older guys long term memory

[mshills]

The Wood Brothers Texan was a wonderful driver and one of the last wooden drivers played on the PGA Tour. IIRC, Davis Love and Justin Leonard were the last hold-outs before they went to Titleist titanium drivers of some sort.

[GenErr]

I never could hit a driver back then (thank God for new technology), but I had a Robt. T. Jones #2 persimmon wood from the 50's that I just crushed when I hit it. Back in the late 60's I was still using it and averaging probably 250 yards with it. Because I draw the ball, the #2 wood's loft was perfect.

 

A few years ago I had it refinished and reshafted, and put a new grip on it, and took it to the course, just for fun. After one hit, it went back into the bag and down to the basement, never to hit a ball again. LOL

[petter7]

Tommy Armour 693, with sweep back sole plate!!

 

 

[dmarch]

Awesome bag Johnny!! Reminds me of the days before internet club ho'ing. Garage sales, estate sales, and used club bins. Followed by a trip to Bob Kent for refinishing and shafting. Thanks for taking the time to post the pictures.

 

Dan

[Rockfish]

I think you left the word "loss" off of the title of the thread ! :drinks: :lol: :lol:

[JHR]

Ping Eye 2 blondies.

 

These would be my favorites as well, my brother in law still has a set of these and they are awesome. I have been trying to get them from him, but he refuses to give them up, i hate him.... haha.

[palmettoman]

Powerbuilt Citation brass back, baby!

[agent4587]

My favorite "woods" were MacGregor MCX. They were laminated maple and far easier to hit than my Wilson Staff Persimon. However, I do not pine for the good ol' days! My TM R5 is far superior to eitherof the woods.

[rge]

Honma Big LB or the LB-280. Both had a gorgeous finish and fantastic wood grain.

[78blades]

For me it was the old Wilson Strato blocks from the mid 60's. LOL, although I wasn't able to hit the driver well so I used the 2 wood to drive.

[RobotDoctor]

I have played golf for 23 years so I came from the era of the modern persimmon wood (Cleveland Classics and all the manufacturers). My first set of clubs were Hogan Apex woods and irons. The woods were laminated. My brother gave me a Powerbilt Citation driver (mid 1980s model, I cannot remember which). It was nothing real special in terms of classics but the feel of persimmon was much better than the laminated maple Hogans (at least in my mind). This launched me into a persimmon craze. I ventured into the Cleveland family (4 or 5 different drivers) before settling for the RC75. I played with a couple of guys that managed a local golf chain and an independent golf store in Wilmington Delaware in 1989 through 1992. They used a local clubsmith who was outstanding. He had a broad clientele who sent their classic MacGregors to be refinished. This is where I first got my whistle wet with the lust for the MacGregor 693s, 945s, M43s, M85s, and M75s. I then decided I needed a MacGregor 6 screw driver very badly but I really could not afford one (yet). I was home in Colorado on Christmas break in 1990 and found a 1953 MacGregor 945W 3-wood (solid red insert, 4 screw like the 693) in the used club bin. The people at this national chain store did not know what they had with that club. Yes, it needed to be refinished, it had a hairline crack in the neck, it was missing an insert screw and they sold it to me for $20. I took it to my clubsmith and he restored the 3 wood to its glory! The wood was very dark and dense. It was reshafted with a DG S-300 shaft at 41 1/2" and was my 3-wood gamer from that point until 1999 when I finally retired it. I still have the 3-wood and always will.

Long story short, Mike's clubmaking shop (my former clubsmith) and that 3-wood began a love affair with the classic MacGregor woods of the late 40s and early 50s. I have owned sets of the MacGregor 693, 945 (both solid insert and EOM), M85, M75, TPT Special, and assorted drivers of the same models. The MacGregor Toney Penna TPT Special driver was the best driver I ever hit from the MacGregor collection I amassed. This is the single club I regret most in parting with. I wish I had this one club back and I have owned some OUTSTANDING MacGregors!!!

[freddiec]

