Rounds with a Vintage Bag

[MoaningM]

This is'nt too bad a hogan, from late 1990's to early 2000's admittedly not quite old school but slowly becoming retro, previously owned by Paul Lawrie....

 

 

[teevons]

Like the head shape, much smaller than Bettinardi Hogan sold to public

[BIG STU]

Checkers. I need to know this.

 

Quid pro quo, an antisocial mate of mine picked up "The Flame" after the Olympic version. Neither of them ever go out.

Ok Johnny LOL just for you yeah I know inquiring minds want to know

 

He is my buddy Bo -Bear's brother his real name is Donnie and he is a pretty good player especially for his age (67) and in great physical shape. He may have a blow up hole or two as everyone does and he will get ticked off and will say " I am going to quit this #$%@!*&% game and go to playing checkers. I asked Bo-Bear one day if he knew how to play checkers which he replied "he has never played a game of checkers in his life" I have a thing for nicknaming people and I nicknamed him Checkers and it has stuck. He thinks it is funny as heck

[BIG STU]

Still probably have at least another week left but the course was deserted today. After playing my speed slots the other day decided to make it an all Hogan bag. The 77 apexes have the legend shaft and I have always been inconsistent with them. They are a light shaft so just on a whim loaded the heads with lead tape. Don't know if its a one and done but had a great round. Can't wait till tomorrow.

Right up my alley exactly what I would have done. Yep that will make them kick on the bottom end

[jonnygrouville]

So do I! Love it.

 

[jonnygrouville]

Nickname thing, I mean.

 

[super20dan]

i saw a spalding exe wood in pics a few posts back. i allways wondered if they were as easy to hit as they look. i picked up a set but never hit them . any one try them in the past?

[scomac2002]

i saw a spalding exe wood in pics a few posts back. i allways wondered if they were as easy to hit as they look. i picked up a set but never hit them . any one try them in the past?

 

Yup, that was mine. It sets up open to my eye. I don't play it a lot, but it goes pretty good and pretty straight. The 3W might be the best of the bunch, but I haven't had it in the bag this year. It launches pretty well for a wooden head with a modern ball. It's good for 200 yd. on a well struck ball either off a peg or the deck. (FWIW the Spaldings spot in the bag have been taken over by a pair of Stanley Thompson woods which sit squarer even though the heads are smaller)

 

One thing I do like about playing wooden fairway woods is that the extra head weight is pretty handy for digging a ball out of the rough vs. the modern light weight metal woods of today which for me pretty well restricts them to "fairway" clubs.

[super20dan]

thanks for the input on the exe woods. they look eaiser to hit from fairway. i wanted vintage woods that were easier to hit than the normal ones. i struggle with this part of the game usually. got them but havent tried them out yet. i saw a exe 7 wood recently but didnt buy it. my main trouble is finding some one else to play with thats willing to use vintage equiptment. so far i have had only one vintage match with someone and both of us were suprised how well we did with the old gear.

[scomac2002]

thanks for the input on the exe woods. they look eaiser to hit from fairway. i wanted vintage woods that were easier to hit than the normal ones. i struggle with this part of the game usually. got them but havent tried them out yet. i saw a exe 7 wood recently but didnt buy it. my main trouble is finding some one else to play with thats willing to use vintage equiptment. so far i have had only one vintage match with someone and both of us were suprised how well we did with the old gear.

 

I've got a couple of photos of the fairways when I cleaned them up originally that I posted on another thread, but I can't seem to lay my fingers on them.

 

<dig, dig, dig>

 

Found them in the cloud!

 

 

 

As you can see they have a really high toe. I think that's why they look open faced to me, but they work pretty well if you put a good swing on the ball. If you're interested, shoot me a PM.

