Great Classic shots of PGA Players using Persimmon

[freddiec]

PGA Players from the 70s,80s and 90s

Here are a some great shots I've been saving over the last few weeks. These were the days we remember when the great champions like Crenshaw, Jack, Norman, Strange, Simpson, Langer, Love to name a few used Persimmon drivers. I never knew Greg Norman used a Texan in the early 90s. Enjoy the pics.

Anybody recognize the sole plate that Strange is using? I don't recognize it.

Great shot of Bill Rogers using the Hogan 25th Aniv. driver.
Ben Crenshaw used a M85 for most of the 1980s. There is a great shot of Norman in the early 80s using a 945W. I'm sure this was inspired by Jack. Like to hear your comments.

Langer, Simpson and Maggert have Texans as does Norman in the early 90s playing the Shark Shootout.

I think Tiger's is an 80s Nicklaus (Mac) model.

Great shot of Mize using a sweet Powerbilt. Not sure what he's using in the pic where he's bouncing a ball off the face.

[persimmonpal]

Great stuff Freddie! Looks like the Wood Bros are well represented!
Loving all the sweepback soleplates.. Wish I could make out which club Tiger was playing.. looks like it may be a "Super Eye O Matic"...

[alucard655]

It sort of looks like the '1' on Tiger's driver is red, which I think were on the SEOM like Persimmonpal said. Also, it does not look like a bore thru to me, maybe someone with super zoom skills can tell.

[brokgolfer]

Great stuff Freddie. It really doesn't look so long ago when you look at those pictures does it?! Or perhaps we are just getting old lol!

[freddiec]

You gotta love that era, fantastic equipment and a wild style. I love Mize's Masters get up he's got going on. Those pants are classic green. They must have been sanzabelt pants I bet. LOL.

[ChristianMc]

Love those pics Fred,
Thanks!
Christian

[RobotDoctor]

Here are a couple of MacGregor M85 players.

[persimmonpal]

[quote name='freddiec' date='11 February 2010 - 01:51 PM' timestamp='1265914278' post='2244060']
You gotta love that era, fantastic equipment and a wild style. I love Mize's Masters get up he's got going on. Those pants are classic green. They must have been sanzabelt pants I bet. LOL.
[/quote]

Man, I remember when "Aureus" was THE clothing to wear.. big bold stripes and big collars.. I miss those days but not the clothes!

[ZonaHooker]

[quote name='persimmonpal' date='11 February 2010 - 01:18 PM' timestamp='1265912295' post='2243973']
...Wish I could make out which club Tiger was playing.. looks like it may be a "Super Eye O Matic"...
[/quote]


I thought he played a Taylor Made driver when he was a junior amateur...

[Bella Woods]

Nice pictures freddiec and RobotDoctor!

I thought Woods used a Cleveland (Persimmon) driver when he was a junior?

[The Gachet]

 

 

 

[freddiec]

Gachet,
Great shot of Faldo's M85 Eye O Matic. Looks like his eye o matic insert did not have the normal 6 screw configuration in his insert, but probably the original 5 screw M85. Either way, the M85 is one of my favorites.

[J13]

I wonder if golfers hunted for "tour issue" woods then, lol I heard they used magic trees to produce drivers for the tour, lol

[drewspin]

Looks like a Toney Penna that Seve has.


[quote name='J13' date='12 February 2010 - 12:31 PM' timestamp='1265995915' post='2246495']
I wonder if golfers hunted for "tour issue" woods then, lol I heard they used magic trees to produce drivers for the tour, lol
[/quote]


Players were CONSTANTLY hunting and trying to find new "holy grail" woods. Breakage was a real problem.

[drewspin]

Curtis Strange in the picture where he is wearing the red sweater above is using a Top Flite or Spalding driver of some sort.

[J13]

[quote name='drewspin' date='12 February 2010 - 01:10 PM' timestamp='1265998255' post='2246572']
Looks like a Toney Penna that Seve has.


