Wooden woods, wound balls, steel spikes

[NiftyNiblick]

How old is this forum?

 

Who here never played with any of these things?

 

I ditched the wound balls first when the Spalding Top Flite came out as an alternative to the Spalding Dot in the early to mid seventies I think. 

 

Metalwoods were out a few years before I tried them.

 

The steel spikes thing still irks me.  The game's a lot harder without them.

 

 

[Shankster]

I'm 35, I've used “woods”, “butter knives”, “DT Wounds” and metal spikes.

 

Worked at a golf course as a wee lad, cart barn full of old equipment.

[PMookie]

I didn't have a metal wood until my Senior year of HS, and played mostly wound balls until I was in college and my Dad's HS team went to 2-piece Slazenger balls and he bought a few extra dozen for me. I had true spikes until 1998 when a club in S Louisiana forced me to take my shoes off so they could change out my cleats for soft spikes. Crazy.

 

 

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[jb0330]

So I started with wood woods I'm 33 and I loved them. My dad at the time had metal woods and I was keeping up them in distance. I didn't understand they were hard to hit. Blind youth lol

 

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[Will_Mac]

I'm 50 but didn't start actually playing until 23.

 

I did play one round at 16 yrs old (first time I had ever touched a club and last time since I'd pick the game up 7 yrs later) with my dad's wood-woods.

 

But other than that, I did play in metal spikes for a few years along with a wound ball.

 

What about gas carts without the roof? Used to be lots of those years ago too.

[Mr. 82]

I'm 50, started playing with I was 7, and I played persimmon woods for many years, wore spikes for many years, and played many years with wound balls, and lost count of how many of those balls I put a smilie face on after one single iron shot.

 

The invention of the ProV1, and balls with a surlyn and urethane cover was a good thing IMHO, because I honestly can't remember the last time I put a cut in a golf ball.  Now road rash from the cart path is another thing.

[NiftyNiblick]

Things do change. 

 

Biggest change for me was the 460cc driver. 

 

I keep trying to put one in my bag and keep taking it out.

 

Even the 365cc is tough.

 

With a driving iron, I push the tee all the way down to the cup as I'd do with any other iron from the tee.  Usually, I look for a broken tee on the ground and use that.

 

With a fairway wood, I push it down almost but not quite that far.

 

With a big, titanium driver, the ball has to be teed up as though it were floating in mid-air and that unnerves me a little bit.  Have to play it too forward in my stance.

 

It's easy to go inside-out for a big hook or outside-in for a big slice, but trying to hit it straight-on is for some reason hard for me.  If I carry a driver, my Donkey from Daphne headcover only seems to come off three or four times, max.

 

All of that being said, though, the spikes thing still bothers me the most.  It's hard to go super aggressive without footing from steel spikes.

[straderp93]

I'm 25 years old and didn't pick up the game seriously until i was 7 so needless to say i never played with any of these when they were current, but steel spikes are the only one of these i haven't used at least a few times.

 

I found an old Powerbilt persimmon 3 wood a couple years ago and take it out every few months for kicks. Every time I catch one solidly with it I think about getting one of those Louisville drivers and just playing with that regularly. 

[Jmikecpa]

Grew up with wooden woods, bladed irons and steel spikes. Played a wound ball until a year or so after college when the ProV1 was introduced. I still have my Ping woods that I played in high school down in the club room.

 

 

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[NiftyNiblick]

Played a wound ball until a year or so after college when the ProV1 was introduced.

 

 

You, sir, are a player if you didn't go solid until the Pro V1.

I abandoned the wound ball in the 1970s.

[Jmikecpa]

You, sir, are a player if you didn't go solid until the Pro V1.

I abandoned the wound ball in the 1970s.

I think I still have the golf ball template that I used after every hole to make sure the ball was still round. Things my kids will never have to worry about.

 

 

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[NiftyNiblick]

I think I still have the golf ball template that I used after every hole to make sure the ball was still round. Things my kids will never have to worry about.

 

 

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I guess the hell not!

[revkev]

True confession

 

I'm younger than niffty but grew up with metal spikes (hated them), persimmon woods and blades (you are hurting yourself to play with them but knock yourself out if you want to).

