Clubs I Loved and Why I Loved Them

Golf clubs have changed. Product life cycle is measured in months. Beauty gives way to bizarre. Technology trumps tradition. And I’ve fallen out of love.

Bag DropAs I wrote last week’s Bag Drop on the new Nike and Callaway square drivers, it occurred to me that despite all the proven and promised performance improvements over the past few years, golf clubs have lost something, at least for me.

The clubs in my bag do work better than any I ever used before. But I don’t love them. Somewhere along the way they’ve become simply tools to use until something better comes along. Which, thanks to constant innovation by clubmakers, happens more and more often.

Outside of perhaps my wedges and putter, none were selected for their looks. All are free agents subject to waiver at any time. Despite shooting a career round with them this year, there’s no emotional attachment. And that’s kind of sad.

That’s because I remember how I felt about certain clubs I once used and how I used them long enough to really get to trust and treasure them. So here’s a highly personal and subjective list of the best I ever had…

Toney Penna Model 1 Driver
I wish I had a picture of this club to share with you, but I don’t. It was beautiful, it was one of a kind, and it had a pedigree to match.

Before he founded his own company (which ultimately became Nicklaus Golf), Toney Penna was responsible for designing all of MacGregor’s most famous and classic clubs from 1937 until 1966. Hogan, Nelson, Nicklaus all played and won with his designs.

I bought this club at a driving range after spending an afternoon hitting every driver they had. With its deep face, bright red insert, and strong loft (as I recall, about 7°), it just worked for me. But I almost didn’t buy it because it was so ugly. It had a dark brown stain with black toner accents sprayed around the edges – usually a sign the maker was trying to hide an inferior piece of persimmon.

But I did buy it and drove immediately to a clubmaker I knew. Inspired, I think, by the look of Nicklaus’ driver, I had him strip the finish to produce a light blond color that, amazingly, revealed a stunning, tight persimmon grain. What a beauty.

I used that club for something like seven years and gave it loving care… keeping it dry, waxing it often, regripping it frequently. Finally, though, it somehow absorbed moisture and became head-heavy. I sent it back to Penna to be re-weighted, but it was never the same.

About that time along came the TaylorMade Tour Burner driver with its graphite shaft and the Penna became history. I gave it to a friend’s son. I wish I hadn’t. It was the most beautiful club I ever owned.

Hogan Saber
Hogan Saber FairwayMy father gave me this club for Christmas in 1987, shortly before he passed away. He’d almost won his club championship (which they subsequently named for him) using one that season.

What’s interesting is that this small laminated wood head with its heavy brass sole plate, cambered sole, and 7 wood loft pre-dated Callaway’s Heavenwood by almost a decade and today’s hybrids by nearly twenty years. It was money out of the rough and I used it for several seasons before it lost its place in the bag when I turned to a Ping 1 iron.

Since then it’s variously hung on the wall or lived in my bag of treasured clubs. But, for obvious reasons, it always stays in my heart.

Ping Eye2 1 Iron
When Lee Trevino made the crack that not even God could hit a 1 iron, he obviously hadn’t hit a Ping Eye2 1 iron. What a club. While I was never strong enough to be able to hit if from anything but a nearly perfect lie, it was my go-to club off the tee and from about 220 into the green (back when I could hit anything 220).

Karsten Solheim’s brilliant perimeter weighting innovation was most effective, I think, in the long irons. This 1 iron was, compared to the tiny forged blades in traditional irons, immense and with its broad heavy sole exceptionally easy to get up in the air.

It also came with a guilty pleasure. After striping one down the fairway, playing companions would ask what I hit. Invariably, I’d get oohs and ahhs when I told them it was a 1 iron. Ego boost? You bet. That’s really why I loved it.

Ping Eye Irons
I picked up a set of Ping Eye irons about the same year the Eye2 models were introduced. I choose the older model because the slightly smaller head just suited my eye better – even if both were ugly as sin.

Like many golfers of the time, switching to Ping irons was a true epiphany. Never, ever had I hit irons as far, as high, or as straight as I did with those Pings. They were just awesome.

