Rounds with a Vintage Bag

[Gsea]

On 7/11/2021 at 6:45 AM, BIG STU said:

And PBR to boot!!!!!  A real man's beer ---- What I drink along with Yeungling when I do drink a beer. Real golf clubs and real beer what a combo!!!!!

PBR in my top 2 !!!!!

[Jiggered]

Played a knockout match in our club midweek knockout today, John Letters 1 and 2½  woods, Slazenger Bobby Locke irons and a Slazenger Pinehurst putter.

 

I was dormie four but two birdies and a par from my opponent brought us to the 201 yard, par 3 18th, where I finally got the half that was needed for a 1 up win, a bit more nerve wracking than I'd anticipated after 14 holes.

 

The John Letters 1 wood is a wreck I got off ebay last year and this week is the first time I've used it, it's instantly become a favourite and I'm going to have to find a way of getting it back into good shape.

 

There's a load of epoxy in the face on the heel side and a sheared screw on the insert.  It's obviously been repaired a few times over the years so someone else must have appreciated back then too.

 

 

Edited July 13, 2021 by Jiggered

[deejaid]

Took my hickories out last night to play the 4-hole loop (#16, 17, 18, and back down 15) behind my house.   Decided to play from the ladies tees to make it a bit easier since I rarely play the hickories.   Played pretty well with them going bogey, bogey, par, par.  It was the third hole of my loop (#18 at my course) that I hit my best shot.

 

Hit a nice drive with my spoon and then tried hitting my mid iron 27* and ended up in the right greenside bunker.  My hickory set is that of a beginning hickory player so I only have 6 clubs in the bag.  I don’t have a sand wedge per se and to be honest I never tried hitting a bunker shot with a hickory before.

 

So I pull out my niblick which is my highest loft club at 52* and prepare for the worst.  My bunker play has been abysmal for the last year as every bunker shot I play comes out low.  I can’t seem to get any height on my bunker shots even with my more modern sand wedge and now I’m standing in a bunker with a niblick with no bounce and a half centimeter wide sole.  I prepare for the worst thinking I’m going to blade this over the next fairway, open up the face as much as I can, and take my swing.  
 

WOW!

 

I hit the most perfect bunker shot maybe in my entire life!  The ball went straight up in the air, landed a few feet in front of the pin and rolled by to about 3-feet away.   I couldn’t believe it.

 

Im sure if I go out with that niblick and practice for hours I wouldn’t hit a shot that good again.  Maybe I need to stick it in the bag with the Palmer’s. 😂

[scomac2002]

Funny how it can go.   I don't have any sand bunkers at the two courses I  play league golf at.  I'm on vacation visiting my son and we played yesterday at his course.   Last hole I fly my approach into a deep bunker with a nasty overhanging lip protecting the green.   First sand shot of the season and just like you managed a perfect bunker shot using a set of rentals that happened to have an old worn out 588 lob wedge.  Who knew?🤷‍♂️

[BIG STU]

On 7/17/2021 at 8:58 AM, scomac2002 said:

Funny how it can go.   I don't have any sand bunkers at the two courses I  play league golf at.  I'm on vacation visiting my son and we played yesterday at his course.   Last hole I fly my approach into a deep bunker with a nasty overhanging lip protecting the green.   First sand shot of the season and just like you managed a perfect bunker shot using a set of rentals that happened to have an old worn out 588 lob wedge.  Who knew?🤷‍♂️

Things tend to happen like that when you have a well used 588---- Why do you think mine is still in the bag???

[BIG STU]

On 7/13/2021 at 1:10 PM, Jiggered said:

Played a knockout match in our club midweek knockout today, John Letters 1 and 2½  woods, Slazenger Bobby Locke irons and a Slazenger Pinehurst putter.

 

I was dormie four but two birdies and a par from my opponent brought us to the 201 yard, par 3 18th, where I finally got the half that was needed for a 1 up win, a bit more nerve wracking than I'd anticipated after 14 holes.

 

The John Letters 1 wood is a wreck I got off ebay last year and this week is the first time I've used it, it's instantly become a favourite and I'm going to have to find a way of getting it back into good shape.

 

There's a load of epoxy in the face on the heel side and a sheared screw on the insert.  It's obviously been repaired a few times over the years so someone else must have appreciated back then too.

 

 

Love that battered and beaten driver---- It has a history and credibility for sure and I know one thing you can bet the farm on--- It has character-- Unless it is cracking or falling apart I would not do anything to it

[Foozle]

Following Stu's rebuke for putting Hogan clubs in a MacGregor bag I thought I would shake up the team a little and ventured out last night with the line up below.

