Playing Hickory Golf

[ebeer]

[quote name='Blade Junkie' timestamp='1433664623' post='11704480']
...and on some the only way was to hit a pitch off the tee onto a path or forward tee, where you could at least find the ball, and then try and play the 2nd shot to a point from which the 3rd could reach the green.
[/quote]

Wow Geoff...that's quite an approach. I think a lot of us would be frustrated with the distance, especially not even being able to reach some fairways. Laying up to the fairway...solid game plan and kudos to your gumption and strategy. Sounds like you made fun day of a challenging situation. Nice work!

[Blade Junkie]

[quote name='ebeer' timestamp='1433681426' post='11704948']
[quote name='Blade Junkie' timestamp='1433664623' post='11704480']
...and on some the only way was to hit a pitch off the tee onto a path or forward tee, where you could at least find the ball, and then try and play the 2nd shot to a point from which the 3rd could reach the green.
[/quote]

Wow Geoff...that's quite an approach. I think a lot of us would be frustrated with the distance, especially not even being able to reach some fairways. Laying up to the fairway...solid game plan and kudos to your gumption and strategy. Sounds like you made fun day of a challenging situation. Nice work!
[/quote]

Thanks Erik!

@Dave (MoaningM) - my fairway wood (Bulldog) did get much more use than normal ... and still to nowhere near the green lol.

I think hickories are most fun on Links courses. Rather attritional elsewhere if you play it from tees designed for modern bats, but the bragging rights are great when you beat people who are playing modern gear. It's a no risk strategy in that sense - if you beat people, the buzz is terrific, and if you don't, well you have the undeniable excuse of hundred year old clubs

The hard bit when playing hickory in a modern comp, is to maintain your tempo when your playing partners are swinging hard at the ball. It's easy to get subconsciously caught up in the "distance" quest and over-swing, and as we all know, that just doesn't work with wooden shafts

[majic]

As you say " not my cup of tea"
Great going Geoff. Should have played your Tad Moore's

[ebeer]

[quote name='Blade Junkie' timestamp='1433686229' post='11705286']
The hard bit when playing hickory in a modern comp, is to maintain your tempo when your playing partners are swinging hard at the ball. It's easy to get subconsciously caught up in the "distance" quest and over-swing, and as we all know, that just doesn't work with wooden shafts
[/quote]

Man this couldn't be more true, and is great advice. I played last week with some local sticks, and we played my home course from the tips at 7100yds. One of the guys cuts dogleg off the tee and lands his drive pin high on 412yd par 4. Even when trying very hard to remain within myself and swing the hickories properly, after watching bombs like that evil thoughts settle squarely between my ears. Sometimes playing good hickory golf with modern playing partners can be very tough.

[Blade Junkie]

[quote name='majic' timestamp='1433689019' post='11705448']
As you say " not my cup of tea"
Great going Geoff. Should have played your Tad Moore's
[/quote]

You know I did think that at one point - some more distance off the tee would certainly have helped !

I'm going to take them out one evening this week

[Kirasdad]

[quote name='stixman' timestamp='1433667287' post='11704524']
Stunning stuff, Geoff. A great challenge, a challenge in the true sense of the word, a bit like Scott's Antarctic expedition, a taken on in heroic spirit.
Could be also, unmentioned that the weather over here has been, well, unmentionable. High winds and rain have been on the order of play. If so, that would have made the Hickory round of the year evn more noteworthy
[/quote]

Geoff, you are a beast! No way would I have tried that. Hat's off to you.

However, I hate to disagree with the redoubtable Mr. Stix, but I think you did better than the game, but unfortunate Captain Scott, in that you are still with us, and didn't expire on the 17th hole.

[Blade Junkie]

[quote name='Kirasdad' timestamp='1433713854' post='11707206']

Geoff, you are a beast! No way would I have tried that. Hat's off to you.

However, I hate to disagree with the redoubtable Mr. Stix, but I think you did better than the game, but unfortunate Captain Scott, in that you are still with us, and didn't expire on the 17th hole.
[/quote]



"I'm just going hickory golfing ... and may be some time ... "

[HoldenCornfield]

BJ, hats off to you! Hickories at 7100 yards? And with stiff winds and soft fairways? I bet it seemed more like 8000 yards!!!

I played the hickories at 6300 last week with dry conditions and my repro driver from Tad and had no issues; actually carded my best round since April (not just with hickories, mind you). But I tried playing 6500 yards a few weeks ago and it just wasn't much fun. Somewhere in there is a point of diminishing returns.

