New to Vintage / Hit my vintage clubs for the first time. I loved it!

Hit em good · April 18, 2020

Hi guys,

I took my "new" vintage set to the range yesterday and today, hitting them for the first time. Short answer, I'm hooked! I had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm surprised how well I'm hitting the irons. They are 1969 Wilson Bullet Backs. They're old school blades, but seem to hit as easy as my modern set MP64's. Also, they seem to just want to go straight, using range balls. I tried to hit my stock draw, and they seemed to just go pretty much straight, and the right and left dispersion seemed tighter than my modern set. Do you guys notice the same thing about your vintage irons??? Could just be the swing I brought to the range yesterday and today.

The 8802 putter was as accurate as my normal modern putter on the practice putting green. However, I don't expect that to hold up on the course. Nevertheless, Ioved using the old school 8802.

The MacGregor Velocitized persimmons were super fun to hit. I was amazed at how low I had to tee up the ball for the driver, to fit the height of the driver. I hit them pretty good. Again, less left/right dispersion. The driver was noticibly shorter then modern, of course. I couldn't determine how close the 3 wood and 4 wood were to each other. I'll have to figure that out on the course.

I only hit range balls, and am picking up some Wilson Duo's tomorrow. I understand from you guys that those are the best balls to use for vintage. I'm hoping they respond even better off the persimmons than the range balls did.

So, all together, I loved it, and was surprised at how playable everything was. Thanks everyone for your advice to this new vintage golfer!

My group is playing at 3pm tomorrow, and I'm super excited to get the clubs out on the course for the first time. My course was built in the 40's, so it was designed for vintage clubs.

I hope everyone is staying safe!

Hit me good

pymmdcp · April 18, 2020

That's terrific! Thanks for sharing. My first vintage range session was with the 8 iron from some Hogan Power Thrusts. My second ball hit the 150 yard stick that I was aiming at....it was all over from there.

deejaid · April 18, 2020

Great to hear Hit em Good! It is very addicting and you’ll probably find yourself wanting to play vintage more and more while your modern bag collects dust. Just yesterday I was moving some clubs around on my racks and picked up my modern driver. I realized I haven’t swung or hit a ball with it in two years, same with my modern fairway woods. It’s been persimmon full time, all the time.

Cool that you are hitting the button backs as good as your Mizuno’s too. Makes it even more enjoyable when you are sticking it close with a 50 year old set of clubs, especially if it’s closer than your playing partner and their $3000 bag. ?

topfliter · April 19, 2020

Wow, glad that the excitement and performance is there... Similar here, always liked Hogans and have stayed home. OK golfer here, but I love to work the ball and the feel of vintage irons flush is one of the finest feelings in sports. I agree... bullseye putter here, like my mother used so well.

Another joy for me is that I enjoy the Masters and US Open tapes from the 70s-early 90s. I like to relate with clubs of that era. Great era - great crafted clubs. And, again, those era blades are so versatile with different shots... just fun... Luckily, I play shorter muni courses, so the Hogan persimmon/laminates are fine also...

Again, enjoy ...

BIG STU · April 19, 2020

Welcome to the rabbit hole of vintage golf!! It is fun.

As far as your range session and dispersion it may have been as you said the swing you brought to the range or---- May be a difference in shaft flex and reaction.

See you are hitting a Macgregor Velocitized one of my all time favorite drivers. Mine has became more or less my permanent driver for vintage play even though I have quite a few persimmon drivers.

On balls as far as I am concerned any of the soft balls are good for vintage play--- Right now I am using Srixon Soft Feels because i ended up with 3 dozen on a deal. Also an unsung hero IMHO is the Lady Bridgestone balls. I found that out by accident when I found one walking one day.

Since I have retired I have been playing vintage golf quite a bit and by playing my older stiffer heavier shafted FC-4000s it has improved my body and overall swing. And by playing my minimalist set up of 8 clubs it has immensely helped my short game and creativity. For the last 3 years or so when I seriously practice I have always had some sort of persimmon driver in the bag. I figure if I can hit one of those somewhere in the middle then my modern toaster on a stick is a no brainer. If you look at my signature you will see my front line stuff is mostly vintage with exception of the woods and hybrid