Apex driver remained - sorry Stu! Note the tee line on the toe - not last night but recent - I would have got away with that with 460cc - I didn't with this! Enough said! 

A97 Peter Broadbent, solid as ever!

For Deejaid's benefit, Stan Thomson Ginty for some of the wispy rough we have at the moment. Deliberately fired a few I there 🤣 to try it out and it worked a treat! A real cheating machine!

Repro SS1 1 iron matched with M1T FC4000 irons to share ColdWar's love of all things ceramic faced. Really sweet when hit, great feel and nice original grips but I need to fill the gap between the 9 and pitching duty 11. Guessing there may be 10* between these?

R20 sand iron also a survivor. Probably similar loft if not slightly less than the 11 so not that sensible an inclusion but i wanted to have something with some bounce for bunker play. As it happened I avoided all sand so it was excess baggage.

Zebra has been decidedly cold recently but the shake up around it must have got its attention and it became luke warm last night.

Enjoyed the round, just need to tweak the team at the lower end of the bag. Just as a broken clock is right twice a day, had a couple of really nice shots out there to encourage me back. 

Edited July 24, 2021 by Foozle
Correction

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

I remember trying to wipe off the curved tee lines on the toe back in the day, while carefully preserving the straight ones on the centre of the sole😅

[cold_war_era_golfer]

7 hours ago, Foozle said:

Following Stu's rebuke for putting Hogan clubs in a MacGregor bag I thought I would shake up the team a little and ventured out last night with the line up below.

Apex driver remained - sorry Stu! Note the tee line on the toe - not last night but recent - I would have got away with that with 460cc - I didn't with this! Enough said! 

A97 Peter Broadbent, solid as ever!

For Deejaid's benefit, Stan Thomson Ginty for some of the wispy rough we have at the moment. Deliberately fired a few I there 🤣 to try it out and it worked a treat! A real cheating machine!

Repro SS1 1 iron matched with M1T FC4000 irons to share ColdWar's love of all things ceramic faced. Really sweet when hit, great feel and nice original grips but I need to fill the gap between the 9 and pitching duty 11. Guessing there may be 10* between these?

R20 sand iron also a survivor. Probably similar loft if not slightly less than the 11 so not that sensible an inclusion but i wanted to have something with some bounce for bunker play. As it happened I avoided all sand so it was excess baggage.

Zebra has been decidedly cold recently but the shake up around it must have got its attention and it became luke warm last night.

Enjoyed the round, just need to tweak the team at the lower end of the bag. Just as a broken clock is right twice a day, had a couple of really nice shots out there to encourage me back. 

That bag looks incredible!   Lol I guess I am getting a reputation for being mr ceramic face around here.  I played mine again yesterday and I really think I’d keep my ‘63s over all my other sets.  Including non MacGregor stuff too.   
 

Looks like you have a beautiful set of ‘64s. I like the crown ferrules of the ‘63s but it looks like the ‘64s have the same leather grips my ‘64 DXs have which I prefer over the purple ‘63 leather grips.  
 

That 1i.  Though!!  Wow that’s beautiful 

[Robert L.]

This morning I shot a 49 with my vintage set. I hit my Hogan persimmon driver very well, and my Haig Ultras were also hit well. My putting was also good. What killed me was my short game, specifically my chipping and short range pitching. I could have posted a better score if my short game was better. Oh well, at least I'll know what to work on next time I go to the range.

[rwc356]

13 hours ago, Robert L. said:

This morning I shot a 49 with my vintage set. I hit my Hogan persimmon driver very well, and my Haig Ultras were also hit well. My putting was also good. What killed me was my short game, specifically my chipping and short range pitching. I could have posted a better score if my short game was better. Oh well, at least I'll know what to work on next time I go to the range.

 

 

I find that my short irons and chipping are impacted most when I bounce between my vintage clubs  (Hogans and MacGregors) and my somewhat modern clubs (Eye2, i3's).  The difference in lofts and bounce seem to take me several rounds to recalibrate my mind and swing to match whichever set I am playing. Not a third-world problem so I figure I can deal with it. 

[BIG STU]

On 7/24/2021 at 5:12 AM, Foozle said:

Following Stu's rebuke for putting Hogan clubs in a MacGregor bag I thought I would shake up the team a little and ventured out last night with the line up below.

