Any Stan Thompson Fans?

[deejaid]

Being a west coast guy I’ve been interested in learning more about the smaller, west coast builders of golf clubs and lately have set my sights on Stan Thompson woods. From what I’ve learned Stan Thompson came to California after building clubs for a time with Kenneth Smith. While his claim to fame is his “Ginty” laminated wood with a large, zinc sole plate shaped like the hull of a boat, his persimmon woods are some really beautiful clubs.

 

I picked up two sets of Stan Thompson woods recently. The first set looked to be all original set of 1,3,4 woods with a dark brown finish. The second set, a 1,2,3,4 set of blonde persimmon woods, I absolutely fell in love with when I saw them! I guess I’m just a sucker for blondes.

 

 

[scomac2002]

I have a couple of his woods, a Ginty 4W and the original Ginty rescue. They work pretty well, so much so that I was looking for a laminated driver to create a set to play with my BeCu Eye2 clones. Didn't have much luck finding a suitable one.

[TimV]

I have had a set of his persimmons (from the 60's I believe) and although solid I didn't find them at all exceptional.

 

I have a couple of his woods, a Ginty 4W and the original Ginty rescue. They work pretty well, so much so that I was looking for a laminated driver to create a set to play with my BeCu Eye2 clones. Didn't have much luck finding a suitable one.

 

I think his persimmon work was earlier and that by the time he went to laminates he was focusing more on the 'rescue style' but I could well be wrong about that.

I would think pairing your BeCu clones with actual Eye2 laminates would be the ticket as they are not only cheap and plentiful but also very easy to hit for wooden woods. Pair them with a Ginty Rescue and rocket back to the 70's! Ya Baby!!!

[scomac2002]

I have had a set of his persimmons (from the 60's I believe) and although solid I didn't find them at all exceptional.

 

I have a couple of his woods, a Ginty 4W and the original Ginty rescue. They work pretty well, so much so that I was looking for a laminated driver to create a set to play with my BeCu Eye2 clones. Didn't have much luck finding a suitable one.

 

I think his persimmon work was earlier and that by the time he went to laminates he was focusing more on the 'rescue style' but I could well be wrong about that.

I would think pairing your BeCu clones with actual Eye2 laminates would be the ticket as they are not only cheap and plentiful but also very easy to hit for wooden woods. Pair them with a Ginty Rescue and rocket back to the 70's! Ya Baby!!!

 

Way back in the beginning when I was just getting into vintage clubs that was exactly my plan to pick up an Eye 2 driver in red dot to use as a 2W with the Spalding Executive 3&5 I had at the time. I ended up going a different direction when I discovered that I could pick up old BB War birds for $10 a piece.

 

Not sure what the future holds for me at this point, but if I do get back to playing the occasional vintage round, then I might look to pick up an Eye2 driver and 4W to use along side my Ginty rescue. :)

[birly-shirly]

I know it's not the main topic of this thread, but I do have some recent experience with a red dot Eye 2 driver and I thought it was excellent. I was a little worried that the ball flight might be quite high given the loft, but it was just really solid. In a blind test, I don't think I'd have twigged that, as you say, it's effectively a 2 wood. The only difficulty I see is that those Ping soleplates seem to wear pretty fast and it might be hard to be sure of the loft you're buying. I was lucky in that I stumbled onto a fairly pristine set of woods, but I could see the color-coded dot being an early casualty of any sort of serious use. I think the later Zings were coded by the paintfill in the number 1 - and that probably is a bit more longlasting.

[Opinder]

Very beautiful wood persimmon!!

 

 

I've own Sand Wedge Stan Thompson is a fresh!! Its original real leather is fresh!

Stay in home. Some chipping... I feel heavy swing weight D-6

[deejaid]

Well, the blondes are the real deal. I removed the sole plates and face inserts, cleaned and re-epoxied them; gouged out the lead back weight that was falling out and added fresh lead; and finally, sprayed the heads with vintage 1950’s style Nitrocellulose lacquer to seal them.

 

I put the driver and 4-wood in my bag in place of my Macgregor’s and headed to the range for a test run. The 4-wood is absolute money. High trajectory, carrying 210 (net at end of the range) and just easy to hit. The driver I was easily clearing the 30 Ft. high net at the end of the range so it will get them out there no problem.

 

These blonde heads with the maroon inserts are easily the most beautiful set of woods I’ve ever seen. They have that classic 1950’s look to them. Just gorgeous. I still need to put some new grips on them today and hopefully I can get out for at least 9 holes tomorrow.

