1st time wooden wood reccomendation

[Therty]

Any rec’s for a first persimmon/laminate 4w/5w to put in a half set?

 

i have no idea where to start - some forum reading is certainly in my future.
 

Always wanted to have one to mess around with but never have.

 

Like for like loft with my current 5w (18*), or a few degrees stronger for similar distance?

[deejaid]

Great to see another dipping their toe into the persimmon era.  You’ll be surprised at how well the classics play, especially fairway woods.

 

If you are looking for a larger head and deeper face I think a Ping Zing 5-wood or Ping Eye 4-wood are both excellent choices for a beginning classic player and both are 18*.

 

If you like a smaller head and more shallow face I’d look for something from the 1980’s but with a classic design.  That will get you modern shaft offerings, like Dynamic Gold S300/R300.  The Cleveland Classic woods of that era are great.

 

 

[Therty]

38 minutes ago, deejaid said:

Great to see another dipping their toe into the persimmon era.  You’ll be surprised at how well the classics play, especially fairway woods.

 

If you are looking for a larger head and deeper face I think a Ping Zing 5-wood or Ping Eye 4-wood are both excellent choices for a beginning classic player and both are 18*.

 

If you like a smaller head and more shallow face I’d look for something from the 1980’s but with a classic design.  That will get you modern shaft offerings, like Dynamic Gold S300/R300.  The Cleveland Classic woods of that era are great.

 

 

Yea im looking for something with a steel shaft, s300 or x100 - i could go either way of shape / face height. I’ll look up some images of your recommendations.

 

i play my current 5w at 18, do you think I should look for something 16 or 17 degrees to hit a similar distance with the heavier shaft? Or just go like for like?

[elwhippy]

Cleveland TC85s came with S400 shafts. They should fit the bill nicely. 

[raggal62]

I like the PowerBilt Citation and Pro Sonic models from the 70's. Very playable and readily obtainable.

[Fellaheen51]

Start by educating yourself about wood woods.  A fundamental beginning is recognizing the difference between persimmon and laminated woods.  (If you don't already know.) The are mislabeled with regularity if you're shopping online. Don't pay persimmon prices when they are not.  Find that searching persimmon woods on eBay a useful tool for learning about the vast number of options and current relative values (sold items). 

 

Become cognizant of condition.  Neck cracks, loose or absent whipping, face damage, excessive marring of the head finish.  A candidate needs to be playable and in reasonably good shape.  Don't want to start with a club that requires immediate refurbishing/repair.  Grip condition is a non-issue.  Always install a new grip on a player club.

 

i wouldn't concern myself with loft to loft equivalency.  Wood is going to play shorter than comparable modernist fairways.  The ball flights are different for one thing.  Very much a preference and feel thing happening when hitting wood.  Some just play better than others in one's hands.  

 

As mentioned, Ping Eye 2's and Zings are really good fairways.  Laminated.  Have a variety of them in inventory.  A favorite is an E2 4 wood that I hit the snot out of.  The Ping heads are a bit larger than comparable persimmon, and I find them marginally more tolerant of less than perfect ball strikes.  Some find the head shape of Pings disagreeable, but they have become my first choice when of the notion to whack wood.  

 

PB Citations (as mentioned) are a good option as well.  Nice looking heads with the back brass weight.  Think it helps with launch.  They're plentiful, therefore relatively inexpensive.  Likely not going to find them in S300/400, X100.  They typically came with proprietary TT shafts with a lettering system for flex.  

 

Other considerations.  Hogan Apex persimmons with Apex 4 (stiff) or rarer Apex 5 (XS) shafts.  Classics.  Toney Penna's in a variety of models.  Most Penna's I've run across had S400's.  Ram made some good 80's vintage persimmons.  Palmer Peerless Chattanooga.  Some of the 80's vintage MacGregors (JN Muirfields).  Cleveland Classics are top notch, but expect to pay a premium for them in good condition.  

 

Guess the point here is to put wood on your radar. Regardless of a particular brand or model.   I've found all of my wood woods on the dirt cheap.  Thrift store finds, local Marketplace listings, estate sales.  Once one starts looking, they begin to show themselves.  If one finds wood for $5.00 in decent, playable condition, you buy it.  Try it.  Might play just fine.  If not, find another.  Most around here have way more than one option to bag.  Part of the enjoyment when delving into wood.  Seriously, solid players are out there once you begin looking for them.   Why educating yourself about wood clubs is important.  So that you recognize suitable candidates when you see them. 

[scomac2002]

I have a couple of Spalding Executives from the 70's that are quite playable.  They are laminate and have a bit of an odd shape with a squared off top and high toe.  Adds to forgiveness presumably.  The best thing about them is the proprietary Jet Step Lite shaft that you can find in medium or firm depending upon your preference.  I'm an older guy with modest swing speed so I'm always on the look out for good playable clubs with regular flex (or softer) to promote better launch.  Not a bad set of woods to pair with Hogan Radial irons and a Zebra putter for a period game improvement bag of clubs.

[twidener]

Since you're beginning to try out wooden woods I would look at laminated instead of persimmon. Especially if you want to start with fairway woods. Laminated woods are more durable and less expensive than persimmon and if they have a black finish the only way to tell that they are laminated is by looking at the face. You don't have to be as concerned about the wood swelling or cracking with laminated. Persimmon would swell and sometimes the neck would crack if not properly taken care of.  Back in the 60's and 70's there were some tour players who would play persimmon drivers and laminated fairway woods. Wilson, Powerbilt, Hogan, Ping all made great laminated woods. Just make sure they are the pro line models and not the sporting goods shop models that some manufacturers made.  

[Tumbleweed_1968]

I started off with a laminated Wilson K-28 4 wood to get my feet wet a few years ago. Still have it and still like it. I agree with most of the sentiment expressed here. You'll end up with a bunch to try and sometimes you'll come back to them after putting them in storage. It's almost like you need a few to compare against each other, and to see where they fit in to what you are tying to accomplish in your bag.

For instance, I find that the 4 wood works well on fairways that are a little loose, but not boggy wet. It's like I want to bounce it off the turf and take a very shallow, very small divot with it for the best performance (for me), where as on a boggy soggy fairway it just digs in too much and I can't seem to adjust. Of course, I'm hitting down on it. (Really just a swing thought, not anything I am consciously trying to do) For what it's worth, your mileage may vary.