Anyone ever picked up a Persimmon driver for fun?

Wiskey

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I play with a guy who loves his vintage equipment, he has all Persimmon woods and 80's irons. His swing is very precise and I figure that's because his clubs have a smaller sweet spot than today's 260cc drivers.

He is left handed so I can't try his clubs, but I went on ebay and picked up a Spalding Persimmon 1 wood to practice with for $30. I love how the clubs look, and I was dying to try hitting one. I was curious if anyone else has tried this? If so, what did you think?

Whiskey
 
Years ago I bought a couple from a thrift store to try out. It wasn't too fun at my skill level. I don't think I ever hit one well. I think you will find that there's a big difference between old "real woods" vs. today "woods" compared to 80's irons vs. today's irons. Your buddy's precise swing is not because of the club's, it's because he is good. He could benefit from modern equipment just like everyone else. But to each their own!
 
Years ago I bought a couple from a thrift store to try out. It wasn't too fun at my skill level. I don't think I ever hit one well. I think you will find that there's a big difference between old "real woods" vs. today "woods" compared to 80's irons vs. today's irons. Your buddy's precise swing is not because of the club's, it's because he is good. He could benefit from modern equipment just like everyone else. But to each their own!

For sure! I don't think the club will make me more precise. But I think having the feedback during practice may help me grove my swing. Honestly, my Ping G is so forgiving that I really won't be able to tell within 1 inch of center, especially when I'm using limited flight range balls, but I'm hoping this Persimmon club will help me know where on the face I hit. -Shrug- Might not, but it's a beuitiful club to display either way.

Whiskey
 
For sure! I don't think the club will make me more precise. But I think having the feedback during practice may help me grove my swing. Honestly, my Ping G is so forgiving that I really won't be able to tell within 1 inch of center, especially when I'm using limited flight range balls, but I'm hoping this Persimmon club will help me know where on the face I hit. -Shrug- Might not, but it's a beuitiful club to display either way.

Whiskey

Right on. Have fun! You can use the old foot powder spray trick to see where you impact.
 
I have a few. Fun to take to the range one a year. The shaft feels like a wet noodle.
 
When I first started playing golf all I owned was old persimmon woods and I didn't have any difficulty hitting the ball with them at the time. But now that modern technology has spoiled me, I would never consider going back to those old clubs. I do however still have two or three of those old clubs stored in a old used bag.
 
Compared to metal woods, significantly more skill is required to strike good shots with persimmon woods. Night and day difference.
 
My senior year in high school (don't want to say how many years ago that was) I raided my dad's garage and actually had a persimmon driver in my bag for a while. I didn't hit it much worse than my metalwood but I remember that it was A LOT spinnier (and 5-10 yards shorter). I wish I still had it today now that I'm a little better at shaping shots but I don't know if I would trust it not to spin too much.
 
Ive got an old set of Hogans that I like to pull out a couple times a year. I actually dont find them all that difficult to hit because, although the heads are much smaller, the shafts are also shorter, so theyre easier to control.
They are much less forgiving of mishits but when you hit it on the screws, it feels better than flushing a shot with a blade. I'll admit that Im a bit of a traditionalist and feel that woods should be made out of wood and Ive love nothing more than to see the USGA ban metalwoods and force us all to go back to the way things once were.
 
Yep. I grew up playing them but hadn’t hit them in many years, so a couple years ago I picked up from a shop that specializes in classic equipment. Got a nice Macgregor Tourney for $30.

Took it to the course and played a round with it, to compare it with my M1. Frankly I was surprised there wasn’t more of a difference. On good strikes the M1 was around 7-10 yards longer, mostly because of the old Tourney’s heaviness I think. Metal shaft vs graphite, right? But misses were worse with the persimmon... much less distance on them because of the lower moi.


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I learned the game playing persimmon woods and balata balls. I think those of us that did tend to be distance challenged because the focus of the swing was on solid contact as opposed to learning the game by swinging as fast as possible while still under control. At least that is my excuse and I'm sticking to it. :act-up:
 
I still have my Tony Pena persimmon wood that I used in the 80's and most of the 90's. The head is loose on it or I would hit in now and then, need to get it fixed.
 
I play 4 or 5 rounds a year with a vintage set. The only thing missing is the balata balls.

It's fun to do it and interesting to play on courses I used to play on with that type of equipment when it wasn't vintage :D

Today's ball technology really helps a lot!

JM
 
I learned the game playing persimmon woods and balata balls. I think those of us that did tend to be distance challenged because the focus of the swing was on solid contact as opposed to learning the game by swinging as fast as possible while still under control. At least that is my excuse and I'm sticking to it. :act-up:


... I still have two custom MacGregor M85's I ordered win I found out they were going to discontinue making persimmon woods. Golf s completely backwards from the way we learned to play the game. Almost impossible to hit a straight ball and the sweet spot was so small we learned to hit it solid and straight first, then hit it long later. Today it just makes sense to hit it as long s possible first, then learn control later. I take my M85 out once a year to remind me of how much better equipment is today and how much more forgiving clubs are when miss hit. Hit a drive a full inch toward the toe with a 460cc driver and get decent results. But hit a persimmon 1" toward the toe and the ball will just about knock the club out of your hands.

... As an instructor, I never found hitting harder to play clubs improved your ball striking ability unless you have zero mental discipline and swing out of your shoes with more forgiving clubs. Of course that is a mental flaw, not a swing flaw and has nothing to do with equipment.
 
I played an actual wooden wood for a couple weeks in highschool just to prove I could. When well struck it was maybe 5 yards shorter than a Burner and about 10 yards shorter than a Big Bertha. If not well struck, well the less said about that the better.
 
I grew up playing persimmon woods, still have several (Drivers, 3 woods, 5 woods). On occasion i still go out and play a round with my old 'wooden' woods and 70's/80's era blade irons; i find it to be really fun. For me the best feeling in golf is hitting a balata ball 'on the screws' of a persimmon driver. Butter, pure butter.
 
Many of us started with woods that were woods on steel shafts. I'm one of them. There are also tournaments with hickory-shafted clubs of different eras. BTW, today's drivers max out at 460cc.
 
I also learned to play and grew up on a mix of wooden and metal heads through the 80's and early 90's. I like hitting them, I think golf is an aesthetic sport and wooden heads are some kind of beautiful craftsmanship. The feel is what golf is supposed to be.

I've got a bunch of persimmon clubs and take them out a couple times a year with a set of old blades.
 
Picked one up yes air swung it yes never hit a golfball with one though


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