[deejaid]

Holy smokes! I don’t remember where I got this last roll of grip tape but it is the worst. Grip Master leather grips are already tough to get on, with this tape it was impossible. Ended up using some blue painters tape and saturated the hell out of it and got them on. The old grips were rotted Golf Prides so I cant wait to swing them with some new grips.

[deejaid]

I’m addicted! Just bought two more sets of Stan Thompson woods of eBay!

[James the Hogan Fan]

I do like Stan Thompson equipment; my next restoration project is a Ginty in horrible shape. My mother loves her Ginty 5 wood out of the rough. My Thompson Stainless wedge is my go-to club, and I recently bought the matching sand wedge. Today at Play it Again I found a 15-wood, basically a wooden 9 iron that was too wonky to pass up at $8. It was while googling for more information I found this post. It might be the oddest club I’ve ever seen.

[Scully13]

The Original Ginty Woods are and will always be regarded as classics.

[Richard 77]

I saw a full set of Stan Thompson. Ginty irons, 2 sets of woods an one Ginty utility. Guess I should have bought them. Was back a few days later the irons were gon except for one iron th was missed and one set ow wood.s. . 2.99 each club

[hnryclay]

I own a Ginty rescue, paid 2.00 for it. It is a great club, and does what it is designed to do very well. I know that some people have a ho hum feeling towards Thompson laminate clubs, they were expensive in their day, I believe I saw a thread on here that referred to them as dentist clubs.

[Richard 77]

These are the woods from yesterday’s post

[Shallowface]

I do like Stan Thompson equipment; my next restoration project is a Ginty in horrible shape. My mother loves her Ginty 5 wood out of the rough. My Thompson Stainless wedge is my go-to club, and I recently bought the matching sand wedge. Today at Play it Again I found a 15-wood, basically a wooden 9 iron that was too wonky to pass up at $8. It was while googling for more information I found this post. It might be the oddest club I've ever seen.

 

Here's some Stan Thompson information I think you'll enjoy:

 

http://www.golfwrx.c...9#entry10714829

[Bigarch]

Love the Stan Thompson Ginty. I normally play modern equipment. But when I'm playing by myself, I like to take out the old classics several times a year. My home course has bermuda fairways and when you miss the fairway by just a yard or two and get in the bermuda rough, you can get some lies that are just nearly impossible to play out of. A lot of times, you are just trying to advance the ball back to the fairway. During the middle of the summer when its hot and they are watering alot, that rough is "tougher than a night in jail".

 

This summer, I had an old Ginty in the bag that I had picked up at Goodwill for $3. I was hitting shots from that rough that I could never hit with modern equipment. It didnt matter what kind of lie I had, I could hit the thing about 185 and high enough to hold any green. I ended up putting that thing in my regular bag for about 2 months this summer. All the guys I normally play with were freaking out. But sometimes, you just have to acknowledge that there were some pretty good classic clubs that can still get the job done as good or better than anything out there today.

[BIG STU]

Love the Stan Thompson Ginty. I normally play modern equipment. But when I'm playing by myself, I like to take out the old classics several times a year. My home course has bermuda fairways and when you miss the fairway by just a yard or two and get in the bermuda rough, you can get some lies that are just nearly impossible to play out of. A lot of times, you are just trying to advance the ball back to the fairway. During the middle of the summer when its hot and they are watering alot, that rough is "tougher than a night in jail".

 

This summer, I had an old Ginty in the bag that I had picked up at Goodwill for $3. I was hitting shots from that rough that I could never hit with modern equipment. It didnt matter what kind of lie I had, I could hit the thing about 185 and high enough to hold any green. I ended up putting that thing in my regular bag for about 2 months this summer. All the guys I normally play with were freaking out. But sometimes, you just have to acknowledge that there were some pretty good classic clubs that can still get the job done as good or better than anything out there today.