 

With respect to playing vintage; I don't let what my playing partners are using determine my choice of equipment. I just go with what I'm in the mood to use. I don't figure I'm giving up anything by playing vintage in the irons, wedges or putter department. The trick is finding the right combination of woods that allow you to get competitive results that are consistent. No wonder that the pros played the same old driver for years when they found one they liked. For me, the old Callaway War birds are competitive distance wise, but they're metal. I'm still looking for the right combo of wooden woods, but for the most part I'm not sure that matters to me all that much as I'm scoring with the War bird driver and Stanley Thompson Gintys as well as any modern bag I can piece together from inventory. An added benefit is that it can be quite gratifying to beat your buddies using much older equipment. The chirping stops as soon as you stripe that first shot down the middle of the fairway!

[Fellaheen51]

.........With respect to playing vintage; I don't let what my playing partners are using determine my choice of equipment. I just go with what I'm in the mood to use. I don't figure I'm giving up anything by playing vintage in the irons, wedges or putter department. The trick is finding the right combination of woods that allow you to get competitive results that are consistent. No wonder that the pros played the same old driver for years when they found one they liked. For me, the old Callaway War birds are competitive distance wise, but they're metal. I'm still looking for the right combo of wooden woods, but for the most part I'm not sure that matters to me all that much as I'm scoring with the War bird driver and Stanley Thompson Gintys as well as any modern bag I can piece together from inventory. An added benefit is that it can be quite gratifying to beat your buddies using much older equipment. The chirping stops as soon as you stripe that first shot down the middle of the fairway!

 

Great point with your first sentence. If we were to allow playing partners to have influence, our choices would be narrowed to clubs > 5 years old. That's vintage in their eyes. The usual suspects sorta mock me by asking what old clubs are in the bag today. I show them, usually met with a shrug of the shoulders and a pithy "that's nice". Motivation to try and beat them on the day.

 

Now I have a question. Have noticed that you (et. al.) have been playing the the old(er) Cally's. Heretofore, I've had a negative bias against them for the sole reason of trying to perform a reshaft on a buddy's GBB a number of years ago. He broke a shaft and I tried to help him out. Became a major PITA trying to do the job for him. Put a pox on them hereafter. But things change. Now intrigued with the idea of perhaps acquiring and playing a set.

 

Not knowing much at all about Cally of this era, what should I be looking for? Is the Warbird sole plate the preferred? Bought the Mrs. an 11 wood and the sole plate said "Big Bertha" but was not the Warbird design. BB or GBB? Assuming the only difference being cc of size. Any experience with the Hawkeye sole plate. Assuming they superseded the Warbird's.

 

I run across them with some degree of regularity and have sorta dismissed them out of hand (see bias). Found a 5W the other day but left it there as it was a bit overpriced. Now a local CL listing for a set (11* D, 3, 7) has appeared. Got me to thinking this morning. Still a PITA to reshaft, but may be better prepared for the challenge these days. TIA.

[super20dan]

i havnt tried to reshaft a big bertha but did a successful job on a titliest 975 driver, wasnt easy . wouldnt want to do it for a living. the 7 and 9 woods are the star preformers from the war bird big bertha era in my book. i still use a heaven wood sometimes depending on the course i play.no experience with the hawkeye but the model right after the big bertha -the steelhead was very well recieved on tour as 3 woods and is still popular today. its eaiser to hit from the deck vs the big b was/is

[scomac2002]

I've got the BB War bird driver in 11° and the Heavenwood which is 20° loft with a 4/5W length shaft. Both are equipped with the Aldila boron graphite RCH 90 shaft in medium which is a stock shaft offering. It's plenty good for me with my sub 90 ss. There are also 99 and 96 versions of that shaft out there and some later models came with BBul 60 shaft I think. Of course there's always the Memphis 10 uniflex steel shaft, but I didn't get along with that.

 

I bought the ones that I've got based on price as in $10 each because it was going to be a try it and see. The driver has been great! I've hit some bombs with it which is pretty stunning for a 195 cc head. I know that most people assume it's a 3W. I usually tell them it's a brassie and you get that huh look. ;)

 

The GBB will be titanium head and 253 cc I think so it's a touch bigger, but not noticeably so as they are both fairly deep faced clubs. Swing easy, go far seems to be the mantra with these. I play this about a heel's width off my left toe and set-up with the chevron mark to the outside of the ball to accommodate my outside-in path and try to swing straight through. Works pretty well and I'm really surprised at the launch with these things as ball go high if you tee it up a bit!

