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Persimmon Woods in the Hands of the Long Drive Guys

SuperStroke
kevin81002

kevin81002

Fore Right!!!
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I saw this last night and didn't see it posted up anywhere on the forums. It probably is... just didn't see it. :D

Amazing to see how much drivers have changed over the years. Better materials, bigger heads, lighter, stronger shafts, etc. I went through my garage last night and found my old BB Hawkeye driver. Looks like a hybrid sitting next to today's driver heads. I thought I still had the persimmon headed driver I started with back in the day, but I do not.
 
That’s a pretty solid statement for technology improvements.
 
Mtdream said:
would be fascinating to see their current clubs with Ballata balls...
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I don't think a Balata ball would survive 150mph club speed. It'd be insta-eggshaped. lol
 
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kevin81002 said:
I don't think a Balata ball would survive 150mph club speed. It'd be insta-eggshaped. lol
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I haven't watched the video, I'm not on wifi but I can relate personal experience. I'll watch the video later when I'm home as I'm sure it's interesting.

20 years ago I dabbled in some local and regional LD competitions. I couldn't play Balata balls even with an old Ping Eye 2 Persimmon/Steel.

Today I still have an one of those same drivers (I've broke several over the years, but usually can find a replacement in the 5.00 bin at one of the local courses)). I'll even sometimes have it in my bag, I can hit it good off the deck and it's a good punch out under limbs club. If I'm having a horrible driving day I've been known to break it out of the bag as I can almost always count on being able to keep it in play off the tee. It's a good 60-75 yards behind today's tech for me. I hit it slightly (about 15 yards) further than my 4h.
 
They were hitting those clubs surprisingly far. It goes to show that there is no replacement for club head speed.
 
JayB said:
They were hitting those clubs surprisingly far. It goes to show that there is no replacement for club head speed.
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always love Trevino Quotes...

“If we had (the new) golf ball in my day," Lee Trevino told USA Today in 2007, “The best of us would have hit it 300 yards and Jack Nicklaus would have hit it 360.”

It’s not a stretch to believe Trevino. Nicklaus cranked a 341-yard blast to win the PGA Championship’s long drive competition in 1963 with the “old ball.” When he was 18 years old, he and Arnold Palmer drove the green on a 330-yard par 4 at Athens (Ohio) CC, a story Nicklaus shared at Palmer’s memorial service.
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Link to article if you wanted to read it...
 
Had a chance to watch the video. They were actually shorter than I expected them to be with at least the steel shafted ones. I'm also surprised that there wasn't some club breakage going on, or maybe there was and it was edited out.

Today's tech is a long way removed from this, that much is for sure. I'm sure if they practiced and competed with these clubs they'd be much longer than they were on this video. No one would ever be threatening 500 yards though, that's for sure.

It also reaffirmed my desire to get me an old set of hickory shafted clubs. I'm very interested in how much different the game would be.
 
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