[Kirasdad]

Agreed. 6300 is about my limit. There is a links style course about 70 miles from here that the PCH (Pacific Coast Hickory Golfers) guys play outings on, where I can hit my driver 250 and farther on occasion, so 6500 hundred there is fine, but that's the exception.

Played 18 yesterday evening. Even though I was practicing with several balls, my first ball I kept track of for score and had a satisfying 81 hitting every club (all nine of them!) in a variety of different ways. Mucho fun. For example on number 13, a 395 yard par four into the wind, I had a spoon shot into the green. I went ahead and hit a regular shot, a good strike. Then I threw down another ball and took out my mid iron, played the ball back in my stance and hit a low penetrator below the breeze. Walked up to the green both balls were a step apart a pace off the green 30 feet from the pin. The spoon is normally at least 15 yards farther than my mid iron on a "normal" shot. In hickory though there always seems to be a "new normal" depending on conditions and one's imagination.

[scomac2002]

[quote name='Kirasdad' timestamp='1433810159' post='11714920']
In hickory though there always seems to be a "new normal" depending on conditions and one's imagination.
[/quote]

Well put. I do wonder though if this has more universal application in golf than strictly the realm of hickory or vintage? It seems to me that this is one aspect of the game that has been lost with the advent of modern equipment or perhaps more correctly the current way in which the game is played. I do recall that in the past month or so on the dark side of this forum a member was questioning just how you go about limiting yourself to 14 clubs when it was clear that he needed to execute about 19 different shots. I would seem that in many golfers' minds imagination has been replaced by marketing and technology when in fact you should be able to play the game much in the same way that it has always been played by simply opening one's mind to the possibility. I know that I'm looking at my modern bag in a completely different light after having the benefit of some vintage play to sharpen my focus.

[stixman]

There is a viewpoint which says that scoring in any form of golf, Hickory, P&B, or 'normal' is dependant on how many putts you hole and how many short approaches you get near the pin.

Personally, at my level of the game I can miss a green equally well with a modern 5 iron or a hickory spoon; it isn't this per se that affects the score.

Key to it all is having hickory club to pitch with reliably and trying to miss your shot where it will do least damage, and a putter you can trust. Finding an original hickory pitching club that fits the bill really is the grail. How far you batter it off the tee is a mind-set we are trying to get away from.....sorry, correction....I am trying to get away from.

This is what makes Geoff's tour de force all the more noteworthy because he has demonstrated this point far better than I can write about it!

[oldschoolrocker]

Need a bit of advice.
Found a hairline crack in the neck of my Brassie during my last round a couple of weeks ago before my work travels took me away. Tee ball on the 16th brought it out in the open, as the head traveled about as far as the ball. Upon retrieving the head found it had splintered. Shaft is intact with no damage.
My question: could I re-epoxy the head to the shaft and then re-construct the neck using some sort of wood filler, sand, re-whip and have reasonable expectations of playability?

[bajadulce]

Fantastic playing recently Ben - Match Play and at Tad's event. You're playing well! Fun!

And how cool was that for 14 year old Grayson Giboney to represent our west coast! I think we'll be reading a lot about him in the future. I see there was another west coast player in the field from Bel Air Country Club in Los Angeles - Cliff Martin. I believe I met him 2 years ago along with our own John at the 2013 California Hickory Open. ... Speaking of John, I haven't seen you at any of the west coast events in awhile, but am reading about your travels to Mid Pines and other east coast events etc. We scare you away or something?

Geoff.. they have these S&M bars in San Francisco where you can pay to get whipped. You might want to put that on your bucket list too.

@ extreme yardage for hickory:
This is my own concocted view and conclusion, but it would seem to me that a longer than normal course effects the scratch golfer more so than the bogey and duffer. The bogey golfer is going to bogey a 250 yard par 4 just as easily from inside 100 yards as he will from 200+ yards on a 425+ par 4. He'll bogey a par 3 of 100 yards just as easily as a par 3 of 220+ yards. The scratch golfer who is used to hitting 10+ GIR is now hitting much fewer and is less precise with longer approach shots. A guy that routinely shoots 72 is going to shoot 80 and a guy that normally shoots 90 is maybe going to shoot 95 at worst. Again my own twisted thinking, but longer courses effect the lower handicap player more so than the middle handicap guy.

@ head flying off! Ouch!
I'm no club repair expert, but after you put it back together with epoxy (the breakdown in the animal glue was what caused this loose head), I would chop up fibeglass to fill the voids and then take a long thin strip of fibeglass to wrap the hosel... starting very close to the head too. Sand that and apply more expoxy if needed to fill little air bubbles and imperfections and then whip over that. You might even put a little diluted epoxy over the whipping too! The main issue is getting a solid connection with shaft and hosel. The fiberglass cocoon is there to dampen the outward force (blowout) and keep things together. A small pin might be a good idea as well.

