Timothy D Watson

After careful inspection, research, and thought, I recommend not messing with the hybrid. Sky marks happen and golf clubs often suffer cosmetic damage. A fairly convincing fix on this club would actually be a very complex job. The whole black/blue crown, back, and sole relief area would have to be carefully stripped and repainted smoothly with a matching color while being well covered beforehand with masking tape precisely on the entire perimeter of that area. Then, the light blue slot in the back would have to be done similarly. Also, the words "TITANIUM CROWN" on the back would need to have a specially made decal applied. The worst part looks simple. The white "MIZUNO" and roadrunner logo in the sole reliefs would need to be manually paint filled with a toothpick and cleaned off with acetone before any of the spray painting described before, let to dry, filled with modeling putty, and then have the putty removed from under that dried spray paint without damaging the finish. If anything goes wrong in the whole above process, it would have to be restriped and the process redone.

What brand and model are the club(s)? Are the "nicks" just surface scuffs or something more significant like a dent?

I was talking about real wooden golf clubs, but I may be able to help. What brand and model are the club(s)? Are the "nicks" just surface scuffs or something more significant like a dent?

I refinish woods. Virtually nobody does it professionally anymore because of the lack of specialized materials, training, and profit involved. I only do it locally at a select basis. It is a very complex, stressful, and time consuming process to do a "like or better than new" restoration. Check out www.louisvillegolf.com and select "Refinish & Repair" on the left-side column. I believe they should do a good job if they know exactly what you want.

Wooden drivers range in volume from around 175cc to 285cc, but much of that is in the traditional tapered hosel. Comparatively sized drivers with modern hosels run at around 130cc to 250cc. From 130cc to 225cc, the clubhead would have to be steel or beryllium copper. All titanium drivers started around 230cc. Graphite drivers come in sizes from 130cc all the way to 460cc. That is almost the full spectrum of legal head volumes for graphite. The problem is that when modern materials like 6-4 titanium, carbon composite, and others are used in a smaller clubhead, the head's feel will be much more solid. Modern driver materials have very high strength to weight ratios. Large headed drivers feel more "hot" because they demand more from these materials to keep the clubhead together through impact and the head is thus less "solid." It sounds like you do not want the older, "solid" feel. My best bet for a persimmon like driver with oversized titanium like feel would be a clubhead that is as big as durably possible within the range of 130cc to 250cc, but definitely with a strong but NOT lightweight body material and a face with a springlike effect equal or greater than 6-4 titanium. The exact reasons for all of that are complex. The closest existing thing I know of to this would be a driver with a titanium face, steel body, and volume around 230cc. Just a club does exist new with graphite shafts available (you can take other old heads and reshaft them too). Look up www.raven•••••••••••••• , select USA, go to titanium, and finally drag down and select "Extreme Distance." I would recommend the 220cc head.

Please don't feel "discriminated against" by the poll choices. I made this poll and even my all-time favorite fairway wood is not listed. There are just too many models out there, so I had to limit the list to the most recent releases and most common brands. Interesting enough, nobody has voted for an Adams wood yet. That is amusing, since I would have thought that brand more associated with fairway woods than any of the others listed.

I dislike pretty much anything on a golf club that is not significantly functional, so I have been aggravated for quite a while. Sandblasting is kind of nice. Sandblasted faces are also practical. I can go either way with tumble finishes. I generally distain paint jobs apart from grooves or simple head stampings. Interesting groove patterns on the face appeal to me, though. Don't get me started on black melonite and the like. That easily rubs off with use and looks bad afterward. All of the rubbish on the new clubs makes them virtually impossible to restore. In my opinion, the persimmon or laminated woods, blade irons, and blade or heel-toe putters of the 60's and 70's are the closest to perfection in appearance. Though... the polyurethane on the woods would quickly rub off and the chromed carbon steel would eventually rust. Those clubs looked like art, but definitely would not stay that way if they were used!

I meant to type "FT-i Squareway" in there. Also, the "SUMO2" is the square Nike fairway wood.

Sorry, I should have explained more... I started this poll to see which of last "season's" big brand fairway wood releases are the most popular at the Sand Trap. I want to see if there are any trends in opinion or if there was something good I did not note about one of the woods. None of last "season's" fairway releases made a lasting impression with me. There sure were a lot of them, though. Added Comments about other fairway woods from different brands or past years are welcome. These are some that caught my eye: Demoed, big brand: Adams Insight BUL - Nice "hot" sound Cleveland HiBORE - Like the scooped crown Cobra Speed LD '07 - Hits good, looks good Cobra Speed LD OS '07 - Hits good, looks better Ping Rapture (V1) - Big & confidence inspiring TaylorMade r7 CGV MAX - Looks awesome, difficult Not Demoed: Henry Griffitts RDH Deep Honma BERES MG713 Honma BERES MG812 Louisville Niblick DC Snake Eyes Mamba 2 Tour Edge Exotics XLD Owned: 1990 Ram Laser X2 - Easiest 3-wood ever! 1998 Cobra Ti Offset - Solid 1987 Ping Eye 2 - Beautiful when refinished blonde 1987 PowerBilt Citation Persimmon - True classic 1988 Spalding Executive - Unorthodox

Sorry, this thread is broken. It was supposed to be a poll.

Of these big brand fairway woods, which is your favorite and why?

Of these big brand fairway woods, which is your favorite and why?

I buy and restore/rebuild/modify a great deal of old golf clubs mostly as an out of control hobby. I always measure the loft of my driver heads before deciding to buy the parts to build a complete club. Most of the time, the loft is 0.5 to 2.0 degrees higher than stated on metalwoods. A loft less than stated is very rare. The farthest off I have ever seen the loft specification on a driver is 3.0 degrees higher than the stated "9.5 degrees" at an actual loft of 12.5. The club is a clone of the 1990 J's (Jumbo Ozaki) Professional Weapon by Bridgestone. It says J Preferred Wood instead.

Polish beryllium copper with Brasso and it looks like gold. This only lasts to full affect for about a day. BeCu alloys can be VERY soft or VERY strong depending on the exact formulation and way they're worked. The common carbon steel used in golf has about a 275 MPa yield strength. BeCu can have a yield strength as low as around 85 MPa. The common titanium used in golf has a yield strength of about 860 MPa. BeCu can be made as strong as 1520 MPa! Don't be fooled, though. BeCu is very dense, so its strength to weight ratio is not as good as the common 6-4 titanium. It will not make a stronger golf club, but can make a very hot face insert.

I hit a bunch of balls with the little driver yesterday. It must be me or something because it was outperforming "The Whale." Both were giving excellent sweet hits, but the 130cc was working the ball back to center a whole lot more on the poor strikes. The distance loss on the off-center hits was essentially the same with the two as well. The 130cc sometimes had a pop-up, but I could hit it off of the short grass too. The Whale has the same loft, but I can't do that with it. The little driver practically has a low profile face, so that helped on the grass. Both had great shaft feedback. The little guy made a tiny ping on the sweet hits, but felt solid also. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience using the 130cc once I forgot about the size. Its performance was not proportional to its volume, so I forgot about it.