A question on saving old woods.

cold_war_era_golfer · September 23, 2020

I picked these up with a set of ‘63 turf riders. I wanted the turf riders and the seller was going to toss these so they offered them to me.

The shafts do look pretty bad to my untrained eye. However the thought of those leather grips being tossed out just didn’t sit right with me.

What would you do with these?

According to the Kaplan book my estimations are 1948-early 1950s

Edited September 23, 2020 by oldpinggolfer

dcopp7 · September 23, 2020

Those are laminate and not really anything special. Play em.

ScottF · September 23, 2020

I’m sure there are thousands and thousands of old clubs like those in peoples attics, basements and garages all over the country. It’s just too hard to throw them away. Golf is special to a lot of people and the clubs represent the history of the game. I have my old persimmon Power Bilt woods from the 70’s. I actually played a couple of rounds with them earlier this year. Getting rid of them is unthinkable. Even if they are just decorations in my man cave, with no monetary value, I like having them around. I’ll let the people who sell off my estate when I’m gone figure out what to do with them.

Stephen8802 · September 23, 2020

I had the same issue with the shaft on my 653 (the club to the left of this). I put it on the deflection board and the flex came out close to my S300 standard, so I put it back in. Chrome loss is likely just cosmetic, so tee it high and let it fly. If the shaft breaks, you can replace it then.

When I started refinishing clubs, I decided I liked the original flaws more than faded stampings. I'd rather have rust on the shaft, dings in the wood, and dents in the sole plate than an over sanded block that looks neither new nor old. For a club that is 70 years old, it should have a little rust on the shaft. I have an M75 5 screw on the bench now and the sole is a mess. If I sand out all the dents to make it smooth, I'll loose most of the letters and numbers. So its going back on the shaft with all of that character that it has picked up since 1952.

BigBod · September 23, 2020

I'd leave them just as they are....

When I first got into the golf trade I used to refurb about 100 wooden woods a week!!! Used to love fitting new inserts and filing the bulge and roll by hand and getting it perfect and refinishing to a glass like finish, very satisfying work...