Submitted by:
John Huheey
Lebanon, TN.

Q:   When changing loft or lie angles on a cast club head, should you heat the hosel before attempting to bend and can you do loft and lie adjustments without a shaft installed?

A:   It is not recommended to use heat on hosels for bending angles. Cast golf clubs are bendable if they have been heat treated properly.

To produce more malleability, the hosel has to be heated to a red-hot condition. Of course that breaks down the shaft epoxy and requires re-setting the shaft with new epoxy. Heating the hosel red-hot is a form of heat treatment and if the head is cooled by quenching it in water, the hosel will become more brittle and subject to breaking when bending is attempted.

If you attempt to bend a club and the hosel does not move, then it is recommended to accept the fact that particular club is not bendable. This is most likely due to improper heat treatment.

You need to be aware that it takes a professional grade bending system to bend cast clubs. The head must be securely clamped so as not to slip during the bending process and the machine should be anchored in concrete so the machine does not move while bending. Satisfying these two conditions guarantees maximum bending capability with less effort.

You can bend an un-shafted club head, but it is recommended to insert a shaft or a rod into the hosel so the hosel is not elongated during the bending process.