The Most Unpretentious Golf Ball Ever

[oldschoolrocker]

I am missing the 7 iron to my Ping ISI Nickel set!!!! Is this a conspiracy?

[yaquigrande]

I am missing the 7 iron to my mac Gregor step sole mts. 4 years looking. Lol

[Kathy Marie]

Esteemed Classics Peeps, :)

 

No, it's not a conspiracy. I 'spec y'all have been playing golf so long, you don't remember what it's like to be A Beginner.

 

Beginners are started on 7 irons. And IMO, these 7 irons get pounded into the ground, broken, bent, thrown or otherwise vaporized immediately before Said Beginner screams, "I QUIT!!!!!!!!!"

 

I mean, do you think this set bag

 

 

 

 

 

lacks it's matching clubs by accident?

 

OK OK, maybe they're inside the bin, I'll grant you that.

 

 

But I'd put money on it: if the clubs *are* inside, The 7 Iron Is Missing...

 

 

:wave:

 

 

KM

[yaquigrande]

You would think there would be more 7 irons for the vintage sets. Many starter sets were sold in 3,5,7,9 etc. I say the workers at goodwill,play it again have us on camera scrounging the whole store laughing at us while they have it in the back. Or I like the club troll theory at night. Lol

[yaquigrande]

I am missing the 7 iron to my Ping ISI Nickel set!!!! Is this a conspiracy?

oldschool, message me your info. You will have to find a shaft for it but I have a isi nickel 7 iron you can have. It's yours. I might even have a shaft but I have to look. My isi set was mixed. A couple isi k lon irons and a mix between the stainless and nickel ones. I kind of pieced it together. I would rather that 7 iron be with its brothers and sisters. Lol. Maybe it will break the 7 iron curse doing a good deed.

[oldschoolrocker]

A big shout out to Jesse. Just goes to prove this section is the best part of this crazy inter web.

 

 

[yaquigrande]

A big shout out to Jesse. Just goes to prove this section is the best part of this crazy inter web.

Thanks Oldchooolrocker! I will post pictures of those heads tonight and send them your way. I just need to see of I have any shafts to help you out with but I know for sure I have the nickel 1iron, 7, and sw you can have. Yes I agree this forum is awesome!! Rex235 just sent me an amazing 2 iron to go with my beloved 66 hagen set and a hagen wood. Got to love the willingness to help others get their vintage sets compete or started. thanks all.

[yaquigrande]

Oldschool, here are the pics of the isi nickel heads I found for you. 1,7, sw. Also a 2 iron but it's stainless isi-k. Coming your way. Excuse the bright chartreuse yellow color I painted on the dots. Will look for shafts tomorrow in storage. Notice the difference in color of the stainless 2 iron versus the others. The nickels have a neat tint or shade to the metal.

[oldschoolrocker]

BZ Yaq.

[BIG STU]

A few posts back you guys were talking about Rock Flites. Do you remember the Magna balls from Spalding? Man when those came out they had 2 ball sample packs we gave out at a course I was working at the time. Now this being a daily fee muni type course the hacks hit those darn things everywhere and we would find them. We even found them maybe one in a pack left in the carts. Either the customer was drunk and forgot he left in in there or said this ball is terrible. Those balls were oversize but legal. Now at that time I was still hitting persimmon (did so until after the turn of the century) but a couple of the kids that were the cart boys had those new fangled King Cobra drivers with graphite shafts which were the thing at the time. We were messing around on the course one day and I found one. One of the kids (they were twins) told me hit it. I told him not on your life with my persimmon Penna Custom. He told me here hit my Cobra. Now in those days I had a tendency to hit a bad rope hook and was hitting a steel X-100 in the Penna. I hit his light weight graphite shafted metal Cobra and hit that ball not quite a left lateral but bad. I knew this would probably happen and had aimed well right. It hit in the fairway and took off running like a rabbit on steroids kicking left side spinning all the way. That big hard ball along with that driver and side spin ran and I am not kidding probably 150 yards until it hit the woods. We doubled over laughing. I mean it hit in the middle of a 100 yard wide fairway and jumped at least 50 yards sideways and still ran until it hit something in the woods. Never ever hit one of those again. In those days I still played the Maxfli HT-100 Balata which was the hot pro line balata ball at the time and IMHO the greatest golf ball made ever!!