ROTFLMAO!!! " Bermuda rough tough as a night in jail" I laughed so hard I about peed on myself!! Good one I will have to use that one. I guess I am lucky some of the stuff I have done and some of the folks I have hung out with I have never been in jail. Yeah those Ginty woods are good out of the rough. I have a couple of them I mess with from time to time. I have a little 7 wood @ 29* I can hit pop ups with. Stan Thompson came up with a timeless design on the Ginty. Absolutely there are many of the classic design clubs still out there that can get the job done. You could not convince the "latest and greatest crowd" of that if you stood there with a loaded .38 in your hand but it is a fact Jack. Like I tell some of these a**hats when they make comments about my old Macs "If they were good enough for a fellow named Jack to win 18 majors with then they are good enough for me then" Shuts them up everytime

[BIG STU]

I do like Stan Thompson equipment; my next restoration project is a Ginty in horrible shape. My mother loves her Ginty 5 wood out of the rough. My Thompson Stainless wedge is my go-to club, and I recently bought the matching sand wedge. Today at Play it Again I found a 15-wood, basically a wooden 9 iron that was too wonky to pass up at $8. It was while googling for more information I found this post. It might be the oddest club I've ever seen.

 

Here's some Stan Thompson information I think you'll enjoy:

 

http://www.golfwrx.c...9#entry10714829

That was a very interesting post you made back in 15---- Had one of the old man's friends from Florida that was a pro and hustler used to carry a Northwestern 6 wood and he could anything with it. He actually gave me one and taught me some little trick shots with it. I carried that thing for years. Back in those days I did not use headcovers. When I traveled I got some strange looks due to the fact I played blade irons up to a 3 iron and carried a Karsten 1- 1 iron and the only fairway wood was that little Northwestern 6 wood. Another one of the hustlers ( he is another article in himself) Played with a whole set of those Northwestern woods like you posted. Only iron in his bag was a Calamity Jane style putter. He had custom made leather headcovers on all those little woods to match his big leather black and white Hagan staff bag. This guy they let him tee up anywhere and he had a woodworker guy turn him tees on a lathe that were 8 inches long or more. Those old Hagen bags were heavy by themselves but his must have weighed 500 lbs with all the tees etc. He used to get on my old man's nerves (especially if he was his partner) fiddling with those covers. I remember my old man told him " Red throw those covers in the trash or in the trunk of your car"---- Red was flashy drove a red GTO convertible what ever was new that year.

[scomac2002]

I do like Stan Thompson equipment; my next restoration project is a Ginty in horrible shape. My mother loves her Ginty 5 wood out of the rough. My Thompson Stainless wedge is my go-to club, and I recently bought the matching sand wedge. Today at Play it Again I found a 15-wood, basically a wooden 9 iron that was too wonky to pass up at $8. It was while googling for more information I found this post. It might be the oddest club I've ever seen.

 

Here's some Stan Thompson information I think you'll enjoy:

 

http://www.golfwrx.c...9#entry10714829

That was a very interesting post you made back in 15---- Had one of the old man's friends from Florida that was a pro and hustler used to carry a Northwestern 6 wood and he could anything with it. He actually gave me one and taught me some little trick shots with it. I carried that thing for years. Back in those days I did not use headcovers. When I traveled I got some strange looks due to the fact I played blade irons up to a 3 iron and carried a Karsten 1- 1 iron and the only fairway wood was that little Northwestern 6 wood. Another one of the hustlers ( he is another article in himself) Played with a whole set of those Northwestern woods like you posted. Only iron in his bag was a Calamity Jane style putter. He had custom made leather headcovers on all those little woods to match his big leather black and white Hagan staff bag. This guy they let him tee up anywhere and he had a woodworker guy turn him tees on a lathe that were 8 inches long or more. Those old Hagen bags were heavy by themselves but his must have weighed 500 lbs with all the tees etc. He used to get on my old man's nerves (especially if he was his partner) fiddling with those covers. I remember my old man told him " Red throw those covers in the trash or in the trunk of your car"---- Red was flashy drove a red GTO convertible what ever was new that year.

 

STU; you know that you've already got a rough draft for probably two books hidden in these pages. Make for a great retirement project. :read:

[BIG STU]

Soco believe it or not it is sorta in the works---- One of the hustlers I know from that era wrote a book "Drive For Show and Putt for Dough" My old man is in that book and a lot of the incidents or stories in that book I witnessed as a kid---- But I can add a lot more-----

[James the Hogan Fan]

It just came to mind: was there ever a solid wood ginty produced or are they all laminate? All I’ve ever seen were laminate...

[scomac2002]

It just came to mind: was there ever a solid wood ginty produced or are they all laminate? All I've ever seen were laminate...

 

Not to my knowledge. My understanding is that laminate was used for high lofted woods because the onset weakened the hosel to the point that a solid block would crack at that point.

[Shallowface]

It just came to mind: was there ever a solid wood ginty produced or are they all laminate? All I've ever seen were laminate...

