Is it easy to break a golf club by hitting the ground before the ball?
I am just starting to golf and was at the driving range today hitting with borrowed clubs. I was using a 1 wood and after the second swing, the club head broke off and went about 40 yards. Is this normal, or did I hit the ground or something? I was scared to hit a driver after that and just stuck with the irons. I’m kind of scared to hit another driver. Is it that easy to break them? Do I just need to be a lot more careful? Thanks.
I would not take any caution. Still swing normal with a driver and everything. Rental clubs are normally old and have not been taken good care of and break easier.
Ive only seen it happen once. My brother was using my driver that my grandpa made for me. he tried to do the HAPPY GILMORE and sent the head flying. I was soooo mad. It had a Big Bertha head but some crappy shaft. Also, my other brother hit the ball into a little pond like 6 times in a row and slammed the head of his club into the ground and yelled “This sand wedge fuckin sucks!!!!!!!!”
In my opinion, your “borrowed” club may have already had a problem. I have played golf for about 42 years and have never had this happen.
During the high school golf season I have between 20-30 golfers hitting a “shag bag” with about 50 balls twice on most days of practice. This past year we had 2 clubs break. The year before we had 4. It’s not normal to break clubs, but it does happen. One of the biggest problems on driving ranges is hitting off the very hard fake grass mats. These mats will bend your shafts if you are hitting the ground while swinging. Without knowing the make and age of the club it’s hard to tell you if the club was bad.
Of the 6 clubs that were broken only 1 of them when the player hit behind the ball and he was using an iron. The rest were drivers and 3 woods. I was watching one of the players who took a normal swing and at impact the head just took off. Don’t worry about the heads coming off – shafts can be replaced if you save the head (and the head is worth fixing). Have fun.
Ted
It was probably old and not taken care… Dont worry it happens 1/10 000 times i recommend if your worried get a stiffer shaft.. it reduces the chance of braking the club
Using a normal golf swing you should not be afraid of breaking a driver when hitting the ground. I have hit the ground prior to hitting the ball many times without damaging the club.
Some of the rental clubs are pretty cheap and could possibly break if improperly hitting the ground during a swing. No overhanded swing down to the ground is a golf swing.
Relax, it was a freaky thing, swing away.
Ordinarily, it is very difficult to break a club of any type. Since you qualified the question by stating ” driving range ” and ” borrowed ” clubs who can really say what the fault may have been. Often times a driver may have a fracture which is not visible. Go about the game properly and use the driver and every other club. If you break another, you may conclude that it could have been your fault.