Nice putter Erik!

-- stay legit and golf responsibly!

[stixman]

[quote name='oldschoolrocker' timestamp='1433868246' post='11719190']
Need a bit of advice.
Found a hairline crack in the neck of my Brassie during my last round a couple of weeks ago before my work travels took me away. Tee ball on the 16th brought it out in the open, as the head traveled about as far as the ball. Upon retrieving the head found it had splintered. Shaft is intact with no damage.
My question: could I re-epoxy the head to the shaft and then re-construct the neck using some sort of wood filler, sand, re-whip and have reasonable expectations of playability?
[/quote]

Sorry to be over-succinct.
The answer to all the above is 'Yes!' I've done it many times using slow cure (extra strength) epoxy for adhesive purposes and as bonding material for wood sawdust filler. If the damage has got into the integrity of the lead back weight, use lead filings/powder mixed with epoxy to both add weight and bond the fractures. My Forgan baffie has happily existed in this state for a decade.
Personally, I swear by boat building 2 part epoxy. If it's good enough for the Lloyds Register, it's good enough for me!

[Bella Woods]

[quote name='oldschoolrocker' timestamp='1433868246' post='11719190']
Need a bit of advice.
Found a hairline crack in the neck of my Brassie during my last round a couple of weeks ago before my work travels took me away. Tee ball on the 16th brought it out in the open, as the head traveled about as far as the ball. Upon retrieving the head found it had splintered. Shaft is intact with no damage.
My question: could I re-epoxy the head to the shaft and then re-construct the neck using some sort of wood filler, sand, re-whip and have reasonable expectations of playability?
[/quote]


I think Dave Wood has a good method for this.

Re-Epoxy the shaft to the head, "terminate" the neck crack by drilling a small hole at the end of it and
use "rockhard" to fix the crack (including the small hole you drilled). It will last for a long time as stixman
has attested to.

Edit - Rockhard will fix crack [u]and [/u]strengthen the neck of the club. Dave uses it on classic clubs in
place of a ferrule as well - you can see it on his website under the golf club section.

[oldschoolrocker]

Gentlemen, thank you all for your time and expert responses. Looks like the rain has followed me home, flash flood warnings in effect, so I will take that as a sign to tinker tomorrow.

[majic]

I have made repairs of on clubs like this. Use long cure epoxy. When assembling the shaft back into the head use lots of epoxy so it will fill many cracks etc. put masking tape around. After drying file and sand to get shape back. If you are having to build up the neck I put sawdust into epoxy to create a thick material and as it begins to set put it on the neck and shape. One final thing I do is to rub into my pitched linen whipping thin epoxy. This really gives added strength. Don't be afraid to experiment.

[GaillaridiaHickory]

Got a new bag in today.

[GaillaridiaHickory]

It's an old Spaulding bag patent date 1924. I good shape needs a lol cleaner and a lot of conditioner!

[ebeer]

Beauty of a bag, love the exposed stitching on the top. Good luck with the restore, if the leather, stitching, and straps hold you'll have yourself a gem.

[GaillaridiaHickory]

I'm going to take it to a take shop by the racetrack to get a couple of things done. Hope it works out it sure is sweet!

[GaillaridiaHickory]

Got a Gibson Star maxwell today. Has a crack in the hosel and the shaft. Bummer! Can anyone tell me of it worth restoring. Could I even reshafted it with the cracked hosel?

[GaillaridiaHickory]

The cracked hosel

[GaillaridiaHickory]

Split in the shaft. Face of mid iron

[GaillaridiaHickory]

Split in the shaft. Face of mid iron

[GaillaridiaHickory]

Can I still replace the shaft with the crack in the hosel of the Gibson mid iron?

[stixman]

Welding stainless steel is not difficult, specialist but not difficult. I have a stainless steel fabricating business a couple of miles away and one of their craftsmen does work for me during his lunch break. I usually bung him a pony.(£25). It's a nice head and worth the trouble. It will also polish up nicely.
Then you ask Tad to sell you a shaft and you will have a great club.
Only one thing you need to do before starting and that is to check the swing weight. If it's too light, don't bother with any of the foregoing.

[GaillaridiaHickory]

Thanks stixman. Picking up the swing weight scale on Monday from golfsmith.

[GaillaridiaHickory]

Are there any Oklahoma or Arkansas hickory golfers on this forum?

[majic]

I agree Stix. If it is a good head weight so the swing weight is ok I would have it done. Fit one of my shafts and you will have a good club