When It Was Just A Game We Played

Great topic there Jeffro...I am amazed how many of you guys still have your first set..

When I was a kid I would go spend a week out of state with my favorite uncle..he played all the time..he took me to a 9 hole "pitch & Putt" par 3 course when I was 12...it was alot like putt putt except you walked out of the office with a couple of irons and 3 balls instead of just 1 ball and one putter..I had fun but didn't consider getting into the game.

Then when I was 16, in 1989, my uncle took me to a driving range..I went from there straight to K-Mart and shelled out about 100 bucks on a cheap half set of an unknown brand (1W, 3W, 3, 5, 7, 9i and putter), an ugly neon blue bag and a couple boxes of balls and tees. I went back to the same K-mart later in the summer and bought a $17 sand wedge and the most super high tech putter available at Kmart..haha..that was my first set.

Then metal woods started showing up...I had to have one, and by this time I had played 10 or so times so I was quite sure that all my game needed was a full set of irons and metal woods..hahaha..I sold the half set to my little brother and found a full set of Wilsons including steel shafted metalwoods at a pawn shop. Turns out that stuff didn't turn me into a scratch golfer after all...hahaha

I hung onto that stuff for 6-7 years but after I graduated and spent so much time at college or at work I kinda quit playing...other than an occasional bucket at a range. Then one day I realized that my ex stripper girlfriend was a psycho and I grabbed some clothes and bolted...left dang near all my possessions there, clubs, electronics, furniture, etc...just wanted out fast.

Fast forward another 16 years and I got the fever again...and in 15 months I am on my 3rd set of irons, 3rd putter, 3rd set of fairway woods and 6th driver...hahahaha... but I am now pretty happy with my bag and have finally figured out that it's the Indian, not the arrow or the bow so much.

That is quite the golf biography!!! 16 in 1989? Me too!
 
My first set were these Powerbilt Imperial's. I think my hands are still ringing from trying to hit that 2 iron lol

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Matching set of Hogan Princess blades and woods. They were my moms. She was short, I am short so it just worked out. They were from the late 60's or early 70's. I played those clubs for a pretty good while. I don't really know what happened to them. She and the clubs are both gone now, but I have wonderful memories of both.

J.
 
When I first started I played with my moms clubs. Ha. I started when I was 12 and didn't know any better. I was just able to go golfing with my friends and I was happy. Same with balls. I played with whatever I found path mark or not. The good ole days.
 
I used my dad's Wilson Sam Snead clubs until I joined the Navy, then went out and bought a set of Wilson K-28s. They went well with my Golden Bear golf balls!
 
Man, there are some amazing sets of sticks in here. I remember when I was 13 and Edwin Watts catalogs started showing up at my house. I believe this is the first driver I started drooling over and had to have. No idea why it caught my eye, but I just wanted it.

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Man, there are some amazing sets of sticks in here. I remember when I was 13 and Edwin Watts catalogs started showing up at my house. I believe this is the first driver I started drooling over and had to have. No idea why it caught my eye, but I just wanted it.

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That was the way I felt when I saw the first print ad for the Callaway Big Bertha steel driver. Had to have it!
 
That was the way I felt when I saw the first print ad for the Callaway Big Bertha steel driver. Had to have it!

Oh man, between those, the TM Burner Bubbles (from what I can remember, that's about the time TM just started owning the marketing world) and the Lynx Black Cat's that Freddie Couples played, I hated when those EW catalogs showed up, because I knew I could afford none of those pretty clubs.
 
No pictures right now but I do still own them. Hogan Apex irons and woods. There is nothing like hitting a rubber ball with a wooden driver. I feel sorry for you young guys.
 
My first set in high school, 1965 was Spalding, a driver, three wood, 3, 5, 7, and 9 irons, a two sided putter and a bag. I was given the set in exchange for working around the golf course. I sold the clubs in 1972 when I was in the Air Force after getting a full set of irons and woods, they were the Bob Charles model by Dunlop and are still here somewhere in a shed. Those served me well until the mid 80s and a set or two of generic irons and drivers.

Two big awakenings for me, first was when playing with another lefty and he had a Big Bertha driver. I was a long hitter with the no name driver but he was right there with me all day. Finally on the 18th, I hit his driver, boom, 40 more yards instantly. That was when I decided equipment does matter. Second was the first time I saw anyone hit a Pro V1. It was revolutionary, no more of those balata balls for me, balls could make a huge difference as well.

So, now it seems all the equipment is regressing, I'm hitting clubs the same distances or less than with the the blades, balata ball, and wooden driver. Of course, age and loss of club speed has nothing to do with it.
 
The original Nike slingshot OSS irons were incredible. They were my starter set, and I often long for a set to try again soon


^Siri probably sucks.
 
Top Flight XL 7000 set for me. My equipment purchasing started out with just trying to find cool grips to make the cheap things look better!
 
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Oh boy, Northwesterns - Driver, Three wood, 3, 5, 7, 9 iron and putter in a Cooper bag. Bought them in the late seventies I cant remember when exactly. They are still in my dad's basement somewhere.
From there it was a full set of Spalding Woods and irons. I can't remember the model but I kept the woods when I got a set of Top Flite Tour irons for Christmas a few years later. I do remember I was a full club longer with the Tours than with the previous set and they were closest thing I have ever played to playing forged blades. They could make your hands sting for a couple holes if you caught one thin or off the toe on a cold morning.
 
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