Wood Brothers Texan

[freddiec]

Thanks BJ !

[jonnygrouville]

That clubhead looks tiny.

 

I much prefer the Langer helicopter finish. Use it myself for the guaranteed fade.

 

[Texsport]

After Wood Bros closed, Charlie and Don Wood were hired by Jake Schmidt, owner of PLOP Golf, to design putters and woods. Don was V P of R&D.

 

They collaborated on a PLOP titanium driver, fashioned after the Wood Bros Texan. Two prototypes were made and tested, at a cost of over $5,000.

 

PLOP got a buy out offer from Callaway Golf, and the driver was never sold at retail.

 

Two PLOP Wood Bros prototypes exist....information and photos, courtesy of Jake Schmidt

 

 

 

Texsport

[freddiec]

The Persimmon juices just got pumped up again. On the eve of Freddiec's Bday I headed up on a very crisp fall night and hit this Beauty. This is a late 80s mint Natural Blonde Wood Bros 9 Degree Texan. As solid of a driver as I've hit , as good as it gets in every respect. Old Growth grain, head shape, face profile and overall optics make this club Great. Its got a X100 shaft, 43.5 inches long and a very neat Tacki Mac Pro grip, the face is a tad over 1 and 5/8th inches. I hit a number of drives about 245 with Callaway Chrome soft balls, a few on the screws. Fun times !! A real keeper, the grain and head shape are stunning.

[CanadianCrippler]

That is a sweet driver Freddie! Good to hear you are out swinging the club well again! It is so nice here right now, just spent 2 1/2 hours on the range, loving most every minute of it!

 

Likely going to bring my black Texan Prototype out tomorrow to see how it flies.

 

 

CC

[freddiec]

It felt good Cc, first few swings were not good had to muster up my best stuff... X100 is the real deal but I nailed it ! Good to hear your hitting them too, take out the woods ! Cheers

[super20dan]

i just realized i have never even hit my texan. i am afraid to hit any of my persimmions because i play with a 2 peice suryln ball. i would have to dig up some old wound balls.

[freddiec]

Dan, buy some callaway chrome soft or super soft . They are great and would never damage your woods.... And feel like a balata (the super soft anyway). No need to try and dig up old wound anymore w the new soft balls

[CanadianCrippler]

You could even get some cheap Ladies balls, they would be very soft.

 

 

CC

[super20dan]

good info on the cally chrome. soft nike pd soft was also recommended. back in the late 70,s -i destroyed all my beautifull kenneth smith woods using top flites. couldnt afford titleist back then

[Texsport]

I just searched for a Kenneth Smith discussion and came up empty.

 

We should have one here!

 

I've got quite a few beautiful deep-faced Kenneth Smith drivers in barrels around here.

 

Texsport

[NRJyzr]

Dan, a lot of the Wilson Staff balls are excellent substitutes for wound balls, for persimmon use. Or in general. :).

 

The Duo and Fifty Elite are both very soft, the Duo not spinning much around the greens, the 50 Elite being a bit better (and surprising on occasion).

 

If you want the old school short game spin, the 16 version of the FG Tour is fairly ridiculous, and I mean that in a good way. It's not quite as soft as the 50 or Duo, but still feels almost wound ball soft, and the spin/stopping power is amazing.

 

Haven't tried the Duo Urethane, but I expect it may also be worth a look; it's said to be softer than the FG Tour, and with a urethane cover....

[golfmj228]

Texsport please start a Kenneth Smith discussion, I've never had the pleasure of swinging any of their classics but owned 2 different KS metals that I ended up selling on the bay back in the day to some dude in South Korea and made good money off of them. For some reason I always liked the look of the Irons in pictures but again never had the chance to swing them!

[super20dan]

they are very much an old school players club. not forgiving nor easy to hit. i played a set for about 10 years. top quality workmanship. the one wood i still have left is a driver with a fiberglass shaft. it goes a mile but is all over the course. i gave the irons away long ago

[Texsport]

The Kenneth Smith woods are beautiful.

 

Deep faced drivers with great grain.