Robot,
Great post. I found it interesting how your passion for these pers. woods developed originally from a club that was handed down to you from your brother. 1980s golf was great and I also had an experience similar to your that really hooked me on these classics. My 1st real set of clubs at the age of around 13 was a set of early 80s Tourney (cavity back style) irons and a matching set of laminated woods. I really loved them, but really wasn't exposed to anything else at the time. When I entered Jr. High I had been playing for a year or so and started caddying at a great private D.Ross course. A year later I took a job in the bag room, cleaning clubs. It was in the spring of 86 when I met and assistant pro the club had just hired. This guy was an accomplished amateur who had just turned Pro at the age of 37. He ultimately became one of my best friends for the next 5 years and a role model for me. Wouldn't you know he was a major Club Ho. He kept 3 sets of irons ( 72 Apexs and Golden Rams) in the bag room and about 3 or 4 Mac from the mid 50s. The other staffers had great persimmons as well. He had a super Velocitized driver refinished in a high gloss black and a 945W (red insert) driver, which was even to today the best one I've seen. There was a member who played a lot and he rotated a few different old Macs that we used to look at all the time, one was a super refinished 693. Another assistant who played for U of Houston had a M85 3 wood, that he said Faldo had owned at one time. He got it in Houston. This guy in now on the Sr. tour. So, I like you were exposed to great classic woods. During those times, like you seeing the clubs the members got back refinished and the ones I cleaned, I saw just about everything. Unfortunately as a kid, I never had a great in the bag until one night while out playing with one of the pros, we get to the 4th tee and he walks over with a club he had got from his bad. He hands it to me and say, Fred, check this out. It was a M75 refinished with the orig. shaft. He let me hit it. I can still remember drawing the club back and saying to myself "your not gonna be able to hit this". I pured it up the middle on the screws and continued to hit it the rest of the round. He sold it to me for fifty bucks. The sole plate was pretty much unreadable, but the head was great. Unfortunately, I later reshafted it with a DG S300 and the feel was never the same, but I still have that club. I also really liked the RC75 and picked a beautiful one up new at a shop in the late 80s (w a S400). The shaft was a little too stiff for me, so I traded it soon after I bought it. One of the other models I played while in High School was a MT persimmon that had the black and red keyhole insert and a funky MT on the top. I picked it up at a shop that was great for picking up used stuff. It was nice, but not like the older ones.

One of the sweetest looking sticks I had seen, while caddying in the 84 US Open at the club I was working at, we played a practice round with Patty Sheehan. She let me look at her Byron Nelson persimmon, which looked exactly like the Armour 693. It had the sweepback sole plate. I remember she said something about the history of the club, but I forget what she said. It was a great looking block, she pured it.

[honketyhank]

[quote name='78blades' post='2102602' date='Dec 4 2009, 04:40 AM']For me it was the old Wilson Strato blocks from the mid 60's. LOL, although I wasn't able to hit the driver well so I used the 2 wood to drive.[/quote]

Funny. Ditto for me. I didn't have a favorite driver because I couldn't hit them worth a toot. Found an old beat up Wilson (ditto again) in the bargain barrel at some muni pro shop. I used it until my clubs got stolen in 1984.

[TMBob]

[quote name='mech2' post='1109900' date='Jun 9 2008, 07:53 PM']Powerbuilt Citation driver bought it about 77 was a sweet club the one with the brass weight at the back of the head. Had the 3wd and 5wd as far as getting it of the deck they were as good as anything you can buy today.[/quote]


Spot On.........I mainly played a Driver and 4 wood set up during those days. Brass Back model with hand picked grain to them. Had to be grain that had little curve and ran from toe to heel. I even received a comment about my 4 wood from Fred Couples one day. I had knocked it on in two on back to back Par 5's and made Eagle both times in qualifying for the Seattle Jr Match Play. I was paired with Fred and his match in the quarter finals and he goes, "Hey I heard about that 4 wood of yours." "Nice job" I was floored! Fred use to play a Mac Greg George Bayer super deep face driver, but used his 3 wood much more off the tee which I think was a Eye-0-Matic of some sort.

Had my best two rounds back to back and only two round in the sixties back to back with that Power-Bilt driver.....It had a light weight steel shaft and not the Dynamic.

I did play MacGreg Super Eye-O-Matics about as much as the Power-Bilt's and those were awesome also. Had to have a Maroon Neuman Leather Grips on my driver though. Super sticky!

[RobotDoctor]

[quote name='freddiec' post='2104984' date='Dec 5 2009, 07:17 AM']...

I also really liked the RC75 and picked a beautiful one up new at a shop in the late 80s (w a S400). The shaft was a little too stiff for me, so I traded it soon after I bought it.

...[/quote]


Fred,

It's funny how our taste in persimmon woods are almost identical. The funny thing about my RC75 is that, while originally shafted with a S-400, I did not like it very much. The RC75 really became a great gamer when I replaced the original S-400 shaft with an X-100 shaft with a length of 43 1/4". I gamed this driver at the height of my playing abilities. I was a USGA 2.(something), but a very low 2. I was told by one of my PGA pro playing partners that I had a scratch handicap swing but a 20 handicap brain. Of course he was right. I won a driving hole at a tournament in 1991 in Dover, Delaware (Mapledale Country Club) by belting a drive 325 years dead center of the fairway on a par 5 with a Titleist 384 90 compression balata golf ball. Keep in mind that this was at sea level. My playing partner buddies had a Yonex graphite shafted ADX driver and a Taylor Made 7 degree titanium shafted driver and both used an illegal distance ball (Condor) and I still out drove them by 5-10 yards. I didn't think I caught all of the ball as I felt some of the impact. You know exactly what I mean when you pure a balata with a persimmon wood. I just missed puring it. I would bet the drive would have been 335 yds if I had pured it.