[quote name='J13' date='12 February 2010 - 12:31 PM' timestamp='1265995915' post='2246495']
I wonder if golfers hunted for "tour issue" woods then, lol I heard they used magic trees to produce drivers for the tour, lol
[/quote]

Players were CONSTANTLY hunting and trying to find new "holy grail" woods. Breakage was a real problem.
[/quote]

I can imagine trying to find some weird african wood from the rainforest that is harder then steel, lol

[mat562]

Speaking of breakage, 1991 was the year that Greg Norman's faithful M43 finally gave up the ghost; shortly after the Open Championship if I remember rightly. Presumably he was on the hunt for a new driver when that picture was taken. I remember him bagging a Bridgestone J's around that time that Ozaki had sent him earlier in the year, and that Texan driver was probably one of a few that he tried out before finally settling, permanently, upon a metal driver in the form of that Bridgestone and his subsequent Open Championship-winning Cobra Deep Face. For what it's worth, that old M43 was actually purchased, by Norman himself, from Dave Wood's workshop and was tweaked to Norman's specs by Wood's own hand.

That Seve picture looks as though it may actually be his faithful old Tony Penna 3 wood of PGA National fairway bunker fame. According to a recent BBC documentary on the great man, he paid a hundred and fifty quid for the thing. A lot of cash back in the early 1980s, [i]even for a club that could work miracles.

[/i]Forsbrand was one of the very last players I remember who played a Persimmon driver on a full time basis. As well as that pictured MacGregor (taken at Pebble Beach?) I can remember him using a dark-coloured Cleveland driver well into the late 1990s. I remember Lehman and Love both hitting persimmons until quite late, before switching to a TM Bubble and a 975D respectively, but Anders definitely outlasted them both in the timber stakes.

On a side note, what in God's name is Bill Rogers playing at with that hair? The picture where he's holding the iron looks as though he's recently had his barnet trimmed with a pair of garden shears. By a blind man who did the whole thing by touch alone...

[drewspin]

LOL - balata trees are found in the tropics, but I never heard of players traipsing through the tropics for a bucket of balata latex.

Oil-hardened persimmon [i]D. virginiana[/i] was the overwhelming solid wood of choice.

I never heard very much about use of ash, ironwood, ebony or other dense hardwoods for wood heads, but I am sure that clubmakers experimented.

[drewspin]

On the Golf Channel they had some show on the other night featuring amazing shots, and one was Seve hitting hook with his Penna (driver or 3wd) from his knees, full swing, under some very dense trees, perfect hook, ran up on to the green and he drains a 12 footer for birdie. That was pure Seve!

[wrmiller]

OMG, I had those green pants too!

[JSirois]

Ah, vertical stripes. Slimming and flattering in theory, why do they always disappoint? Pair such a shirt with an extra-high crowned cap and you've got yourself an 80s golfer. While their (some more than others) fashion was lacking, the aesthetic prowess and majesty of their equipment was keen.

[olegolfer]

An interesting aside about persimmon. It did to an extent have a magical quality. It was just the right
density and weight when it was in final shape and finish as a wood head (approx 7oz.) it required that no weight
be added or subtracted to return the more or less standard swingweight of d-2 to d-4 with a standard
43 1/2 inch shaft. There were of course woods that were harder and more dense but would have been to
heavy in their finished form and would have to have had wood drilled out to bring the weight down. Normally
done to the bottom of the head under the soleplate which would have raised the center of gravity. When the
good persimmon started to get scarce the manufactures were forced to use less dense lighter persimmon that
necessitated weight (usually molten lead) be added to get the required swingweight. Back in the days
there were few options in overall shaft weight so a longer than standard length usually resulted in a very high
swing weight (D-8 or 9 or even in the E range)unless counterbalanced at the grip end. I believe I read
somewhers that Hogan had drivers in the E swingweight range.