 

I would concur with dan that the Heavenwood and Divine Nine are the two most useful clubs in the line. My buddy Bill plays the nine, same shaft as mine and it's his go to 160ish club. He also has the 3W and the 5W, but he has replaced them with something a bit newer. If I had one complaint it's that i find the fairways a bit light. They're fine out of the fairway or off a tee, but I struggle with them in the rough as they just don't cut through the crap, but then, I think that might be a universal issue with Callaway fairway woods of any vintage.

 

I can't comment on the Hawkeye, but I do know that it has fans also. Same applies to the Steelheads and we all know what Hendrik Stenson can do with that Octane of his!

[Wriggles]

I have 2 BB Warbirds, 2 GBB, and 1 BBB. The BBB is an 11 deg model, GBB's are 8 and 9 deg, and the BB's 9 and 10 deg. I played the BBB last week, seems the 11 deg ball flight was too high for me, robbing me of distance Yesterday, I put the 9 deg GBB and the 10 deg BB in my minimalist bag, along with 5,8,PW Karsten 2's, and my TPM with the regular grip.

 

Distance was about the same for the two drivers, roughly 180-210, with the GBB seemingly being the most competent of the two. The BB Warbird, I had a tendency to slice, where the GBB was down the middle. When I bought the BB Warbird, had to be year 2000, I paid $49.95 for it, and I sliced it like crazy. I was elated to get my first Callaway wood so cheap. I think I paid $6 for the 9 deg model years later.

 

I recall seeing older BB's without the Warbird soleplate designation. Never had one, but as I remember, there was very little difference in the sole plate, or what I could discern.

 

Although they're good clubs, it amazes me how Callaway marketed those clubs to sell for as much or more than an entire set of clubs. AND people actually waited in line to get them. I remember a guy, I didn't know well, bought two GBB's at $500 each.

 

Things have been crazy since.

[scomac2002]

I remember a good buddy of mine telling me back about 1990 or so that he had just bought a new set of Callaway Big Bertha woods. I imagine they were the original version, driver, 3W, 5W and he paid $1000 for the three of them! That was a lot of money back in those days. A nice bungalow was selling for about $80K. We had just bought a new Mercury Topaz for $8700 and my buddy paid $1000 for golf clubs, 3 of them! I sure didn't get it...

[teevons]

like this you mean??http://www.ebay.com/itm/291941069206?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

[scomac2002]

like this you mean??http://www.ebay.com/itm/291941069206?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

 

Sure, just like that! There you go Fella, an instant collection in one stop!

[Fellaheen51]

LOL. Thanks for the heads up T. Just one click away. But.....to many 9 woods, do not want. I'm not "gaming" no 9 wood. Old man's club! (Sez someone that already has a V-Steel 9W awaiting a reshaft.)

 

Thx for all the Cally BB and GBB feedback ^. I just remembered this morning. Already have a start to the Cally Collection. Bought a Big Bertha Heavenwood #7 cheap awhile back for the GD YS6+ shaft (to go into the 9W above). Threw the head under the workbench to be forgotten. Hmmm. Wonder how it would play with an old .335 Brunswick Rifle 5.0 steel shaft that I have around? Am I up to messing around with another bore thru? Golfworks use to have this gauge that determined the proper chop angle. But don't see it listed any longer. Plus need to get some of those end of the shaft plug thingy's. Who decided bore-thru was a good idea?

 

 

[birly-shirly]

[...] Wonder how it would play with an old .335 Brunswick Rifle 5.0 steel shaft that I have around? Am I up to messing around with another bore thru? Golfworks use to have this gauge that determined the proper chop angle. But don't see it listed any longer. Plus need to get some of those end of the shaft plug thingy's. Who decided bore-thru was a good idea?

