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Playing golf tonight - Back to Persimmon!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Snelly
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Snelly

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I got a nice invitation to play yesterday which I accepted and am playing this evening - something I am looking forward to hugely as the weather is perfect and it is with three good mates. However, I have a slight problem at the moment in that I have no driver!

My Rapture is a bit scratched and bashed so it is at a friend's sports car restoration company where it is being repainted with leftover red Ferrari paint from a re-spray on a 458 Spider. I don't get it back until Saturday so consequently, I need something else.

I thought about borrowing something from a friend but instead, dug deep into one of the rarely touched bags of clubs in my study and pulled out an absolute beauty from circa 1986. It is a Persimmon, Mizuno Pro, Oil Hardened, Deep Face 1 Wood and in it's time, was the absolute pinnacle of desirability. It was also a fantastic club and went really well when you middled it.

Looking forward to giving it a bash tonight and rolling back the years. Just a shame I am not quite as good a swinger as I was when I used it the first time around! :)
 
When I started I had a lovely John Letters persimmon 1 wood, and Wilson Staff 3 & 5 woods.

Great clubs, particularly the Wilson's.

What shaft does it have in it?
 
Enjoy Dave, it will be interesting to see how much distance you lose. Keep us posted :)


Mastercracker said:
Never hit a wooden club, I do however remember getting excited as a junior 15 years ago whenever I found a Topflite Z-Balata. How times change!
Click to expand...

Sorry to disappoint but the Z balata was a balata in name only, nothing like the real thing. If you want to try the real thing, try searching on the bay for some Titleist Tour balatas, available in 90 or 100 compression :thup:
 
drive4show said:
Enjoy Dave, it will be interesting to see how much distance you lose. Keep us posted :)




Sorry to disappoint but the Z balata was a balata in name only, nothing like the real thing. If you want to try the real thing, try searching on the bay for some Titleist Tour balatas, available in 90 or 100 compression :thup:
Click to expand...


They are awesome but dont last long....
 
Shaft is whatever True Temper did in the mid 80's and it has a leather wrap grip. Probably stiff-ish as my Grandfather bought the club from Mark Roe I believe.

Balatas.... Loved them. I reckon I still have a Maxfli Tour Ltd HT Balata at home but I would not want to lose it.

I am not sure the distance will be all that different (although obviously shorter) really as back in the day, I hit some good ones with it. However what I know will be totally different is the ease of use. I will need a map to find the sweet spot!
 
drive4show said:
Enjoy Dave, it will be interesting to see how much distance you lose. Keep us posted :)




Sorry to disappoint but the Z balata was a balata in name only, nothing like the real thing. If you want to try the real thing, try searching on the bay for some Titleist Tour balatas, available in 90 or 100 compression :thup:
Click to expand...

I don't doubt it. As a 14/15 year old though relying on Dad for cheap lake balls finding a Z-Balata was great compared to the usual Dunlop Double Double Hard! I remember my mate getting one to spin back from a wedge once and us both being gobsmacked.
 
My parents bought me a hand made persimmon 3 wood for my 18th from a local club maker. Went like a bullet and I hit it miles. Took it out last year after a regrip. The sweet spot must have shrunk over the years and it was a bit of a brute. The shaft was unmarked so no ideal what make it was. I eventually found the middle again and off it flew on a beautiful penetrating flight. In fact it took a pretty good smack with the G25 to beat it. Sadly my swing is nowhere near enough to justify using it but it's still a sweet looker
 
Snelly said:
Looking forward to giving it a bash tonight and rolling back the years. Just a shame I am not quite as good a swinger as I was when I used it the first time around! :)
Click to expand...

Age takes it's toll mate, you'd have been in your early 40's back then! ;)
 
So it was a very enjoyable experience last night.

I will post a picture of this club next to a new driver to show how small it is - really quite a surprise.

1st tee - par 5 so out comes the Mizuno Pro. Looks tiny next to the ball but an easy swing and there was a lovely crunching sound and I knew I had found somewhere near the middle. Looked up to see a huge high hook that finished on an adjacent fairway!

Undeterred, I tried again on the 2nd (also a par 5) and hit another very high hook but less wild and it managed to finish in the fairway. Notably, it was past my mates drive which had admittedly snagged in the semi but he has the latest Callaway driver and plays off 3 plus hits quite a long ball. We said it must have been the run and spin that got it that far.

I hit several more drives on the front 9 that were mostly high draws and about 200 yards max before it (finally) dawned on me that 25 years ago, I was using blue or red castle tees with this club and it needed teeing down far, far lower. On the 9th, I teed it to about 1" and had another go. It was an absolutely fantastic feeling! Right out of the middle (the connection with the ball feeling far heavier than with a modern driver), nice trajectory, awesome sound and a long drive down the middle that was past my mates and he hit a good one! I was as delighted as I was surprised to be honest.

Same on the 10th, 11th and 15th before another high hook on the 16th and then finished with another cracker on the 18th that we measured with a GPS to 270 yards and the hole is uphill.

Also, I checked and the shaft was actually called a Mizuno Dyna-Flex 2200 and the head is a Mizuno Pro MS-01 I think.

It was a genuine pleasure to play with and whilst it is definitely a bit shorter than my Ping Rapture, the difference is not very much I don't think. That said, it is harder to hit well and a bit daunting when you look down at it next to the ball. It also felt like it was easier to hit high, low, fade or draw too but it is difficult to articulate exactly why, more just a feeling.

Anyway, I recommend giving a club like this a go to all golfers, especially those new to the game or from a younger generation who were not even born when this club was made! :)

PS - can't be that bad a club as I took the money!

PPS - yes I will post a pic of my driver with a Ferrari paint job when I get it back. Probably coming back to me today.
 
Last edited:
Fascinating stuff. Great striking to be working the ball with such a club, but as mentioned, they lend themselves to that more than the uberstraight modern technology.

Practicing the other evening hitting my 4 wood off a par 5 to compare to driver and it only just got to where as a plucky 15 yr old I used to hit my old Staff 3 wood. That would have been with poor quality balls too - balata's were saved for the best/most important comps.

Putting the rose tinted glasses down for a moment I began to remember the off centre hits that didn't go anywhere however. Still, nothing quite like that low frequency sound off a perfectly struck persimmon club that didn't even register a feeling in the hands.
 
Spear-Chucker said:
Putting the rose tinted glasses down for a moment I began to remember the off centre hits that didn't go anywhere however.
Click to expand...

This reminds me of something else worth noting from last night. I hit a Ping i25 8 iron approach to a green last night from semi rough and made such a bad swing that I almost missed the ball with the impact mark of fresh grass being right at the toe of the club. Cue much muttering under the breath and turning away in disgust. Playing partner then says nice shot and I am told my ball is on the green and when we get there it was 15 feet from the flag, pin high.

There may have been an element of a flyer from a grassy lie but all the same, I was really surprised and can only attribute the result to the club head and shaft technology in my irons. It absolutely saved me a shot. Dreadful swing, shocking content but the i25's got me out of jail.

Quite interesting I thought.....
 
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