon designed for Golfsmith are seen in the above photo of the page in the 1995 Golfsmith catalog. By making an aluminum sleeve with the bore of the sleeve angled off center, rotation of the shaft within the sleeve allowed the angle of the shaft into the hosel to be changed to alter the lie and/or the face angle of the AHT woods.
While Wishon’s early adjustable hosel device required an epoxy attachment into the hosel, the principle of the modern adjustable hosel device is precisely the same as done with the original AHT woods in 1995. By changing the angle of the shaft into the hosel you slightly change the lie and the face angle.
Every one of the adjustable hosel devices work on the same basic principle – by rotating the shaft inside the device within the hosel, the angle of the shaft into the head is changed. This principle goes all the way back to the days of wooden woods. All wooden woods were made from raw wood turnings which had a large neck diameter of ¾” to 1”. With such a large neck diameter, this allowed the woodmakers to vary the angle of the shaft bore that they drilled into the neck – and from that, to be able to change the LIE and the FACE ANGLE of the head.
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Wooden head makers knew they could not change the LOFT by changing the angle of the shaft into the head. On wooden woods, the loft has always had to be changed by machining or filing the face to the desired loft.
All of the adjustable hosel devices work in the same way that the old wooden head makers would custom bore their heads to achieve a different lie or face angle – by changing the angle of the shaft into the head. Just as was the case with the original bored wooden heads, it is not possible to change the loft of a driver or wood by changing the angle of the shaft into the hosel. The lie angle can be changed. The face angle can be changed. Both the lie and face angle together can be changed. But it is not possible to change the loft of a driver or wood by changing the angle of the shaft into the head.
Virtually every golf company offering an adjustable hosel driver claims that their hosel device allows the loft to be changed. Some companies are so sure of their claim for loft changes that they only offer one driver model which they say can cover each loft from 8 to 12 degrees. Yet other companies are still offering multiple lofts in their adjustable hosel drivers. Doesn’t that fact alone make this matter sound a little misleading?
We’ve obtained a few of these modern adjustable hosel drivers and we are currently in the process of taking the most precise measurements for loft, lie and face angle that we can for each hosel adjustment position. When we finish, we will publish our findings, along with photographs to prove that our manner of loft, lie and face angle measurement is correct and precise so there can be no doubt of the accuracy or precision of the measurements.
Wishon Golf feels a strong sense of responsibility to professional custom Clubfitting. Adjustable hosel drivers do NOT represent professional Clubfitting. We hope when we finish this report, clubmakers will then be able to prove to their golfers that they are far better off being fit from scratch with clubheads, shafts, grips all ACCURATELY assembled to each one of the golfer’s best Clubfitting specifications.
Watch for our report on adjustable hosel drivers coming soon.