 

 

I like the steel shaft. But proper chop angle and shaft plugs are for posers (and professional club repairmen).

 

Excess epoxy, taped off to cure, will form a plug. If you need to add headweight (which you probably won't if you're replacing a factory graphite shaft with steel), use lead tape instead of weight down the shaft. You can file a steel shaft close enough to the sole angle, and except for appearances sake, don't need to be perfectly precise or flush with the sole. I can't say for sure whether those came from the factory with a true o-ring instead of a ferrule, or if the originals did run slightly deeper into the hosel, but I use standard o-rings for replacements.

 

I agree the bore-through is a PITA from a finishing point of view, but it's not actually too bad to work with in conjunction with steel shafts. The old titleist bore-throughs, I usually leave the shaft tip square rather than worry about an angled cut flush with the sole, but there's much more hosel length in the Titleists to bond to. The Callaways offer much less contact area, and I'm reluctant to not use all of it.

 

In theory, the tip length should take account of the bore depth but I'm not sure this is such an issue if you're just jamming in whatever spare shaft is in the shed.

[Fellaheen51]

Thx Birly. LOL, "poser" technique. That's a new one. Not worry about tip trim length, not good enough to be that fussy. The Rifle has already been tip trimmed to a long forgotten spec. Jam in the shaft max insertion depth, o-ring for a ferrule, glob in some epoxy, little filing and sanding to smooth everything out. Done. Easy peasy.

[scomac2002]

Thx Birly. LOL, "poser" technique. That's a new one. Not worry about tip trim length, not good enough to be that fussy. The Rifle has already been tip trimmed to a long forgotten spec. Jam in the shaft max insertion depth, o-ring for a ferrule, glob in some epoxy, little filing and sanding to smooth everything out. Done. Easy peasy.

 

Actually, that doesn't sound like a PITA at all. Setting an "O" ring has to be easier than whipping a persimmon!

 

Let us know how the Rifle plays in that head. Might end up being a worthwhile way of adding a bit of extra beef to the club to help power it through the rough.

[super20dan]

took the 1960 mac mt 4000fc set out for a spin today. only second time i have played them . wow these are some set of irons. considering their age-i dont think hogan caught up with these in technology till the apex in 73-thats a good 10 years. i could easily play these from now on and be happy. with all the other iron sets i own -thats not going to happen lol. these are easy the best looking of the vintage irons i feel. took the 25th anniversary murfield sw today also and it was money . fabulous sw!

[scomac2002]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

 

An apropos description of my day at the course as this was perhaps the most perfect mid November day I can ever remember spending on the golf course, however the golf was something entirely else. Probably not the wisest decision to opt to change the irons and wedge in the bag after getting along surprisingly well with my Golden Ram Axial Tour Grinds and RAM Watson wedge.

 

I was miserable out of the gate. I think I knew that was going to be the case because I was pretty sore this morning. I probably should have played hit it until you like it, but my playing partners were on their back nine when I joined so that wasn't really going to work.

 

Going back to the Precision II BeCu irons was a bit of an adjustment due to the off-set and lower SW versus the GR's. I had several pulls until I got my sequencing down. Contact was good, just off-line. Once I got my issues sorted I hit several beautiful iron shots in succession, but that was sort of the extent of the bright spots. Distance control was off on the wedge as I was playing a 53° versus a 55° that I use with the Tour Grinds and I was pushing most of my putts, so neither was helpful to scoring. Oh well, c'est la vie... :dntknw:

[super20dan]

those ram watson wedges are great -have the whole set. the troon grind sw is a real players wedge

[TimV]

I have put my 60 Wilson Staffs and Stan Thompson Custom Persimmons away for "The On Season." I've been solely playing my 85 Mizzy Blades for the last 3 weeks or so. Like several others here I am playing them with more modern "Woods" using a Ping G2 Driver, Titleist 980F 3 Wood, and a Cleveland HiBore 5 wood. Honestly the 3 & 5 woods get played very seldom as I hit my 2 iron almost as far but far more consistently. The Ping G2 I hit well and pretty consistently.