Apex driver remained - sorry Stu! Note the tee line on the toe - not last night but recent - I would have got away with that with 460cc - I didn't with this! Enough said! 

A97 Peter Broadbent, solid as ever!

For Deejaid's benefit, Stan Thomson Ginty for some of the wispy rough we have at the moment. Deliberately fired a few I there 🤣 to try it out and it worked a treat! A real cheating machine!

Repro SS1 1 iron matched with M1T FC4000 irons to share ColdWar's love of all things ceramic faced. Really sweet when hit, great feel and nice original grips but I need to fill the gap between the 9 and pitching duty 11. Guessing there may be 10* between these?

R20 sand iron also a survivor. Probably similar loft if not slightly less than the 11 so not that sensible an inclusion but i wanted to have something with some bounce for bunker play. As it happened I avoided all sand so it was excess baggage.

Zebra has been decidedly cold recently but the shake up around it must have got its attention and it became luke warm last night.

Enjoyed the round, just need to tweak the team at the lower end of the bag. Just as a broken clock is right twice a day, had a couple of really nice shots out there to encourage me back. 

Generally good job--- I will tell you when you get to the point you can hit that persimmon anywhere on the face then a modern Toyota on a stick is a no brainer. One of the reasons I practice quite a bit with the persimmon driver. folks in general do not understand. And yes I am a CF man myself and I am getting back healthy enough In the near future I will start back playing what I call "Strictly Vintage" more. That is an entirely a different set from my signature set. I have been practicing some with a factory shafted Penna persimmon that Old School Rocker gave me some time ago. I am starting to hook it some so my strength is coming back and I will more than likely go back in the near future with my favorite steel shafted driver which is a 57 Velocitized Mac. The Penna is lighter and the graphite is a softer shaft. May play vintage tomorrow depends if it is CPO or not. My back and hips can not take CPO especially if it is soggy. We did do the 9 and dine 2 weeks ago and it was CPO the last 2 holes I was hurting and dragging some but we did manage to win it with a -1. Pissed off some of the "established" teams. My Pro / co owner was proud we did so good. I told them I would maybe give them a chance the 11th which is this Wednesday That I might play my persimmons and 62 FCs---  I like screwing with those guys. 

[BIG STU]

On 7/17/2021 at 8:58 AM, scomac2002 said:

Funny how it can go.   I don't have any sand bunkers at the two courses I  play league golf at.  I'm on vacation visiting my son and we played yesterday at his course.   Last hole I fly my approach into a deep bunker with a nasty overhanging lip protecting the green.   First sand shot of the season and just like you managed a perfect bunker shot using a set of rentals that happened to have an old worn out 588 lob wedge.  Who knew?🤷‍♂️

Now I may have misled some on a previous post--- When I play "strictly vintage " as I call it I have the CF set 11 iron and a CF faced Penna SW in the bag. To me and this is just me I play the old 588s on a normal basis so I depart from my norm in vintage rounds. Now sometimes depending on my mood I will subsitute the Penna Wedge with a Staff JP which I have front line played some in the past. As far as putter most of the time it is a green composite shafted remake Ironmaster with the original Neuman Macgregor leather grip. If someone wants to give me crap over the repro Ironmaster then I have 10 different ones with steel shafts that are original or I can put my flanged Bulls Eye in. LOL I have so many vintage putters I can also go to my hickory shafted Ottey or numerous Spalding TP Mills. That also goes with my previous post about the driver. If I can hit one of those putters on the dime sized button consistantly then the Anser styled Santa Fe is a no brainer. With me on vintage it is not about the score in general but the feel and flight. And a whole lot of it is what I want to subsitute that day in the vintage bag. And secretly I like to see if I can still pull off shots with like a 2 or 3 iron. Lots of times playing vintage I will pull the 2 or 3 iron out just to see. If I was serious I would pull the 4 or 5 wood.

Edited August 8, 2021 by BIG STU

[@_the_crook]

Got the best stareback this weekend when I replied to 'never met you before player X' saying,

"Oh you aren't old until you have a bag of real woods in your basement :

 

(pause)

Me: " Did you want to try solid block persimmon or laminate woods, like Ping......"

 

just stunning.

 

what movie was it......something along the line of...

you never call your shot until you know what game everyone else is playing?

Glengarry Glen Ross.

 

 

 

 

[scomac2002]

Pulled these out of storage and cleaned them up for an outing.   Had to rob a good Perma Wrap from a donor club to regrip the Pittsburgh Persimmon.   Thank goodness for blown on grips.  Took longer to get the gear setup than it did to do the job!

