modern wooden clubs

[GolfClubbas]

i recently found a company, Louisville golf that makes wooden woods (and uses hickory shafts on their irons and some drivers) they also make wooden putters. does anyone think these would perform good with all the metal woods, putters, and graphite shafts today?

[Righty to Lefty]

I bet they would perform really well if you hit it out of the middle....now I bet it's a different story if the strike is off center.  I assume that a hickory shaft  would have a much higher torque rating than a steel or graphite shaft. All clubs perform on center strikes but today's clubs are much better on off center strikes. 

[Patch]

I have a set of Ping Eye 2 woods. D, 2,  3, 4, and 5 that I sometimes go play with. It's just fun doing it. I had them all refurbished, and they sit in a case with my Hogan Irons.  I will always believe that the Ping Eye 2, 2 wood was one of the the best clubs ever made for the beginner. It is so easy to hit. I don't know if it could be done, but if Ping ever made a metal wood with the exact specs of that 2 wood, and marketed it as such, I would go buy it, and do away with my driver. 

As for the wooden woods performing as well as today's metal wood, they probably would if used by the very low handicapper.  

[Mike Boatright]

I have hit a few persimmons and have found this one to be the best I have ever tried. I think that driver in particular is called the thumper it might be good it's a reputable company and would be brand new. To me it's kinda looks funny,but they do make one called the 1957 classic I think. To further answer your question no any persimmon will not perform as well as titanium or steel it's not as hot even with a titanium insert. Persimmon is a very dense wood and has a ceramic hard insert. It's close but just doesn't come off the face the same Iv'e hit the titlesit 260 it's heavier though so If I swung it the same swing speed I think 8 yards less as I said it's close. Now with steel it's actually about the same as titanium I have found on dead center hit a steel headed driver to go just as far as titanium.  

Edited October 17, 2015 by Mike Boatright

[cooke119]

What do they cost?

 

[onthehunt526]

I wouldn't hit a Pro V1 with wooden Woods, however with some of the two-piece distance balls you wouldn't lose too much distance... That particular model is 250cc... I haven't hit a persimmon in a while... But I will say, when you hit one solid, it is by far the sweetest sound in Golf... I really miss that sound on tour...

I was watching the final round on the '92 Masters the other day, and Fred Couples was hitting a wood Driver off the 17th and caught it flush.

That right there is Golf heaven. That is by far the most beautiful sound in our game, bar none.

[dbuck]

I play most of the time with wooden woods. ProV1's work just fine with wood, in fact, I am coming to prefer them. Softer balls also work well, like the DT Solo, Callaway Supersoft, and Wilson Duo. ProV1's are actually softer I believe in compression, than some of the balls we used back in the 70's.

Louisville Golf has 4 distinct lines. They make a set of traditional persimmon woods with steel or graphite shafts, the improved persimmons as in the OP's post with steel and graphite shafts, a line of wooden putters, and a line of hickory golf equipment.

The hickory line is not meant to be considered as competition to today's modern clubs. They are made to specifications that conform to the hickory golfers association rules, which is actually a growing segment in golf. These folks play with clubs that replicate the equipment used around the turn of the 20th century up to the 20's-30's prior to the common use of the steel shaft.

I played in a tournament this summer using a driver similar to the one in the OP's post, but by a different maker. I played with some pretty good golfers, and many times kept up off the tee. Unfortunately, the rest of my game sucked that weekend and I scored poorly. But not because of my tee shots!

Using graphite with persimmon poses the same problem as any other club, matching a head and shaft with a golfer. When you get it right, the sound is awesome.

Like Patch, I also have some PING laminated woods, and they are the easiest to hit of any I have ever tried.

All things being equal, titanium will go a few yards further than persimmon. The thing is though, often a 45" graphite shafted titanium is compared to a 43" Steel shafted persimmon.

As to the face inserts in persimmon, the early ones were a resin impregnated paper or linen, whereas into the 60's and later, most were some form of plastic. There were throught the years, inserts made of ceramic, glass/glass fiber, aluminum,graphite, and other materials.