I had my clubsmith replace the cycolac insert originally on the RC75 with a Red/White/Red fiber insert (just like the M75). That driver sits in my extra club bag today and will always be with me. It was early in 1992 I replaced that driver with my MacGregor TPT Special.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I really like this board as it reminds me of how special the classics (persimmons) really were.

Sam

[freddiec]

Sam,
I agree. These threads can definitely be a trip down memory lane. You must have really got a hold of that drive, 325 with a persimmon, thats like a Davis Love drive. Way to go! I think I'm only about 20 to 25 yards shorter with a persimmon that I am with the Ti stuff, which isn't much.

[Guia]

Power Bilt Citation, and Hogan Apex.

[freddiec]

Sam,
There was a super full set of Penna TP Specials that were on the bay the other day. Went fairly cheap too. I hope you got them...

[RobotDoctor]

[quote name='freddiec' post='2126198' date='Dec 15 2009, 05:51 AM']Sam,
There was a super full set of Penna TP Specials that were on the bay the other day. Went fairly cheap too. I hope you got them...[/quote]

Fred,

I saw them. They looked great but now is not the time for me to buy golf clubs. I have to make sure my new consulting business gets off the ground. What a time to start a company, right? Unfortunately I had little choice considering what my profession is. Anyway, there will always be another set. That said, I am liking the Texan myself.

Sam

[youraway2]

[quote name='Night train' post='1110719' date='Jun 10 2008, 12:49 PM']Tony Pennas and Macs were my favorites.........still have a bunch of them, although they are worth nothing anymore.[/quote]


+1

The Penna's and MacGregor's were beautiful club heads. The real old Bobby Jones and Hagen's were as well. I also had a Middleground driver which was scarce.

[petter7]

Tony Pennas and Macs were my favorites......

 

Here's a nice lookin' Penna JS I kept. It was a beast in it's day. Also played with

a 693 for years before going to Pittsburgh Persimmon.

 

 

[gvogel]

I had a beautiful Spaulding persimmon driver, along with the 3-wood, 4-wood and 5-wood. They had the name of a pro that owned a small course outside of Erie, PA. Reddish stain, shallower than a Toney Penna or MacGregor. Beautiful.

[eagle9]

M85 eye-o-matic my choice for all time favorite. However, as they became more valuable in the late 80's I became somewhat uneasy leaving mine in the bag full time. I picked up a circa 1962 MacGregor RT2W with the key hole style insert as a backup. After it was redone, this was a solid and sweet looking club with its blonde finish and red and white insert. While not my favorite, it certainly spent more time in play and at the range than the M85.

[Maxwell]

Tony Pennas and Macs were my favorites.........still have a bunch of them, although they are worth nothing anymore.


Nightrain - I'm relatively new to GolfWRX but have been learning how to repair, rebuild and refinish Persimmon wood clubs for 2.5 years now. I have a few older MacGregors down stairs.
A 4 club set of unfinished 1955 Mens R/H Macgregor Tourney M85W's sold for over $250.00 this past weekend on ebay. I suggest you keep your TP's and Mac"s for the grandchildren. They may help pay for tuition someday for one of the grandchildren.

[eagle9]

Toney Penna's were great clubs. Almost forgot about the 1976 Bicentennial Driver with its red white and blue finish and eagle decal that my father won at an outing and subsequently gave to me. Of course, I refinished it in black and reshafted with a dynamic X and played it for a season or two. Wish I still had it in its original condition. Some of the Penna woods from the late 80's to early 90's were not to bad either, however, the denisity and grain was no where near as tight as the vintage old growth wood.

[memphishorn]

I started out with laminated Haig Ultras, graduated to laminated MT Tourneys (around 1972) until I ended up with my "ultimate set".

In late 70's I permantley borrowed my Dad's 1967 MT Tourney W2MT set of 5 (1,2,3,4,5) persimmon's w/ aluminum inserts.

They were a blonde finish and I thought were the prettiest I had seen.

Had them refinished and regripped in 1987 and haven't hit them since.

Even though we mostly talk about the Driver the cool thing back then was to have a matching set.

[Honu$joe]

I second that on the Joe Powell golf! Beautiful works of art that functioned perfectly. I have had several of thier models over the years...anything made by Joe and John was exceptional...still play their smoker. I also take one of their old drivers to the range to check how well I'm swinging.