101: Bonded Hosel Vs Adjustable, what’s the difference?

I get this question a lot. It seems like 100 years ago when EVERYTHING was bonded. As the game has changed and with the introduction of the Opti-fit adjustable fitting system, our TOUR reps can dial in a player faster and with more precision than ever before.

However, bonded hosels are still something used by Callaway at Retail and with our players on TOUR. Actually, MOST of the heads we get on TOUR are bonded. The Callaway Tour Truck has a proprietary air compression bending machine that utilizes unique molds for fairways and hybrids to adjust loft and lie. It’s actually pretty old school VS what the norm might look like. I’d compare the practice to spinning the dial on a house phone rather than telling Suri to call Dominos. Make sense?

As a TOUR-only component, we still offer adjustable fairway woods for our staff when needed. Why? For a few of our staffers (and non) it’s typically to combat a left miss.

Adjustable hosels by nature have more weight out towards the shaft which could encourage a hair more right to left bias. “I just don’t want it to go left” is a common quote on TOUR but it’s not the battle cry of all the players. Some TOUR players like to see a bit of the face at address and with a 3-wood they want something they can easily turn over…especially for #10 and #13 at Augusta:) Take Sam Burns, for example, he primarily fades everything with the driver but in the 4-wood he not only has a bit more loft but also has more weight VIA the adjustable hosel to have one club in his bag he can draw on command. Do you see how every club has a job?

Bonded Hosel:

Benefits: Fade biased with less weight towards the heel, ability to bend VERY flat or upright (past what the adjustable will offer), more head stability (traditionally), cleaner look at address, weight distribution flexibility with the bonded hosel saving 5+ grams of discretionary weight.

Adjustable:

Benefits: Easier to turn over, quick to adjust on the fly, younger players who grew up playing with an adjustable hosel are used to the CG placement and look.

So why does Callaway offer only bonded at retail? Easy. Performance. The bonded hosel allows us to use the weight in other places in the head to increase MOI, Speed, Spin up or down, etc. We combat the lack of adjustability by offering more loft options (3+/14, 3/15, 4/16.5, 5/18, 7/21, 9/23, 11/25) than any other OEM. It’s a buffet of options to satisfy anyone from our Tour players to you and me.

JDub