David M. Boje Ph.D.
August 30, 2001
First we explore the hosel, as it applies to golf, then we explore it as it applies to Nike public relations (PR), as a way to keep Tiger Woods and the consuming public from touching the women's stories of their sweatshop work.
Define Hosel - Hosel is the the socket (or neck) in the head of a golf club into which the shaft is inserted. Hosel is the cylindrical portion of a club head into which the shaft is not only inserted, but cemented. The etymology of "hosel" is a diminutive of the word "hose" (The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000). If we look at the map of the Golf Club (or Iron) we can deconstruct the male, from the female terms. Grip and shaft (obviously male terms. Head, toe, neck, and face (could be male or female: depends upon sexual preference).
HOSEL, NIKE, and TIGER WOODS - In the case of Nike, most workers are female, and the last thing Nike wants is for a moaning and groaning (murmuring) female worker to come into contact with their star sports celebrity, Mr. Tiger Woods. Nike hosels are, in this example, the Nike-prophylactic that keeps the Tiger Woods-shaft from actually coming into physical contact with the head of the female worker (also her face, toe, & neck). The hosel is the prophylactic-socket in the (feminine) head of a golf club into which the male shaft is inserted. Is is the hosel that is the prophylactic guard preventing Tiger Woods, grip on his Nike shaft from actually being touched by the MURMURING vibration of the Asian female worker's body, as her neck, toe, face and head strike the ball. The hosel is the prophylactic PR machine, the device that guards Tiger Woods from the voice of the women workers of nike. The PR device geeks her murmurs from reaching direct contact through the shaft and grip, through the hands, and body of Tiger Woods, into his consciousness. It is the hosel of Nike PR that keeps Tiger Woods from hearing the murmur of 720,000 women working away in 730 Nike sweatshops around the planet.
In the following photo we see how Nike PR Hosel, was able to keep Tiger Woods (his grip and shaft) at a safe distance from the murmurs and protestations of Thailand female workers.
EXAMPLE: In this photo, the hosel of Nike PR staff members (just behind the cameramen, who refuse to turn around) surrounds Tiger Woods and safely escorts Tiger away from the cameras of the media (thereby thwarting the women's attempt to be photographed with Tiger. Nike, of course, does not want Tiger Woods to awaken form his sleep walking, and become aware of the protest in the hotel he is staying in. Better to keep Tiger suspended in deep illusion.
The purpose of the hosel is to reduce any uncertainty over sweatshop labor conditions, for Tiger Woods and his adoring fans. If you follow the line of connection from the grip through the shaft, the hosel is a protective barrier, so that the third world voice can never be felt directly by the first world shaft-holders. It is the hosel that provides you with safe golf, and deludes and confuses people since the worker never meets the customer (the hosel is the intermediary).
We wonder if the customer craves the distance, and disinformation that the hosel provides, in the form of junk advertising, and the expensively crafted monitoring reports (these add more disinformation). This idea is captured in Perelman's (1998) book:
When advertisers exercise their considerable sway in the media, they degrade our access to important information (Perelman, 1998: 17).
By placing the hosel in the rear center of the head, and directly behind the Sweet Spot on the head, on the face of the club --> it is said that 'pulling or pushing' is all but eliminated in the swing, and the stroke of the golfer can be more powerful and masterful.
Hosel Media - The media, however has become part of the prophylactic hosel, building its report out of press releases. Bout more than this, media is owned. Perelman reports that while there were 130,000 reporters in the U.S., there are over 150,000 public relations practitioners (Perelman, 1998: 17). But, who can tell the difference between them? 38% of journalist get at least half their story from the corporate PR people. Remember the Olympics when CBS news had to wear the Swoosh-adorned jackets? Or, how Roberta Baskins, who produced that 48 hours coverage of the physical abuse in Nike sneaker factories, could not do a follow up story, while Nike had a contract with the newsroom? The hosel is an invisible ruling power, a secret panoptic control over the decisions about what gets covered and uncovered. As a PR device, the hosel, produces certain corporate-approved disinformation. Our attention is distracted from the voice of the face and any feeling for the toe, by the media spectacle of warmed over PR stories.
Hosel Weighting- Hosels can also be weighted on their tip, and inserted into her abyss, to add some power to the stroke, and distance from the swing as the face strikes the ball. This is a trick many golfers use. A lot of folks have asked what it is and the story behind hosel weighting, so here goes.
Back in 1993, what was then known as ProGroup (The Arnold Palmer Golf Company) contracted with a guy by the name of Clay Long to come up with a new product. Clay had worked with MacGregor Golf and was "top notch" when it came to club design. He dreamed up the idea of moving more weight to the hosel to reduce gear effect and increase perimeter weighting (Source: Peerless History).
Did you know that Hosel Weighting as well as locating the hosel just behind her sweet spot, can add yards to your game.
Chamfering - Hosels are in need of constant repair due to shaft-cracking. If they crack you have to order a new shaft. There are also problems with burrs on new or reconditioned hosel. Chamfering, is a technique to remove an inner sharp edge or a burr on a hosel (especially sensitive for graphite shafts). You must countersink and debur the hosel (unless the manufacturer has done this, but be sure). There are rounds and burrs on the inside edge of a tight socket, inserted into her abyss. The burr or sharp edge, if removed can reduce stress on the most vulnerable point of your shaft (where it enters the hosel). Finally, use a reamer to remove the last pieces around the bottom of the hosel that the drill bit cannot get. Use some sand paper (around a pencil), then clean all the dust from inside her hosel with solvent on clean towel.