I tried, I really did, to warm up to the modern set I built for myself using ProLaunch Blue graphite shafts in some Mitsushiba cavity back heads but They Just Don't Do It For Me.

For those still playing... Hit Em Well!

For those now waiting for April or May... Rest Well and Prepare.

To All.. Be Well. We are Blessed.

[Blade Junkie]

Fabulous lunchtime round today at a lovely little 9-hole course at the base of the Lake District, Grange Fell GC ... 2700 yards Par 35, 25mph winds, no rain !

 

The card loops you round twice for the 18, which would be a par 70 SSS 64 off the back (white) tees. I was round in 37 for my 9 holes, and very pleased with that as it was a first round with a new set of irons, purchased locally the day before. Anyone ever heard of a golf club company called Lomond Golf Scotland ? Nice 3-SW set of Silver Blade Classic irons - I'd guess 1980s vintage. I'll take some pics of the bag another time. Woods were a Titleist 983K and a Joe Powell DSP GT 4-wood, and I also had the 2-iron from my Ben Sayers Mentor set as well. Didn't have a putter with me, so used the 2 iron or the sand wedge, depending on putt length.

 

Grange Fell is up on the hills above Grange-over-Sands, overlooking the village of Cartmel, famous for it's Priory dating back to the 12th century, and also for a great recipe for Sticky Toffee pudding, and a micro brewery !

 

Here's a few pics - absolutely OUTSTANDING views, and the course, while short, has small tricky greens and was alot of fun to play, If you told me this was the only course I was allowed to play from now on, I'd be more than OK with that :)...

 

5th Tee, looking left towards Cartmel

 

 

 

7th Green Panorama - looking back down the fairway. Cartmel on the right.

 

 

 

9th Tee - 208 yards downhill with out of bounds down the right and long. Green just to the right of the clubhouse (white roof). Stixman's house is across the sea in the distance about 12 miles as the crow flies :)

 

 

 

I hit 3 iron and pitch mark was 6 feet left of the hole, leaving me an 8 foot birdie chip, which I missed left. Nice Par to finish anyway !

 

 

 

All this for the princely sum of £10, to seal in an envelope and post through the secretary's letter box. Apart from a 4-ball about 3 holes ahead, there was literally no-one else at the Club!

 

Hoping to play with Stixman at Morecambe GC on Friday - watch this space !

[birly-shirly]

Thrift, gowf, pud and ale. So, what took you there BJ??

[stixman]

A true Lakeland holiday romp at it's best! Look forward to Friday!

 

The original 1895 Grange-over-Sands Golf Club Fellgate course is onlt half a mile away, closed in the 1930s having been replaced by the 1919 'New' course on the salt marsh in the estuary land below.

Global warming has resulted in the 'New'course now being commonly flooded, take note, amongst the first of many.

 

btw the 'New' course has in common with The Augusta National a certain golf course architect.

[Blade Junkie]

A true Lakeland holiday romp at it's best! Look forward to Friday!

 

The original 1895 Grange-over-Sands Golf Club Fellgate course is onlt half a mile away, closed in the 1930s having been replaced by the 1919 'New' course on the salt marsh in the estuary land below.

Global warming has resulted in the 'New'course now being commonly flooded, take note, amongst the first of many.

 

btw the 'New' course has in common with The Augusta National a certain golf course architect.

 

I played Grange 'New' in March 2013 with my hickories - some excellent holes, with the classic MacKenzie "camouflage" .... fore-shortened approaches, dog legs etc etc. 18th to finish was a great finishing par-5 hole if I remember correctly !

[golfmj228]

Blade Junkie that is truly a beautiful place!! I've been trying to get over to the motherland for at least 2 decades, alas it may have to be when all the the little ones are out of the house (approx 1 more decade!). Thank you for the great post.