 

I don't miss any of it other than my youth - for athletics not for life - I'm a far better person now than I was then.

 

I hit the ball well farther at 21 with a persimmon driver and wound ball than I do now because I was an athlete then - I hit it 250 consistently off the tee.

 

Then came Jack with a teacher and everyone was doing it.

 

Got much better when the Eye 2 came out - it was easily the dominant iron on tour - you'd go to an event and half the field was playing it - why? Because blades are hard to it.

 

Then came the Taylor Made driver and all the filed was quickly playing metal woods. Why? Because wood drivers are hard to hit.

 

Then came graphite shafts.....

 

Then I started taking lessons, that was smart.

 

Then came the Pro VI - the actual ball that changed the ball, stop offending me Callaway. And in three weeks everyone was playing it.

 

Then came Tiger and everyone was working out - now I'm trying that.

 

At worst I'm healthier for it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[NiftyNiblick]

I hit the ball well farther at 21 with a persimmon driver and wound ball than I do now because I was an athlete then - I hit it 250 consistently off the tee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ha!!!! I finally beat the Rev at something!

 

I, who never played to better than an eight in my life, was a professional athlete!

At the same level of prestige as my old neighbor's rescue pet greyhound was.

 

I forfeited my amateur status appearing on club cards while I was in college.

It didn't even approach tuition money, but it was beer, gas, and pony-betting money.

 

The competition was dreadful.

Unlike the highly and safely regulated amateur ranks, you could find yourself in with anybody, and half of them looked like they had no amateur experience at all.

 

Why is it that in all of my athletic pursuits, i always seemed to wind up at the same overall level?

[NiftyNiblick]

I just read a 2014 Golf Digest article entitled "How the Titleist Pro V1 Revolutionized Golf."

 

I believe that Rev has recently opined similarly as well.

 

I don't get it at all. I really don't.

 

I was beating wound balls playing solid Spalding Top Flites in 1975.

The impression that they didn't spin was a myth.

They didn't spin with cambered and radiused soled blades.

With flat-soled clubs like Spalding Executives, Lynx Predators, and Wilson 1200GEs, they spun like demons..

 

You rebuked Callaway a little bit, Rev, but Callaway bought the Spalding technology.

 

Spalding and Titleist were making balls just down the road from one another in Massachusetts,

and for me, it was Spalding, not Titleist, who brought me to a single digit cap.

 

And Acushnet WAS making solid balls--Pinnacles--which for me, couldn't hold a candle to Top Flites. Pinnacles played like driving range balls.

 

Then again, that was with me.  Results may have varied!

[deejaid]

I'm 42 and I don't think I even hit a cavity back iron or metal wood until I got my first new set, an 11-piece Spalding Executive set from Sears in 1991 or 92.

 

And a guy working at the local course took pity on me and allowed me to take a pair of metal spikes that had been in the lost and found for over a year. I believe by the time I finally replaced them, metal spikes were pretty much finished.

 

 

 

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[SteddyGolf]

I'm 54 and started playing Golf ⛳️ in 1998. Worked basically derailed my development from 2000 to 2003 then again from 2005 to 2009. Since 2010 I've played three of four rounds a month with maybe one trip to the driving range a week.

 

We didn't have the means for me to play golf as a child. My father played but he never introduced the sport to any of us. I never asked him why.

 

When I did begin playing I did so with some gifted 30 year old blades and persimmon woods. I didn't know much about golf balls back then so basically just grabbed some rock flights off the shelf. I remember treating myself with Maxfli Evolutions from time to time.

 

My father always wore spikes. I loved the sound of him walking up the driveway. For the first few years of playing I wore regular sneakers. My first pair of golf shoes were the cheapest FJs I could find. Several TV close ups during the PGA championship revealed a lot of professionals still wear metals. I'd love to try them because I tend to spin out quit a bit.

 

Recently I took those original clubs out to a local track for a throw back Thursday. The only exception was a modern ball was all I could find. My score was damn close to my scoring average with my modern clubs. Go figure!!!!!!

