B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe
Flight Crew Landed As Precaution; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport
Aircraft
On climb out; the First Officer (who was flying) said the yoke roll feel was unusual in bank (roll) of over 10 degrees.  He gave me the aircraft and I concurred.  The control force was more than usual and so we contacted Dispatch who patched us through to [Maintenance].  Phone problems delayed a resolution.  We were flying over an area that had gusty crosswinds due to the remnants of hurricane Patricia so we decided the best course of action was to return to EWR in case something else went wrong and we would have to drop into one of these airports underneath us. The QRH did not have a checklist for this but we checked.  We also referenced the FOM for the divert. The aircraft also had two deferrals due to speed brakes and we did not know if this was contributing to this or not.  [Maintenance] did not think so. Once the flaps extended for landing; the problem went away.  It also did not duplicate on the ground for a flight control check.  It only happened in flight with the flaps up. We also did not feel [an emergency was warranted] since the flight controls were working; but just felt different. Everything was uneventful once the flaps were extended for landing. We then changed planes and continued to [our destination].
B737 Captain reported they returned to departure airport because of 'unusual' control feel in roll.