After about six seasons with them, I got the itch for new clubs and sold the Eyes to an acquaintance. After thrashing my way through sets of Yonex’s, MacGregor’s, and Zing’s, I tracked down the buyer and bought them back, to his profit. That’s love. And that’s why I still have them.

Ping Eye2 BeCu Lob Wedge
Ping Eye2 Lob WedgeOne of the first lob wedges produced, the Ping Eye2 lob wedge with its square grooves quickly earned an almost legendary (some might say infamous) status in the hands of wizards like Mark Calcavecchia.

The beryllium copper version was no doubt the best with its heavier head and softer feel. It’s no longer made because of OSHA and environmental concerns. Turns out this material is very toxic and it’s apparently just too expensive for Ping to manufacture in a safe way.

I love mine… or I should I say “ours.” It’s true owner is my PGA pro friend Marty Strumpf who reshafted it with a Dynamic Gold shaft and then lent it to me oh, about seven years ago. Every year I remind him I’m going to return it. And I will. Someday.

Bobby Grace Fat Lady Swings
Grace Original Fat Lady SwingsI’m notoriously fickle about putters. In fact, I ordered another one even as I wrote this column when Marty called to say he was putting in an order for the new Ping Redwood series putters about to come out.

Still, of the couple dozen or so I have in current inventory, one putter I have gets more love. I remember I ordered it not long after Nick Price used it to win the 1994 PGA. Made by Bobby Grace before he allied himself with Cobra and then MacGregor, my original Fat Lady Swings made so many clutch putts I remember so vividly that I could never give it up.

Actually, mine became special to me after it broke. On the 10th hole in the first round I played with it, the shaft came loose from the head. When I took it to my clubmaker to be re-glued, he had me hold it on the floor in my putting stance until the epoxy kicked.

Something happened in the process. I don’t know if the lie angle changed or whether the shaft twisted slightly (double bend shafts are notoriously difficult to align perfectly), but after that it was deadly, especially on slower Bermuda greens. To this day it’s still my choice when I head south. I love it.

In the End…
Maybe it’s just because I’ve played for so long that new clubs just don’t evoke much emotion from me. Then again, maybe they don’t deserve any, transitory as they’ve become.

So I’m curious… are there any clubs past or present that have strummed your heartstrings?

14 thoughts on “Clubs I Loved and Why I Loved Them”

  1. i will go along with you about the new square drivers. one will never find its way into my bag. callaway has gone through a lot of new designs in the past 5-6 years and they have not been longstanding models, never lasting for more than part of a season. kind of like computers. obsolete as soon as you get it home.

    i really love my current set up, it has been with me a long time, with the exception of the putter. my driver is a gbb, close to ten years old now. bought it from a kid i worked with. not pretty, not offensive but it works. same with my three. it is a strong three. again probably ten years old and again, not the prettiest thing but sounds great and it works. irons are 962’s. i remember when i first saw them in the pro shop, i was going to have those irons whether i could hit them or not. they are still in my bag although i am looking at the new 735’s (just looking). wedges are 588’s. old, tried and true. just can’t seem to love them any less after all this time. my putter is new. it is a circa 62, #1. had a ping zing2 for close to 8 years and was very loyal to that putter but felt is was time for a change. i have many other putters but none of them have ever been in the bag for a round. spent this summer adjusting to the new putter. this isn’t the best looking model to come out of the cameron shop but the feel is great. they just put you in a position to make a good stroke. gotta love that.

    the only other addition i am considering for next year is the new titleist hybrid i think it is a 585. i won’t pull the trigger until i have hit one or two, but hoping form follows function. in the end, my choices in clubs come down to does it work for me. but i will not go with anything which i think is gimmicky, because i stick with things for a long time and gimmicks come and go.

  2. The only clubs to which I’ve gotten overly attached have been a putter, my original Titleist metal driver, and the 7-iron I used to learn the game. I hung on to my Ping Eye2 2-iron a bit too long, too, but only because I was stupidly resisting trying a hybrid. 😉

  3. I was thinking along the very same lines when i heard about the square drivers. “Oh no, just when i’m falling in love with my new R7 425 TP something innovative comes along yelling for attention.”