 

 

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[fozcycle]

Well let's see, where do I begin.....played my 1st round in 1959 at age 8. My bag was tan canvass with the following in the address label: Tom T Moss, Engineer, Gold Coast Africa. That's right! My Grandfather spent 2 years in Africa building a sawmill to harvest mahogany for office furniture. They carved out 9 holes so they had some recreation. My clubs were H&B hickory shafted woods and irons, handed down. I only have the putter left and it hangs on the wall at home. My first balls were s but smaller as they were the European balls, Dunlop's, I believe. At age 10, I got my first spikes and can still remember the clickety clack sound when I walked on the concrete around the clubhouse. I felt like a Pro! My clubs grew into metal shafted Power Bilts as a teenager. In the 1980's I can remember getting the Woods refinished every other year.

 

There isn't a day on the golf course I don't have fond memories of my Grandfather.

 

 

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[fozcycle]

Found this ball this year......guess it was in someone's bag awhile...

 

 

Anybody know how old it is?

 

 

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Cobra Connect Bag: Cobra F8 Driver(10.5*) 3-4W(14.5*) & 5-6W(18.5*)w/Mitsubishi Tensei ck Blue Regular; Cobra F8 3 Hybrid, 5 Hybrid & 6-PW, Gw(49*) SW(54*) LW(58*) all w/UST Mamiya Recoil 460 ES regular shafts. Lamkin Cobra Connect grips with Arccoss tracking sensors. Putter: Evnroll ER6 33”. Bag: Cobra Ultralite Cart Bag(Peacoat/Silver).

[NiftyNiblick]

I remember when virtually every ball of every make had the same 336 dimple pattern.

 

It went from there, the pattern that everybody used,  to the one pattern you couldn't find when virtually every ball had its own pattern. 

 

That might be a good idea for somebody.

Top Flite isn't made by either Spalding or Callaway anymore,

but they could still come out with a "Top Flite Classic" model.

 

 

 

 

 

It worked for the carbonated beverage industry for a while.

[Kenny B]

I remember when virtually every ball of every make had the same 336 dimple pattern.

 

It went from there, the pattern that everybody used,  to the one pattern you couldn't find when virtually every ball had its own pattern. 

 

That might be a good idea for somebody.

Top Flite isn't made by either Spalding or Callaway anymore,

but they could still come out with a "Top Flite Classic" model.

 

 

 

 

 

It worked for the carbonated beverage industry for a while.

Maybe that's what the USGA will mandate when the roll back the distance of golf balls.  

[NiftyNiblick]

I'm 42 and I don't think I even hit a cavity back iron or metal wood until I got my first new set, an 11-piece Spalding Executive set from Sears in 1991 or 92.

That very same model started out as a pro shop line club in 1977 and stuck around so long that it found its way into department stores by the 90s.

 

It's by far the biggest selling single model that Spalding ever had in the decades that they participated in golf..

 

I got mine in 1978, and I couldn't count the number of guys I know that have also had a set.

Two different league partners of mine played them at the same time that I did, as did one of my uncles..

 

Mine could spin rock hard Top Flites as if they were old Titleist Model Ks.

But classic Wilson Staff Dyna Powers couldn't!

 

As with all of my clubs, I still have mine--#s2-9, PW, SW. 

$199 for 8 plus $29 each for the 2-iron and sand wedge.  In 1978.

 

The popular pre-packaged set with 1, 3, 5 woods wasn't to be offered for years yet. 

1. 3, 4, 5 woods could be had for $99 at Edwin Watts, but there was also a 1, 3½, 5, 6, 7 set--yes, a 6-wood!--available as well.. And of course the 1, 3, 4  or  1, 3, 5 set could be bought separately as well.

 

I didn't ever buy the woods, but I loved the irons except for the sand wedge. That got swapped out for an older one that I had within a couple of weeks.

[bens197]

All of that being said, though, the spikes thing still bothers me the most. It's hard to go super aggressive without footing from steel spikes.

 

Pay for a lesson. Learn balance.

 

If Dustin Johnson can play the toughest courses in the world wearing plastic cleats and still win then I'm sure you can survive.

[deejaid]

That very same model started out as a pro shop line club in 1977 and stuck around so long that it found its way into department stores by the 90s.

 

It's by far the biggest selling single model that Spalding ever had in the decades that they participated in golf..