 

 

Edited October 28, 2015 by dbuck

[onthehunt526]

I play most of the time with wooden woods. ProV1's work just fine with wood, in fact, I am coming to prefer them. Softer balls also work well, like the DT Solo, Callaway Supersoft, and Wilson Duo. ProV1's are actually softer I believe in compression, than some of the balls we used back in the 70's.

Louisville Golf has 4 distinct lines. They make a set of traditional persimmon woods with steel or graphite shafts, the improved persimmons as in the OP's post with steel and graphite shafts, a line of wooden putters, and a line of hickory golf equipment.

The hickory line is not meant to be considered as competition to today's modern clubs. They are made to specifications that conform to the hickory golfers association rules, which is actually a growing segment in golf. These folks play with clubs that replicate the equipment used around the turn of the 20th century up to the 20's-30's prior to the common use of the steel shaft.

I played in a tournament this summer using a driver similar to the one in the OP's post, but by a different maker. I played with some pretty good golfers, and many times kept up off the tee. Unfortunately, the rest of my game sucked that weekend and I scored poorly. But not because of my tee shots!

Using graphite with persimmon poses the same problem as any other club, matching a head and shaft with a golfer. When you get it right, the sound is awesome.

Like Patch, I also have some PING laminated woods, and they are the easiest to hit of any I have ever tried.

All things being equal, titanium will go a few yards further than persimmon. The thing is though, often a 45" graphite shafted titanium is compared to a 43" Steel shafted persimmon.

As to the face inserts in persimmon, the early ones were a resin impregnated paper or linen, whereas into the 60's and later, most were some form of plastic. There were throught the years, inserts made of ceramic, glass/glass fiber, aluminum,graphite, and other materials.

 

 

I will agree on the 45” Titanium Driver with a Graphite shaft being slightly longer than a 43" Steel-shafted persimmon, mainly because the steel is shorter and heavier...

But what if you could equal out the weight, and length between the two? Then would it would be equal on center strikes?

[dbuck]

On Sunday, November 01, 2015 9:35:50, onthehunt526 said:

I will agree on the 45” Titanium Driver with a Graphite shaft being slightly longer than a 43" Steel-shafted persimmon, mainly because the steel is shorter and heavier...

But what if you could equal out the weight, and length between the two? Then would it would be equal on center strikes?

I think the titanium would be a few yards longer, all things being equal. I think there is some information available on studies done with robots (i.e. Iron Byron) and the ti is a few yards longer. I don't know if they compared steel shaft to graphite, comparable lengths, etc., but the robot can be adjusted to consistent clubhead speed and angle, regardless of the shaft.

With humans, the ligther weight of the ti and of the shaft material allows for a longer club of the same weight, which will yield a higher clubhead speed with the same effort. It would be interesting to make up a ti club with a 43" shaft and compare it to my larger head graphite shafted persimmon. I think the ti would still be 5-10 yards longer, but more controllable for us mere mortals.

I don't play wood for distance though, but for the sound, feel, and nostalgia. My scramble bag has a ti driver, graphite shafted hybrids, and cavity back irons. My fun bag has lumber(currently PING laminates) and Hogan blades.

[onthehunt526]

35 minutes ago, dbuck said:

I think the titanium would be a few yards longer, all things being equal. I think there is some information available on studies done with robots (i.e. Iron Byron) and the ti is a few yards longer. I don't know if they compared steel shaft to graphite, comparable lengths, etc., but the robot can be adjusted to consistent clubhead speed and angle, regardless of the shaft.

With humans, the ligther weight of the ti and of the shaft material allows for a longer club of the same weight, which will yield a higher clubhead speed with the same effort. It would be interesting to make up a ti club with a 43" shaft and compare it to my larger head graphite shafted persimmon. I think the ti would still be 5-10 yards longer, but more controllable for us mere mortals.

I don't play wood for distance though, but for the sound, feel, and nostalgia. My scramble bag has a ti driver, graphite shafted hybrids, and cavity back irons. My fun bag has lumber(currently PING laminates) and Hogan blades.

Most beautiful sound in golf