Universal shaft and head connector

1. A golf club connector for releasably securing a shaft and a head having a hosel with a bore, comprising:

a shaft adapter having a shaft bore sized to receive the shaft, a first threaded coupling member, and an axial shaft;

a hosel adapter having a hosel bore and a main body portion, the hosel bore sized to receive the axial shaft;

a compression nut having a second coupling member; and

wherein the shaft is secured within the shaft bore and the main body portion is secured within the bore of the hosel using an adhesive, the axial shaft is inserted within the hosel bore, and the compression nut is rotated to couple the first and second coupling members together thereby securing the shaft and head together without the shaft being received within the bore of the hosel.

2. The golf club connector of claim 1 , wherein the compression nut is freely rotatable relative to the shaft and the hosel, the compression nut drawing the shaft adapter and the hosel adapter together during rotation of the compression member in one direction, and wherein the axial shaft and the hosel bore of the respective adapters having an anti-rotation interface comprising at least one of mating flats or a non-circular mating interface.

3. The golf club connector of claim 2 , wherein the hosel adapter includes a an annular flange extending radially outward from the main body portion, with the main body portion extending from the flange into the bore of the hosel, and wherein the compression nut includes a threaded sleeve portion and an annular flange extending radially inward from the sleeve portion, the annular flange of the compression nut sandwiched and trapped between the annular flange of the hosel adapter and the hosel of the head.

4. The golf club connector of claim 3 , wherein the shaft adapter includes a shaft sleeve portion receiving the shaft and an intermediate portion between the axial shaft and the shaft sleeve portion, the intermediate portion having the first threaded coupling member with external threading for mating with the second coupling member with internal threading of the compression nut.

5. The golf club connector of claim 4 , wherein an end of the intermediate portion defines an annular abutment adapted to axially abut the annular flange of the hosel adapter.

6. The golf club connector of claim 5 , wherein the intermediate portion is of reduced diameter relative to an end of the shaft sleeve portion to provide an annular abutment step therebetween, the shaft sleeve portion being generally frustoconical.

7. The golf club connector of claim 6 , wherein the shaft bore defines a diameter for receiving the shaft of between 0.3 and 0.45 of an inch, and wherein the main body portion also defines a diameter for insertion into the hosel of between 0.3 and 0.45 of an inch.

8. The golf club connector of claim 1 , wherein the hosel adapter includes an annular flange extending radially outward from the main body portion, with the main body portion extending from the flange into the bore of the hosel.

9. The golf club connector of claim 1 , wherein the shaft adapter includes a shaft sleeve portion receiving the shaft and an intermediate portion between the axial shaft and the shaft sleeve portion, the intermediate portion having the first threaded coupling member with external threading for mating with the second coupling member with internal threading of the compression nut, wherein an end of the intermediate portion defines an annular abutment about the axial shaft, the annular abutment adapted to axially abut the hosel adapter.

10. The golf club connector of claim 1 , wherein the compression nut has threading threadingly engaging corresponding threading on the shaft adapter.

11. A connector in combination with a golf club shaft and a golf club head, comprising:

first and second adapters, one of adapters mounted to a golf club shaft and the other one of the adapters mounted to a golf club head, the first adapter having first threading;

a slide interface between the first and the second adapters; and

a compression member freely rotatable relative to the first and second adapters, the compression member having a second threading engaging with the first threading, wherein rotation of the compression member adapted to translate the first and second adapters along the slide interface wherein the compression member has a sleeve portion that is internally threaded to provide the first threading and a radially inward flange that is axially trapped by one of the adapters to the golf club head within an annular groove formed between one of the adapters and the golf club head, the compression member being located on the outside of the hosel of the golf club head, and wherein a terminating end of the golf club shaft is received in one of the adapters in axial spaced relation to a termination annular end of the hosel of the golf club head, whereby no portion of the club shaft is received in the hosel of the golf club head.

12. The connector of claim 11 , wherein the slide interface includes an anti-rotation interface preventing relative rotation between the adapters, wherein rotation of the compression member linearly translates the first and second adapters without rotation of the first and second adapters.

13. The connector of claim 12 , wherein the adapter for the golf club shaft includes an axially extending shaft received within a bore of the adapter for the golf club head, the anti-rotation slide interface being defined by the axially extending shaft and the bore of the adapter for the golf club head.

14. The connector of claim 11 , wherein the adapters are respectively permanently secured to the golf club head and the golf club shaft with epoxy.