WATCH: Talking Quality Control of Iron Hosels
When it comes to OEM quality control, there are a lot of factors that can cause clubs to not preform at their peak. This includes aspects of the club heads that can be seen once fully assembled.
In this video, I discuss the importance of the hosel bore and its effect on performance.
Time to jump into Aaron Rai’s WITB from his win at the 2026 PGA Championship. Aaron is an equipment free agent but pretty much has two brands, TaylorMade and Titleist, in the bag. We get to see clubs and shafts from 2018 up to current products and even some custom stuff!
Driver: TaylorMade M6 (9 degrees)
Shaft: Aldilda Synergy Blue 70 TX
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 8 X
5-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 8 X
Hybrid: Titleist GT2 (24 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White Hybrid 90 TX
Irons: TaylorMade P7TW (5-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold S300
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (46-10F @44, 48-10F @49), SM11 (54-12D), WedgeWorks (60-04L)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S300
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour V
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Alistair Cameron is on site and inside the ropes for the second major of 2026. This week’s episode of ITR features a heavy dose of WITBs (Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed) and custom PGA Championship gear, as well as Cobra Golf’s Ben Schomin talking Rickie Fowler’s driver switch and Odyssey’s Cody Hale.
On a related note, you can check out all our photos from Aronimink here.
Kristoffer Reitan just won his first PGA Tour event at the 2026 Truist Championship. He is a Ping staff member and has a complete set of clubs from the brand. He did make a late driver switch this weekend that helped propel him to victory.
Driver: Ping G440 Max (9 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 60 TX
3-wood: Ping G440 Max (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX
7-wood: Ping G440 Max (21 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Black 85 TX
Irons: Ping Blueprint S (4-9)
Shafts: KBS Tour X
Wedges: Ping S259
46-S
Shaft KBS Tour X
50-S
54-S
58-S
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Ping PLD Custom Ally Blue H (white finish)
Grips: Golf Pride MCC Midsize
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
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Jared
Jun 2, 2018 at 8:51 pm
Hey Ryan how can I contact you? I have a question regarding this video. Thanks.
robert
Jan 8, 2018 at 11:49 am
Hi Ryan, good stuff, I live in Mississauga, where can I contact you Rob
brad
Jan 9, 2018 at 12:28 am
“good stuff” you say? I say inadequate explanations.
This guy dumped his stuff on the WRX site and then cut and ran when the tough questions were asked.
SHANK !!!!!
Ryan Barath
Jan 10, 2018 at 7:22 pm
Hi Brad,
Was there a question I didn’t answer that you have? I would be happy to answer any question.
Cheers
Ryan
Ryan Barath
Jan 10, 2018 at 7:24 pm
Hi Robert,
Do you have twitter or instagram? I would be happy to follow up any question you may have but don’t want to post my email publicly.
Cheers
Jeffrey Halverson
Jan 6, 2018 at 2:38 pm
Do you have an opinion on 718 MB blades and their hosel quality?
Thanks
Ryan Barath
Jan 10, 2018 at 8:21 am
Across the board every OEM does a good job with this part of the process. Titleist is no exception with their 718 series.
Its all about the manufacturing facility and from my understanding, its Endo ( same company that produces Epon ) that do Titleist heads – but I could be wrong on that.
Brad
Jan 6, 2018 at 2:02 pm
When you bend a hosel you only bend the solid portion, not the hollow portion. Why would a misaligned hosel hole affect the stability of the hosel neck when bending?
Brad
Jan 6, 2018 at 2:04 pm
p.s. The only hosel fractures I have seen are in the solid hosel section, never in the hollow section.
Ryan Barath
Jan 10, 2018 at 10:24 pm
When being bent, if the hosel is thinner – as more stress is being placed then the metal will stretch too far and cause it to break.
With cast clubs this usually means it just “snaps” in one quick motion but with forged clubs that are typically made of softer metal its kinda like bending a paper clip too many times and the metal will break.
The dude
Jan 6, 2018 at 1:32 pm
Is that why the tolerances in Mizuno are so tight?…because they forged their hossels sepparately ??
The dude
Jan 6, 2018 at 1:30 pm
Good stuff!,
Steve
Jan 4, 2018 at 3:51 pm
Is it common for the hosel to be of “inferior” quality or is this a rare occurrence?
Ryan Barath
Jan 4, 2018 at 7:55 pm
This is more common place than you would think. Not so much as far as major OEM’s go but there are a few companies that have certain lines of products that can have a bad one every once and a while.
Usually it is only ever found out once a club is being bent and it snaps. Then its very easy to spot because the bore is drilled lop-sided.
Brad
Jan 6, 2018 at 1:55 pm
IOW it doesn’t matter if the bore is not symmetrical with the hosel outer diameter, as long as you don’t bend it.
And bending is only safe on forged clubs and double annealed cast clubs like Ping. Don’t try to bend el cheapo cast iron clubs because they are brittle at the hosel.
The dude
Jan 7, 2018 at 12:41 pm
What separates Mizuno from other forge??
Sean
Jan 4, 2018 at 12:19 pm
Just want to make sure I understand what you are demonstrating, are you measuring the inside or outside part of the hosel? Thanks? Keep up the great work
Ryan Barath
Jan 4, 2018 at 7:56 pm
I am measuring the wall of the hosel all the way around the outside. The thickness of the walls should be the same all the way around.
Thanks for the question.
Brad
Jan 6, 2018 at 1:59 pm
Are forged club hosels drilled out because you can’t forge a hole into a small hosel? A hosel hole can be accurately cast.
How does a hosel hole get misaligned within the hosel?
Ryan Barath
Jan 10, 2018 at 8:17 am
Good Question. Hosels get misaligned from bad drilling and machine work.
The one exception would be Muira that manufacture and machine the hosels separate then weld it to the rest of the already forged head.
rex235
Jan 4, 2018 at 10:54 am
Your video features a set of Mizuno MP-18 irons.
Mizuno MP-18 blade irons are RH Only.
Skip
Jan 4, 2018 at 1:10 pm
What’s your point?