 

Not to my knowledge. My understanding is that laminate was used for high lofted woods because the onset weakened the hosel to the point that a solid block would crack at that point.

 

I've never seen a persimmon Ginty. They certainly never offered one in any of their catalogs. It wouldn't surprise me at all if a few prototypes or special orders were produced.

 

I've never heard that the reason for laminates in high lofted woods was a durability issue, but that may well be the case. Louisville Golf still offers its Ginty like Wood Niblick in lofts up to a 36 degree 15 wood, and those are persimmon. But the way those are designed the necks on them are very thick. There never were very many high lofted persimmon woods, but I always figured it was a demand issue as much as anything. Most men back then wouldn't use them, considering them a ladies club. Even a 5 wood was a tough sell until 1976 when Ray Floyd had so much success with one at The Masters. MacGregor offered a persimmon 6 wood in the 50s, which I would guess had about 25 degrees of loft. I just figured there wasn't enough demand to waste good persimmon on such a small market. But it could well have been a durability issue.

 

I've always believed that the playability and results delivered by clubs such as the Ginty and the Cobra Baffler were more about the weight distribution that was achieved by those designs and less about the soleplates themselves. As Louisville Golf has said in their advertising the weight distribution of their Wood Niblick is impossible to achieve in a metal wood. I can remember when the first metal Gintys and Bafflers hit the market and in my opinion they were decidedly inferior to the wood versions, even though they had the same sole designs. The weight distribution just wasn't the same.

 

I can remember getting distances with the 29 degree 42 inch Ginty that I shouldn't have been able to get with a club of those specs, and others here have reported similar experiences over the years. It must be from a "high launch/low spin" situation due to the weight distribution. I had similar experiences with the Baffler. One of the best versions of it had a graphite clubhead with the heavy brass soleplate. Incredible results from fairway, rough, divots, you name it.

 

Callaway Golf owns the rights to the Stan Thompson Ginty. It would be neat if their engineers made up a few prototypes of a graphite clubhead, a thin titanium full face plate and the heavy metal Ginty sole, and then snuck those out to demo days or the Tour just to see what the results would be. There was a graphite head Ginty with the metal sole back in the day (it didn't have a metal face, although there were graphite heads that did), so it's certainly possible. I think it's quite possible that club would be superior to every fairway wood currently on the market today.

[Richard 77]

Anyone here want these Stand Thompson woods? All are regular flex, laminated. FREE + shipping(to be determined). If interested PM.

[James the Hogan Fan]

Here’s my Ginty, a -little- worse for wear. Im going to restore it (without a long boring thread like with the Spaldings...)

 

Would anyone happen to have the decals for crown and toe. And then it needs a new insert; is ABS a suitable material? I’m going to make my own, and although the original was cast from epoxy I would prefer to avoid that (noxious chemicals, stickiness everywhere..)

 

Lastly, I got myself a book! Unfortunately the author is quite confident I can get any decal I need from the major equipment suppliers...

[Shallowface]

Here's my Ginty, a -little- worse for wear. Im going to restore it (without a long boring thread like with the Spaldings...)

 

Would anyone happen to have the decals for crown and toe. And then it needs a new insert; is ABS a suitable material? I'm going to make my own, and although the original was cast from epoxy I would prefer to avoid that (noxious chemicals, stickiness everywhere..)

 

Lastly, I got myself a book! Unfortunately the author is quite confident I can get any decal I need from the major equipment suppliers...

 

I would check with The Golfworks for decals. They used to carry them in their catalog, and it is very possible they still have them around.

 

That said, I'd leave it off. You'd be surprised how much it affects your alignment at address if you don't get that thing lined up just right, and it's not the easiest thing to do if you haven't done a lot of them.

 

If you really want something, maybe a simple dot on the crown behind the center of the insert would work.

 

Fot that matter, the Golfworks may have inserts or insert material available. Their customer service has always been really good, so it's worth a try.

[teevons]

and then there are these

[scomac2002]

Do I detect slots?! :swoon:

[jimmydrmm]

I have a set of stan Thompson left handed woods and iron's! I wouldn't trade them for the world! Re 117012 beautiful dark wood and what looks to be brass weight underneath and stamped hand made in Beverly Hills! Can anyone tell me why my iron's have what looks like a brass plug going through the iron heads please n thank you jim Merino [email protected]

[dcopp7]

I have a couple Stan Thompson putters in my shop right now.  Black with white paintfill.