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Wood vs. "Wood"

Diane

Diane

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Some of you are old enough that when you started playing, you played with real woods. My father was telling me recently that because they were less forgiving your ball could go anywhere in you didn't make good contact. My thought is that today's more forgiving large headed woods become weapons in the hands of the guys who want to kill the ball off the tee. I tend to think that years ago, people understood the nuances of using a real wood and tried to take the smaller sweet spot into account whereas today the newer equipment allows people the luxury of thinking they can go crazy. Are errant shots more prevalent today?
 
I am old enough but my 1st driver was a steel headed Wilson.Head size about like a 5 wood nowadays.I hit it as far as the ones I have now but I was 30 years younger.The age factor comes into play so I really can't give a definative answer. I still have the old persimmons my dad gave me but am afraid to hit them as I might damage them.
 
lol, all I know is:
I could not, ever, no way, hit my #1 wood!!
but I could hit my #4 wood.

of course that was about 1969...so I have no real memory of how well I could hit that #4,..... I want to think "awesome" but more likely "awful".


anyway, I still cant do much with 460cc!
 
Back when woods were wood, the majority of the golfers back then were better than today's majority. I played Ping Eye 2 woods when I started out. I still have them, and sometimes dust them off for round of golf. Errant shots today (IMO) are more prevalent than years ago just because there are more bad swings playing golf today. Equipment can only do so much for a bad swing.

In addition to the woods, the irons we played years ago were not as user friendly as the ones we have today to pick from. Golfers from yesteryear had to have a decent swing just to stay interested in the game.

Speaking of Pings Eye 2 Wooden woods, if you ever run across a wooden 12* Ping Eye 2 in decent shape, you should get it. Again just my opinion, but that has to be one of the best clubs ever built to learn to play off the tee with. :clapp:
 
I miss my old Prima wood-woods.
 
My first set as a kid/teenager had wooden "woods" and from what I recall the errant shots were about the same. I think the technolgy today might cause a few more errant shots based on the "hottness" of the face compared to the old wooden clubs, but todays clubs are also a lot more forgiving. So it is probably a wash comparing the two as to what you are asking here Diane. The kids I played with back then still had the same mental approach of hit it as hard as you can that you find today.

And Diane, are you not "old" enough to have played with wooden woods?? Metal woods appeared as early as the late 70's but really didn't catch on and completely replace wooden clubs until the early 90's, I remember Justin Leonard and Davis Love III didn't switch until the late 90's.
 
Craig Mac said:
And Diane, are you not "old" enough to have played with wooden woods??
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Not very subtle are you Craig? :rolleyes:

I am 46 and played as a teenager with real woods, but since I didn't play often for many years after that - I don't really remember that much about playing with them.
 
My set of Golden Ram clubs bought in 1975 had laminated maple woods ( I couldn't afford persimmon). I bought my first metal wood (8.5° TaylorMade TP Tour Driver with 43" TT Dynamic Gold shaft) in about 1987 and I still have it (I played with it on Friday). When I hit the sweet spot, I can hit it as far as I hit my 460cc Mizuno, but I'm not as consistent with it as I once was.

I'd say that back in the day, I was straighter with the TM than I am today with the Mizuno, but that had nothing to with the club and everything to do with a more consistent swing.
 
Fourputt said:
My set of Golden Ram clubs bought in 1975 had laminated maple woods ( I couldn't afford persimmon). I bought my first metal wood (8.5° TaylorMade TP Tour Driver with 43" TT Dynamic Gold shaft) in about 1987 and I still have it (I played with it on Friday). When I hit the sweet spot, I can hit it as far as I hit my 460cc Mizuno, but I'm not as consistent with it as I once was.

I'd say that back in the day, I was straighter with the TM than I am today with the Mizuno, but that had nothing to with the club and everything to do with a more consistent swing.
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Funny enough I agree that I hit my old wood-woods as far as I do today. But again I don't have the flexibility and power that I had when I was 18-20.
 
Craig Mac said:
Well, I would think anyone older than 30 would have had the opportunity to play them, that's all I was trying to say....:banghead:
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You're talking to a woman about her age. Want to discuss my weight next?
 
When I first started at the age of 7 I was honestly hitting spalding blades and wooden woods and driver. Looking back I couldn't beleive how hard it was.
 
My first set of clubs were '61 Wilson Staff irons and '61 Splading Top Flite Woods. The driver was hard for me to hit, so I ended up using a Spalding Robt. Jones #2 wood from the early 50's. I kept that #2 wood for almost 20 years, and I could hit it really well. The fairway woods, from what I remember, were just as easy to hit as today's FWs. But I was younger and more flexible back then.
 
Here are Pic's of my High School Driver

Diawa004.jpg

Diawa003.jpg

Diawa001.jpg


For sure players today can swing away a lot more then in the past.Today it's all about distance then how straight
 
BigLeftyinAZ said:
Diawa004.jpg
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That is so friggin' sweet!! I had a friend ask me the other day what "hitting it in the screws" meant. And this picture explains that perfectly.
 
provisional said:
Back when woods were wood, the majority of the golfers back then were better than today's majority. :
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Im not sure I agree with that entirely. I think that the players were quite good back then. But I also think that part of it is because more people play now based on affordability, and the courses are harder for the most part nowadays. When I was young greens were never this fast except at the nicest of courses and less hazards as well.

Clubs were less forgiving, but all the courses I played were shorter or so it seemed.
 
JB said:
Clubs were less forgiving, but all the courses I played were shorter or so it seemed.
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Didn't the longer courses come with the advances in equipment?
 
In my mind they did. there were always long tracks, but they seem much more common with the better equipment.
 
My first woods were Wilson 1200 woods. 1, 3, 4 and 5. all wood with, I think, a small plastic insert on the face of the driver. Not sure what it was meant for but they did the job. Never could hit it very far and certainly less forgiving than the drivers and fairway clubs of today.
:clapp:
 
I had laminated maple woods & couldn't hit them to save my life. Got my 1st metal driver around 1989 or so & thought it was the coolest club ever.

Had a couple of irons with actual hickory shafts too, they were my step dads old set & were what I played growing up. They got lost in one of my moves, wish I still had them just for the heck of it.
 
Never mind, I thought this was about something else. hehehe
 
JB said:
Im not sure I agree with that entirely. I think that the players were quite good back then. But I also think that part of it is because more people play now based on affordability, and the courses are harder for the most part nowadays. When I was young greens were never this fast except at the nicest of courses and less hazards as well.

Clubs were less forgiving, but all the courses I played were shorter or so it seemed.
Click to expand...

My home course is the same length now as it was in 1972 when it was built. It's 7000 from the back tees, 6500 from the mids. But it plays longer than it did then because it is better watered now. About 15 years ago they completely replaced the irrigation system, and better watering means softer fairways and less roll. Also, the many trees lining the fairways have grown up, making cutting corners a chancy adventure. That helps to make the course play longer.
 
I only started playing around 9 yrs ago, but since I didn't know any better, I bought a used set of persimmon woods. I still have them on display in my office. 1,3,4,5 woods and I hit them just fine. I don't know if we have worse swings now overall, or if the clubhead being as big as a bowling ball has made everyone think they can just swing and hit it. The "gear effect" seemed much better at saving mishits with the old persimmons than it is in the new style drivers. Still, I am a good driver and my contact mark with the big driver would put me "in the screws" with the old style driver. If I miss that small sweet spot, even with the bigger head, I can still tell the distance and accuracy loss.
 
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