 

TM Original 1

Spalding Executive 3W/5W

Ginty Rescue

Clone BeCu Ping Eye 3-SW

Ping Zing

 

Should be fun! 🏌️‍♂️⛳

[@_the_crook]

not sure if my bag today qualified - but the guys with me thought I had antiques....

 

brought Ram FX-2 irons. newer 'old' gear.

gosh they felt good.

keeping those in the bag for a while.

the good shots were straight as arrows.

the squiggly shots can be resolved with some range time.

 

 

[cold_war_era_golfer]

Taking a break from the MacGregors.

 

1966 AP Trumatics 2,4,6,8,9.  1967 AP Trumatic PW.  1964 MacGregor DX Expeditor.  1966 AP Trumatic Driver, 3w.  Old Standard Bullseye.  

[Tumbleweed_1968]

Got out after work tonight with my vintage bag for a round of speed golf. 9 holes in 68 minutes walking and carrying. TA 845s 5, 7, 9, PW, T-line putter, 5 & 7 W, and the driver shall remain nameless since it was terrible. Recently acquired, it felt extremely mushy. Plus the shaft is wrong for me. It will be gone soon.

Shot my usual 45. It was a nice night and I had fun. 

My purpose in playing so fast is to get my heart rate up. (Normal is 55) when I retire, I would like to start working toward playing speed golf if I can handle it. Anyway, that's why I played fast. Had fun. Btw, I just love those irons.

Oh, and you can see the Ash tree damage in the photos. The owner said he has over 500 damaged and dead trees.

 

Edited August 17, 2021 by Dcohenour
Added photo explanation

[@_the_crook]

1 hour ago, Dcohenour said:

Got out after work tonight with my vintage bag for a round of speed golf. 9 holes in 68 minutes walking and carrying. TA 845s 5, 7, 9, PW, T-line putter, 5 & 7 W, and the driver shall remain nameless since it was terrible. Recently acquired, it felt extremely mushy. Plus the shaft is wrong for me. It will be gone soon.

Shot my usual 45. It was a nice night and I had fun. 

My purpose in playing so fast is to get my heart rate up. (Normal is 55) when I retire, I would like to start working toward playing speed golf if I can handle it. Anyway, that's why I played fast. Had fun. Btw, I just love those irons.

Oh, and you can see the Ash tree damage in the photos. The owner said he has over 500 damaged and dead trees.

 

 

 

 

 

Nice set up - Wilson bag with those red/white knits.

 

 

 

[Robert L.]

On 8/14/2021 at 1:34 PM, scomac2002 said:

Pulled these out of storage and cleaned them up for an outing.   Had to rob a good Perma Wrap from a donor club to regrip the Pittsburgh Persimmon.   Thank goodness for blown on grips.  Took longer to get the gear setup than it did to do the job!

 

TM Original 1

Spalding Executive 3W/5W

Ginty Rescue

Clone BeCu Ping Eye 3-SW

Ping Zing

 

Should be fun! 🏌️‍♂️⛳

 

Good man for using a Ginty! I game one, and it's the best club in my bag!

[Tumbleweed_1968]

Tonight's round, same 9, different setup. One better on the scorecard. Best shot: a 4 wood stinger, into the wind, from 180 yds out to just off the green. That baby never got more than 12 ft high. What a feeling!

 

[scomac2002]

What a delightful looking spot.  I would love to tee it up there with you one day @Dcohenour🏌️‍♂️

[Tumbleweed_1968]

7 hours ago, scomac2002 said:

What a delightful looking spot.  I would love to tee it up there with you one day @Dcohenour🏌️‍♂️

That would be sweet! I've often dreamed about hosting a vintage outing there. If I won the lottery I would buy the course, which is currently for sale at 1.6 M. If you (or anyone) are ever coming to watch the Races at Elkhart Lake let me know. I'm 20 minutes southwest. We'll strike up a match.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

9 hours ago, Dcohenour said:

Tonight's round, same 9, different setup. One better on the scorecard. Best shot: a 4 wood stinger, into the wind, from 180 yds out to just off the green. That baby never got more than 12 ft high. What a feeling!

 

 

Yep, like @scomac2002 said, that's a beautiful looking spot.

I also enjoyed seeing the sunshine; something I haven't seen around these parts for a week at least.