    And a feeling came up like i better now fall in love with this driver because i may be moving on within a year . . . what an uncomfortable feeling.

    I resisted this trend for a long time but now it’s like such a strong current to be part of the process of moving foward with innovation that it doesn’t feel right to hold on to something too long.

    I loved the Titleist 384 golf ball some 20 yrs ago, nothing still comes close to how that felt.

    The McGreagor Tourney M85 woods with that ball cannot be matched by anything today, the feeling and sound still reverberates in the recesses of my nerves.

    I still have a set of McGreagor tourney forged blades from the 60’s, i’ll take them out soon for a round.

  4. Funny you should mention the Ping Eye2 1-iron. I made my last hole-in-one with my red dot. The ball flew into the morning haze and went into the hole 230 yards away. That was 19 years ago….what a thrill it was.

  5. Wow. An ace with an ace. That’s pretty cool. The Ping 1 iron was a special club. In many ways it was the precurser to the “hybrid irons” we see today. Congrats on a special, special shot.

  6. Thanks for writing this article. I have a similar “relationship” with a driver. It sits in the corner of my bedroom, I think just to remind me of a better time. Here’s to the old days.

  7. Ah, this takes me back. Remember my old taylormade driver. Head was basically same size as ball (or smaller) but oh what a sweet sweet feeling, of course made that much sweeter because you knew how a bad shot felt. 33% chance of a quick hook, 63% chance of a huuuge slice and 1% chance of pure bliss. Wouldn’t trade in my 460cc driver as i have left the golf world and have joined the move-a-round-object-through-grassy-terrain world.

  8. I too used to have a Tony Penna driver. It was stolen in 1984 along with my Hogan Apex irons and a hand-me-down wedge hand ground by Chi Chi Rodrigues and an original Ping Anser putter I bought for $15 as a teenager. Beautiful club. Nothing like the old persimmon sound on a well-hit drive. I still have my replacement Apex PC irons (1-E), and there’s no doubt a Hogan iron hit flush is as good as it gets. Not being the player I once was, I’ve moved on to some Titleist 735s, which are great clubs, but I’ve lost alot of the shot-shaping control I had with the Hogans. The wedge, well, it was once good enough for Chi Chi, and better than any I’ve tried since. I’d love to see Chi Chi go up against Mickelson in a trick-shot contest. The putter? I cringe just thinking about losing it.

  9. I too used to have a Tony Penna driver. It was stolen in 1984 along with my Hogan Apex irons and a hand-me-down wedge hand ground by Chi Chi Rodrigues and an original Ping Anser putter… .The wedge, well, it was once good enough for Chi Chi, and better than any I’ve tried since. … The putter? I cringe just thinking about losing it.

    Ouch! That must of hurt to see them go missing. And that was kind of my point. The clubs I have now seem more like a commodity than something I care a whole bunch about. But I swear some of those old ones were pure magic.

  10. I just bought a set of these…1-5 on EBAY for $70! I bought them to use, which the seller couldnt believe…they are great.

  11. Haha! When you said you no longer loved your clubs for their looks, I was expecting you to talk longingly about your old set of Hogan Apex irons or something equally aesthetic. Then you hit us with your Ping Eye irons! Hysterical!.

  12. I have three Toney Penna Special Edition persimmon drivers that have never been hit. They are beautiful clubs. I am trying to find out more about them. I am donating one to an auction to benifit Hospice Of Michigan, reason I need to know what they are worth so I can put a value to them. I paid over $100 dollars a piece for them years ago, might have been taken but I think not. Any information would be helpful.

  13. I have a set of Toney Penna model 4 grade A woods, Driver, 3 and 4. Shafts in the 3 and 4 are the original fiberglas, reg. flex. After acquiring the woods several years ago, I sent the driver to the Toney Penna shop in West Palm to be refinished and fitted with an Aldila HM40 boron graphite shaft, firm flex. The persimmon in these woods is beautiful and tight grained and the driver has not been played since the refinishing. I plan to list these woods on eBay, however if you or anyone you know are interested in them please let me know within the next week. Otherwise you will find them on eBay. Thanks

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