 

I got mine in 1978, and I couldn't count the number of guys I know that have also had a set.

Two different league partners of mine played them at the same time that I did, as did one of my uncles..

 

Mine could spin rock hard Top Flites as if they were old Titleist Model Ks.

But classic Wilson Staff Dyna Powers couldn't!

 

As with all of my clubs, I still have mine--#s2-9, PW, SW.

$199 for 8 plus $29 each for the 2-iron and sand wedge. In 1978.

 

The popular pre-packaged set with 1, 3, 5 woods wasn't to be offered for years yet.

1. 3, 4, 5 woods could be had for $99 at Edwin Watts, but there was also a 1, 3½, 5, 6, 7 set--yes, a 6-wood!--available as well.. And of course the 1, 3, 4 or 1, 3, 5 set could be bought separately as well.

 

I didn't ever buy the woods, but I loved the irons except for the sand wedge. That got swapped out for an older one that I had within a couple of weeks.

Well after years of playing 30–40 year old clubs from the barn, I was so happy to have brand new clubs, even if they were a store line.

 

3-PW and a set of 1-3-5 woods. Played that set for about 8 years. That was pre-internet days so I didn't know much about them other than they looked so much better than the persimmons I was using with the loose inserts!

 

 

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[NiftyNiblick]

Well after years of playing 30–40 year old clubs from the barn, I was so happy to have brand new clubs, even if they were a store line.

Actually, the very same model started out as a pro line.

 

And now there are no pro lines to speak of.

 

They're ALL store lines.

 

How many people here bought their clubs from a golf professional's shop on an actual golf course?

 

It's kind of sad, actually.

[deejaid]

Actually, the very same model started out as a pro line.

 

And now there are no pro lines to speak of.

 

They're ALL store lines.

 

How many people here bought their clubs from a golf professional's shop on an actual golf course?

 

It's kind of sad, actually.

My home course at that time was a 9-hole track that had a 300 sq ft or so building that had a cash register, a cooler with some drinks and a card table, and that was it. It never entered my mind that you'd go to a pro shop and be fitted for a set of clubs as I had never seen a pro shop.

 

Of course there were golf magazines around where I'd see ads for Macgregor, Hogan, etc., but that stuff might as well cost a million dollars as I never saw it up close nor had the money for it.

 

 

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[NiftyNiblick]

Of course there were golf magazines around where I'd see ads for Macgregor, Hogan, etc., but that stuff might as well cost a million dollars as I never saw it up close nor had the money for it.

 

 

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That's what it seemed like at the time (admittedly, I'm older so I may be going back a little further)..

Now we realize that irons were $25 each and woods were $40 each in the pro shops.

The top brands.

 

It seemed like a lot of money at the time, though.

[sethasspro10]

I am 35 first set of clubs were Powerbuilt Citation wood woods end Walter hagen butter knives that you could cut cold butter out the freezer with they were so sharp and metal spikes for one year and didn't really like them so stuck with tennis shoes.

[BIG STU]

I think I still have the golf ball template that I used after every hole to make sure the ball was still round. Things my kids will never have to worry about.

 

 

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I still have mine saw it the other night hanging on my old  big white Ping Staff bag

[BIG STU]

Oh man lets go back--- My old man ran a 9 hole daily fee public course with a 9 hole Par 3 course to boot. I think I started at 5 or 6 years old with a cut down 5 iron I think was a Spalding-- My first real set was a set of button back Wilson Staff Patty Berg aluminum shafted woods and irons. I think I was around 13 or so. I played the par 3 course a lot there is where I developed my short game. Around 15 or so I got to swinging hard and started a rope hooking problem. A pro friend of my old man told him I had gotten too strong for those aluminum shafted ladies clubs. I ended up with a set of 67 Spalding Elite Custom 333 blades.

I actually played persimmon woods until 02 or so because the early metals with graphite shafts I could hook off the planet.Played the Maxfli HT- 100 wound balata and the Titleist Professional 100 until I think 97 or so. Have mostly played Macgregor blades since 90 or so still play them today--- Still play some what I call strictly vintage with persimmon woods now days---- Do not play stipulated events or high money matches anymore so I play what I want and have fun doing it