[scomac2002]

So, played my first vintage game in at least 4 years with the set I posted about above:  https://forums.golfwrx.com/topic/943192-rounds-with-a-vintage-bag/?do=findComment&comment=23750936

 

I decided that today was the day as it was DW's and I regular senior league round and it was raining so there would be little in the way of a need for speed should things go sideways.  Turns out we went off as a twosome and were done in 90 minutes anyway for our 9 holes.  I had a blast and as a bonus my wife had her best game of the year!  Win win!

 

Keep in mind that I had no range time with these clubs and had never hit the Pittsburgh Persimmon before.  I was actually shocked at how well I hit these clubs.  Yardages weren't that much different than what I get with my moderns.  How the heck did I ever get myself convinced that I should be hitting 55g Sr. flex graphite shafts in my irons when I can mange 130g Royal Precision 5.5's in the irons and medium steel in the woods??

 

It took a while to get onto the driver, but when I setup as if I was hitting a FW I popped off a drive dead straight about 200 yd carry which would be no worse than my best efforts with my modern TM.  I managed to hit similar beauties off the tee with both the 3W and 5W on longer par 3's leaving my with a chance at birdie, but the putting was no bueno today.  In fact, that may have been the biggest adjustment going from an insert putter to one without. 

 

Ended up shooting within 3 strokes of my average for 9 on this course so I would call that a resounding success!  Seriously considering taking this bag with me tomorrow for my men's league game to see how I do there.

[Tumbleweed_1968]

10 minutes ago, scomac2002 said:

How the heck did I ever get myself convinced that I should be hitting 55g Sr. flex graphite shafts in my irons when I can mange 130g Royal Precision 5.5's in the irons and medium steel in the woods??

Nice round! I've had the same experience, and am thinking that the so-called GI nonsense is just that, nonsense.

[scomac2002]

2 hours ago, Dcohenour said:

Nice round! I've had the same experience, and am thinking that the so-called GI nonsense is just that, nonsense.

 

Thanks.  I'm not sure that I'd go so far as to say that GI is nonsense.  There's definite advantages in launch and forgiveness with metal woods, but this quest for clubhead speed through weight reduction may not work as well in practice as it does in theory or in testing.  The irons were interesting as I see no advantage from say a 7 iron or higher.  Mid and long irons are a different story.  I found it interesting that I felt more comfortable chipping with these irons and had a more fluid motion.  Probably in my head as I don't have the memories of recent muffed attempts of which I had a bunch on Monday.

 

One club I didn't mention was the Ginty which I used once out of the rough from maybe 130 or 140.  Not sure of the yardage as I had to take a drop as my tee ball was in the cabbage.  Caught it clean and put it on the green with enough check that it stopped on the back fringe.  I was really quite surprised that I didn't have more miss hits than I did.  Everything seemed to work without any special manipulation which I have found myself doing from time-to-time when playing moderns.  

[Fellaheen51]

Good for you Brother @scomac2002.  The enthusiasm in your commentary in playing the classic implements is very evident.  Lots of fun when one whacks them around with reasonable effectiveness.  Haven't played a classic bag once this year.  I don't count the ISI's as classic, even though they're 25+ years old (neo-classic?)  For whatever reason, tend to break out the classics in the fall.  You prove to be inspirational.  Time to rummage through the inventory and get a play set together.  

 

No, I don't think your chipping experience with steel is in your head.  Been my experience as well.  The added heft "smoothing" out the stroke, suppling some substance for keeping the club head moving through the ball.  With my chipping difficulties chronicled elsewhere aside.  Played steel shafts today, hit some decent chip and runs.  Steel is real.  

[scomac2002]

Didn't go so well today, but I suppose that's to be expected for a variety of reasons.  The course I played was more penal from the rough and I was struggling off the tee.  I had satisfactory results on five holes including a couple of pars.  The problem holes however were big problems, so the score was quite a bit higher than yesterday. 

 

I think I learned a couple of things.  Firstly that vintage rounds are best played under non competitive circumstances, unless of course everyone else is playing similar implements.  Then it becomes a group activity.  Secondly, getting off the tee successfully is a big factor in success and playing the conservative option unless you're really on is likely to be the way to go.  So we'll call today a learning experience.

 

I'll be going back to my modern clubs until the league season is over.  After that, I will likely revisit the vintage option for some quiet fall rounds just for the love of the game. ⛳

[Tumbleweed_1968]

So do you think the difference was just in the difference between each course? I noticed that yesterday it was raining. Was your approach different because of that? Just curious.

Funny how we can play well one day, and the next not so well.