[yaquigrande]

A few posts back you guys were talking about Rock Flites. Do you remember the Magna balls from Spalding? Man when those came out they had 2 ball sample packs we gave out at a course I was working at the time. Now this being a daily fee muni type course the hacks hit those darn things everywhere and we would find them. We even found them maybe one in a pack left in the carts. Either the customer was drunk and forgot he left in in there or said this ball is terrible. Those balls were oversize but legal. Now at that time I was still hitting persimmon (did so until after the turn of the century) but a couple of the kids that were the cart boys had those new fangled King Cobra drivers with graphite shafts which were the thing at the time. We were messing around on the course one day and I found one. One of the kids (they were twins) told me hit it. I told him not on your life with my persimmon Penna Custom. He told me here hit my Cobra. Now in those days I had a tendency to hit a bad rope hook and was hitting a steel X-100 in the Penna. I hit his light weight graphite shafted metal Cobra and hit that ball not quite a left lateral but bad. I knew this would probably happen and had aimed well right. It hit in the fairway and took off running like a rabbit on steroids kicking left side spinning all the way. That big hard ball along with that driver and side spin ran and I am not kidding probably 150 yards until it hit the woods. We doubled over laughing. I mean it hit in the middle of a 100 yard wide fairway and jumped at least 50 yards sideways and still ran until it hit something in the woods. Never ever hit one of those again. In those days I still played the Maxfli HT-100 Balata which was the hot pro line balata ball at the time and IMHO the greatest golf ball made ever!!

I almost pissed my pants reading this post. That was awesome. I Do remember those balls and they were truly horrific. Thanks for sharing that story. For some reason I thought the magna were top flites. Lol

[rex235]

A few posts back you guys were talking about Rock Flites. Do you remember the Magna balls from Spalding? Man when those came out they had 2 ball sample packs we gave out at a course I was working at the time. Now this being a daily fee muni type course the hacks hit those darn things everywhere and we would find them. We even found them maybe one in a pack left in the carts. Either the customer was drunk and forgot he left in in there or said this ball is terrible. Those balls were oversize but legal. Now at that time I was still hitting persimmon (did so until after the turn of the century) but a couple of the kids that were the cart boys had those new fangled King Cobra drivers with graphite shafts which were the thing at the time. We were messing around on the course one day and I found one. One of the kids (they were twins) told me hit it. I told him not on your life with my persimmon Penna Custom. He told me here hit my Cobra. Now in those days I had a tendency to hit a bad rope hook and was hitting a steel X-100 in the Penna. I hit his light weight graphite shafted metal Cobra and hit that ball not quite a left lateral but bad. I knew this would probably happen and had aimed well right. It hit in the fairway and took off running like a rabbit on steroids kicking left side spinning all the way. That big hard ball along with that driver and side spin ran and I am not kidding probably 150 yards until it hit the woods. We doubled over laughing. I mean it hit in the middle of a 100 yard wide fairway and jumped at least 50 yards sideways and still ran until it hit something in the woods. Never ever hit one of those again. In those days I still played the Maxfli HT-100 Balata which was the hot pro line balata ball at the time and IMHO the greatest golf ball made ever!!

 

Stu-

 

The Maxfli HT Balata won the Grand Slam in 1988, with Masters (Lyle) US Open (Strange) British Open (Ballesteros) and PGA (Sluman).

 

Yes, it was a very good ball that year.

[8bitpowerfade]

I'm all about bringing back some of these defunct brands, at least in spirit. Spalding obviously is one that I like that died that most people shun today, associate with crap, which isn't entirely true, hence it would be extra fun to resurrect. I realize Dick's owns and markets Maxfli balls, which were originally introduced in 1920s and I remember playing them as a kid back in the late 80s and early 90s along with Rock Flites and sometimes the fancy lad tour balata Slazengers, but I think the Dick's version is a decent, modern take on the Maxfli name, especially if you can find a box on sale (U/6 tour for $30 or less, U/3 for $15). I'd love to destroy some other player on the course using Maxfli balls and vintage equipment. I bought a box of Maxfli U/6 balls recently on sale as mentioned. I like the idea of playing with something just a little different (albeit cheaper) than what the masses are using, and would hope, thought it may not be 100% preventative, that it might just keep a Titleist hacker going the other way from poaching your ball. Not likely, of course (those folks pick up/hit anything, right?), but a nice thought anyway...