Notch
Hosel connections and entry angles affect the ball drawing, fading, or going straight. Hosels must be precisely calibrated for loft and lie. Hosel entry angle is either a Typical or Flat Top Hosel, and the Notched Hosel, result in your getting the right connection. Hosel angle of entry also reduces shaft stress, for improved feel and greater longevity of your shaft. For that smooth transition between the hosel and clubhead, it must be precisely calibrated for each golfer's loft and lie (that goes without saying).
Other Types of Hosels - Hosels must accommodate all kinds of shaft tips. There are also plumber-neck hosels, cone hosels, and over-sweep hosels. And this is quite important, since hosels can be draw-enhancing, or result in your hooking the ball. A golfer can benefit from a fade-enhancing hosel. The Flat Top Hosel increases the cross-sectional area of the shaft that is in contact with the hosel where the shaft enters the clubhead. This design reduces shaft stress for improved feel.
The many types of hosels have the same net-effect. The hosel keeps indigenous knowledge from transferring up the shaft to the grip of the shaft, where consumers might feel the murmurs and vibrations of female resistance. The hosel prevents indigenous knowledge from resolving the uncertainty of the market economy about who make our clothing and under what conditions?
Crooked and Leaning Shafts - This is a special problem - If the shaft is too loose to fit inside the hosel, this creates what is called a “leaner”. The shaft will be crooked in the hosel and have a shear point where it leans against the countersink or the top edge of the hosel.
Length Does Matter - Shorter hosel in the 1 through 7 irons lowers the weight and shaft kick for playability. Longer hosel in the 8 iron through pitching wedge moves weight and shaft kick up for trajectory control.
Shaft Taper - A slightly tapered hosel reduces the appearance of offset. The offset exists mechanically to improve playability, but not optically. Appearance is important to both Tiger Woods, and Nike, a transnational corporate image machine.
Tiger Woods is a fetish distraction from the growing number of consumers and producers who are actively resisting the corporate hosel. Our body can not feel the pain of the face and toe and neck as it strikes our (golf) balls.
SWOOSH SOUND Test for Hosel and Shaft Calibration -Turn your club upside down so you are holding it on the hosel (between the clubface and the shaft)... Hearing the sound at and beyond the impact area means you are accelerating through the ball and achieving maximum clubhead speed where you want it. If you hear the "Swoosh" sound before that, you are releasing the club too soon, and probably swing with your hands rather than your body at the beginning of your downswing. If you don't hear any "Swoosh" sound during your swing, you need to swing faster and accelerate through the impact area (Source: Wellesley College).
Until widespread public protest caused minimal corporate reform, many workers in the athletic apparel and sports equipment industry were young females (and in soccer ball industries, young boys). After the public outcry of the mid-1990s Nike raised its age of workers to 16 and Reebok to 14. The real cost savings was not from lower wages, but the feeble resistance that young workers from peasant villages offer their overseers.
Hosel and Corporate Control - Hosel is a means of corporate control over us, by keeping celebrities (we hope) from awareness of the stories and voices of female workers, and their life in sweatshops. The media, PR staff, and the expensive corporate industry now doing the bulk of the monitoring of sweatshops, serves to erect a hosel, a device to keep the women's stories secret, and replace them with disinformation stories that will allow the game to keep being played. Workers understand the value to Nike, Tiger Woods, and consumers of keeping their work-stories corporate secrets.
As you know, when a woman turns 23, she will be fired from the 730 Nike partner factories. The stories she is accumulating of sweatshop work may leak out to the public. Best to hire some younger female, from a village farther away from the city folk. Nike and the subcontractors tell us the reason is to hire cheaper workers; the older ones always barter for more money. You would think that skilled workers are more valuable, but the factories are designed for the unskilled younger women. They do not resist managerial control.
Nike invest three quarter billion dollars in the hosel of celebrity endorsements, advertising campaigns, PR consultants, and monitoring reports --- rather than just paying a living wage, stopping the age discrimination, and giving the women the right to organize and express themselves.
There is the claim that the hosel also is a prophylactic device that prevents even Phil Knight from knowing about the quality of work life in 730 sweatshops. Yet, is this believable? Nike (and Phil) seem to know and monitor the smallest detail of the production process (the seconds each sown stitch of a garment or shoe will take), but claims to know nothing at all about the human condition of its global workforce?
Strategic Initiative - Nike has gained control over the women's stories of the labor practice. This is strategic and valuable information, that could change the face of the industry. But, with the hosel, that knowledge is not going to be too strategic. Possession of the knowledge of sweatshop life by the women workers, is not the same thing as communicating it past the barrier of the hosel. Firing the women after they are 23, helps to deskill the work force, to make their job knowledge less strategic. You know that women in Nike partner factories are not allowed to talk to each other, and are severely fined and punished for talking. This is part of the strategic initiative of the Nike Corporation and its hosel, public image to consumers, regulators, and investors.
Women use their bodies and voices to control their workplace. The hosel prevents them from having much control at all. To change this industry, get rid of the hosel. Fire the PR staff, drop the celebrity endorsements, and decentralize the media that is controlled by seven major transnational corporations, and is seemingly unable to report women workers' stories with any consistency. The media, as well as academia, seems unable to penetrate the hosel, it is an effective veil of secrecy.
References
Boje, D. M. (2001) Annotated bibliography of 101 academic pieces critical of the athletic apparel industry labor process, and four that are apologetic. http://business.nmsu.edu/~dboje/AA/academicsstudyingwriting.htm
Perelman, Michael (1998). Class warfare in the Information Age. NY St. Martin's Press.