I bought a TSR head last week after being away from Titleist drivers for about 1 1/2 years. While prepping to put a shaft or two into the adapters I have collected I noticed that I've got two aftermarket adaptors and what appears to be two OEM adaptors. One of the adapters that I believe to be OEM has a metal ring around the tip of the shaft near threads. The TSR head won't slide over this ring so I removed it and voila the head slides over the adapter. I assume that this ring is to prevent the adjusting cog from sliding off. The other adapter that I believe is OEM may have been the very first Titleist adaptor I purchased several year ago.

Images from the 'net suggest that OEM adapters have the metal ring but I guess my question is...is the metal ring around the tip a change from the original OEM design, like the second adapter that I believe to be OEM but doesn't have a ring?