[yaquigrande]

Oh those slazenger balatas! I had never hit a ball so sweet. When I would find those as a kid I would save the for tournaments only. The Bridgestone balls were amazing too. Love your post.

[8bitpowerfade]

I always liked that black cat silhouette. Yep, tournaments only, you got it! They were like $15 a pack like the Titleist tour balatas. I thought they were cooler looking, a little different and edgy for a while for sure.

[BIG STU]

Oh those slazenger balatas! I had never hit a ball so sweet. When I would find those as a kid I would save the for tournaments only. The Bridgestone balls were amazing too. Love your post.

Heck I can remember when they came in the smaller ball or "English Size" as we called them. My old man had a connection somewhere with someone over the big pond and we got all kinds of small balls shipped to us. Spalding Dots,Penfolds, Titleist and Dunlop 65s. I still have some Penfold small balls and a brand new Dunlop 65 still wrapped in that black wrapper

[yaquigrande]

Oh those slazenger balatas! I had never hit a ball so sweet. When I would find those as a kid I would save the for tournaments only. The Bridgestone balls were amazing too. Love your post.

Heck I can remember when they came in the smaller ball or "English Size" as we called them. My old man had a connection somewhere with someone over the big pond and we got all kinds of small balls shipped to us. Spalding Dots,Penfolds, Titleist and Dunlop 65s. I still have some Penfold small balls and a brand new Dunlop 65 still wrapped in that black wrapper

Hey Big Stu, how did the smaller balls perform compared to the rest? was there any benefits to them like more distance, easier to sink putts? anything you noticed?

[BIG STU]

Oh those slazenger balatas! I had never hit a ball so sweet. When I would find those as a kid I would save the for tournaments only. The Bridgestone balls were amazing too. Love your post.

Heck I can remember when they came in the smaller ball or "English Size" as we called them. My old man had a connection somewhere with someone over the big pond and we got all kinds of small balls shipped to us. Spalding Dots,Penfolds, Titleist and Dunlop 65s. I still have some Penfold small balls and a brand new Dunlop 65 still wrapped in that black wrapper

Hey Big Stu, how did the smaller balls perform compared to the rest? was there any benefits to them like more distance, easier to sink putts? anything you noticed?

They would go like stink in the summer time on those old hard sun baked Carolina fairways. Now they were hard to stop on those old hard greens too! As far as putting for me what little I played them I do not remember any difficulty. I did not play them that much because the old man basically prohibited me from doing such since they were not legal in the USA for regulation play. If those gamblers were not playing the ball down they would hit one of them off the tee and switch out to a regular ball for the approach shot into a green. If they played the ball strictly down they played a regular sized ball. Now in later years I had a friend from Morocco who grew up playing the small ball and when it came to the big ball he was one heck of a ball striker. When he practiced iron shots or woods he took his shag bag full of small balls and hit them. Most of the Dots and Penfolds in my stash came from him over 35 years ago and they are in a Tupperware type container in the bottom of my closet

[stevemcgee99]

I see guys buying Pro v's, especially young fellows who should be saving that money.

 

There's a lot of wisdom in this neck of the internet.

[Wriggles]

A few posts back you guys were talking about Rock Flites. Do you remember the Magna balls from Spalding? Man when those came out they had 2 ball sample packs we gave out at a course I was working at the time. Now this being a daily fee muni type course the hacks hit those darn things everywhere and we would find them. We even found them maybe one in a pack left in the carts. Either the customer was drunk and forgot he left in in there or said this ball is terrible. Those balls were oversize but legal. Now at that time I was still hitting persimmon (did so until after the turn of the century) but a couple of the kids that were the cart boys had those new fangled King Cobra drivers with graphite shafts which were the thing at the time. We were messing around on the course one day and I found one. One of the kids (they were twins) told me hit it. I told him not on your life with my persimmon Penna Custom. He told me here hit my Cobra. Now in those days I had a tendency to hit a bad rope hook and was hitting a steel X-100 in the Penna. I hit his light weight graphite shafted metal Cobra and hit that ball not quite a left lateral but bad. I knew this would probably happen and had aimed well right. It hit in the fairway and took off running like a rabbit on steroids kicking left side spinning all the way. That big hard ball along with that driver and side spin ran and I am not kidding probably 150 yards until it hit the woods. We doubled over laughing. I mean it hit in the middle of a 100 yard wide fairway and jumped at least 50 yards sideways and still ran until it hit something in the woods. Never ever hit one of those again. In those days I still played the Maxfli HT-100 Balata which was the hot pro line balata ball at the time and IMHO the greatest golf ball made ever!!