 

Most of the later models had red-white-red fiber inserts as I recall.

 

I'll round up a few and post some pictures.

 

Texsport

[teevons]

here is a couple older sets pics of Smith

[freddiec]

Let's start at Kennith Smith thread ...

[rex235]

Wrxers-

 

Here is a Kenneth Smith Driver, formerly of the Classic Collection of George Peters-

 

 

 

 

 

As discussed before, Kenneth Smith golf clubs have Registration Numbers, and the name stamps of the people they were made for.

 

Unfortunately, the name, Reg Nos, "Kenneth Smith" logo stamp, Kansas City address, and motto "Hand Made to Fit You" were ground clean off the soleplate during the refinishing process.

 

But this is a LH Kenneth Smith Persimmon Driver, with the Brass Bullseye Firing Pin.

[CanadianCrippler]

Those Ken Smith woods are very cool, I will have to keep my eyes open for some..

 

 

CC

[super20dan]

absolutely beautiful woods! all mine broke right at the neck. would love to have a wooden" :roll in" putter but they are very rare now and usually 300$ or so. i picked up a set of the royal signet irons like i used to have but they are for a very short person and super flat lies. exact opposite of my specs. doubt i will ever do anything with these. too much work. i took the sw into a shop and asked to have it reshafted so i could play it. when i picked it up -the tech asked me not to bring any more in. lol

[golfmj228]

Super, can you post some pics of the signet's? Most of the ones I've seen in pictures have a sweet shape to the heads but I've never had the privilege to see any in person.

[golfmj228]

Here are some pics of a WB Corker I picked up a few years ago, even though it's not a Texan (or some of the other rarer versions) you can see the quality work WB did. Still a sweet stick all the years later.

[freddiec]

Had an interesting experience 2 nights ago while hitting this beauty before sunset. Take a look at this hole. This is about 125 yards infront of the Tee box walking out to pick up my shots. I hit 9 drives, about 6 or 7 pretty solid and very straight. Each shot was within a yard or two of the other ( All Callaway Chrome soft and even the 2 Old Tour Balata 100s). Go figure... ?? Love this Texan ! This is a really great old school par 4, its a very flat pretty wide open hole , cut into the Woods of my home town, its a Muni, but its in perfect condition. I played this course in High School. I often times will see Deer out here this time of night.

[CanadianCrippler]

Pretty picture of both the Texan and the par 4!

 

 

CC

[super20dan]

in honor or your texan pic i went out to my golf shed and dug out my texan. man what workmanship!

[freddiec]

Pic Dan... Post one

[CanadianCrippler]

Just took delivery of this very cool Texan! 11 degree loft, s400 DG shaft. I love the shape of this head, the stain and grain is sweet.. I can't wait to take it for a spin!

 

 

CC

 

 

[freddiec]

That's cool Cc. I like that. Very unique . Bet it's a fader

[golfmj228]

Man you guys sure do have some great collections! My wife is already on me and I haven't really even started collecting woods in earnest yet (a Texan is the top of my list)! I started working in a shop in 1994 and we had 3 of the Texans for sale at around $400 a pop maybe? Is that about what they sold for? I remember seeing the Great Big Bertha and Bubble shafts when the reps came in to show us and I knew sadly that persimmon was on the way out...WARNING old man rant coming...for me personally these giant drivers (which I play during the main part of the season for full disclosure) just partially ruined the game! I was already playing metal woods but between the crazy drivers and outlandish balls it's really sad!!! Ok rant over sorry guys ?

[CanadianCrippler]

Thanks Freddie! I see it hitting a nice tight cut (of course my swing doesn't always agree with my mind)!

 

Golfmj228, I am sure you will find a nice Texan to start down the path we have taken to obsession! There are a lot of WB's out there, many of the most unique ones you will find in sites like this one. I have a nice collection of unique WB clubs including a number of PGA Tour player Texan's, All American's and I have The Australian, All Japan and a Masters. I also have a set of WB Forged Blades.

Freddie & Texsport have some sweet ones too. Tex is likely the king of WB's overall!

 

CC