When was the last wooden wood used on tour?

[Bella Woods]

Don't forget that Mac O' Grady tied for 5th place in the 2009 Australian Senior Open (at Perth) using the
persimmon woods (and 1974 Ben Hogan irons) of his deceased friend Roger MacKay.

I can't remember his 72 hole total, but I think it was in the high 280s.

He played with the clubs as a tribute to his old friend.

[u][b]Edit 09/08/2010:[/b][/u]

Actually he shot 71-71-76 218 (2 over) in the 54 hole tournament (ending October 26, 2009) to
finish tied for 5th. Winning score was 210 in a playoff by Mike Harwood.

Several others playing - Peter Senior shot 210 (losing playoff) & Wayne Grady shot 215.

[kaboboom]

I picked up a VHS tape of The Little Red Book (video), and was suprised to see Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite hitting their persimmon drivers as they illustrated Harvey's swing keys. I did a little research, and that video was probably made in 1991-2. There is one particular scene where Crenshaw uses baby powder on the ball to give feedback on where the clubface made contact. He holds up his driver to show the powder square on the insert. I'm sure several here would know exactly which persimmon driver he was using. Probably not intentionally, but that classic "thwack" of a well hit persimmon pervades the whole video, and now, it adds a special charm that would be missing in instructional videos today. So persimmon was still well thought of enough to be used in the early 90's, and the producers probably made a wise choice to avoid that tinny chime made by the metal woods just coming into widespread use.

[freddiec]

Thats interesting about that video. I'd like to pick that up just to watch Crenshaw and Kite hit those clubs. The Book is great. I always found it interesting that up until 1993 well after medal woods were in play for years, the winner of the Masters always used a persimmon driver. Langer was the last person to game a persimmon driver and win the Masters in 1993 using a Wood Bros Texan. Jose Maria won the next year using a medal driver. The WB Texan was the last persimmon driver to win a Major (93'). I think in the early 90s Ben Crenshaw was gaming a Custom Cleveland Classic persimmon, I think he had retired his MacGregor M85W by that point. Kite might have been using a Hogan driver, which he used at Pebble Beach to win the US Open.

[Tupperwolf]

Here's DL3 at the '95 Masters... what a sound

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzJpeb7vtCY

[dan360]

It's possible to still hear that sound every day.

[minimal45]

what suprises me is how many people I still see (recreational players) playin with wood woods.

[Cwebb]

[quote name='QWKDTSN' timestamp='1287253911' post='2745987']
Here's DL3 at the '95 Masters... what a sound

[/quote]

Here he is in '86 during his first year on tour. The guy could flat out get the head moving screaming through impact...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sw61V3oIQE&feature=related