I almost pissed my pants reading this post. That was awesome. I Do remember those balls and they were truly horrific. Thanks for sharing that story. For some reason I thought the magna were top flites. Lol

 

I believe the Magna's were Top Flite Magnas.

[8602081]

I remember using Intech Limbo.. they were very long, but no spin what so ever..

[8bitpowerfade]

Now I have to ask: what is the hardest rock they ever made? Could Rock Flite be the one or is there something else out there that could turn your persimmon head into a cloud of saw dust?

[Davewn]

Now I have to ask: what is the hardest rock they ever made? Could Rock Flite be the one or is there something else out there that could turn your persimmon head into a cloud of saw dust?

 

I think those Rockflites did as much to kill off wood clubs as Eli Callaway and the Adams brothers combined!

[HatsForBats]

we used to cut open a messed up balata ball and watch the rubber bands go nutso! lol I tried to cut one of these rock flites and I couldn't lol. I ended up chopping it in half with a machete. lol just a solid blue core and a cover nothing else. lol

 

After we unwound the balls we would use the core inside for superball substitutes. I probably still have some balls from the 80's stashed somewhere (Rams, Ultras, Prostaffs, Maxfli Dots etc.). We cleaned out the golf course pond near our homes on multiple occasions. Stinky.

[BIG STU]

we used to cut open a messed up balata ball and watch the rubber bands go nutso! lol I tried to cut one of these rock flites and I couldn't lol. I ended up chopping it in half with a machete. lol just a solid blue core and a cover nothing else. lol

 

After we unwound the balls we would use the core inside for superball substitutes. I probably still have some balls from the 80's stashed somewhere (Rams, Ultras, Prostaffs, Maxfli Dots etc.). We cleaned out the golf course pond near our homes on multiple occasions. Stinky.

What was fun back in the day was take a cut wound balata ball and hit it and listen to it sing as the rubber bands unwound. Just for fun on my old man's course if it was not crowded we would take turns hitting a cut ball and see how many shots we could hit with it until it did it's death dive thing. You could watch it on each shot and you knew when it would be getting near

[yaquigrande]

Ah, dang! I never tried to hit a cut balata ball. Now that would have been interesting.

[8bitpowerfade]

I used to hit balata balls, make them ugly and out of round before I lost them, but I've never cut one open. In this video at about the 8:13 mark they cut one open if you're interested in witnessing, hearing the rubber bands "explode":

 

[HatsForBats]

I used to hit balata balls, make them ugly and out of round before I lost them, but I've never cut one open. In this video at about the 8:13 mark they cut one open if you're interested in witnessing, hearing the rubber bands "explode":

 

 

at about 9:45 is my favorite part..... sheesh. This is why we used a vice grip and hacksaw to cut them open.

[oldschoolrocker]

That's a helluva a way to teach your son about tool safety!!!

[Shallowface]

Now I have to ask: what is the hardest rock they ever made? Could Rock Flite be the one or is there something else out there that could turn your persimmon head into a cloud of saw dust?

 

I think those Rockflites did as much to kill off wood clubs as Eli Callaway and the Adams brothers combined!

 

I remember reading somewhere that the Top Flite was around 110 compression, and the Molitor was a bit harder. Ram actually had a wound Golden Ram surlyn covered ball that they claimed was 110 compression. Most wound balls labelled 100 were said to come in somewhere between 91 and 100, with the range being 81-90 for the 90 compression labels.

 

The worst damage I ever did to a wooden club back in the late 70s wasn't with a Top Flite but with a Titleist DT, a wound ball with a surlyn cover. I've always believed the thick, inflexible covers of that day were the culprit when it came to damage inflicted on wooden clubs, not the overall hardness of the ball.

 

Today they use the word ionomer rather than surlyn to describe the covers, but I think it's basically they same thing. They are much thinner and softer today than they were back then.