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#26
#26
didn't hit new driver with balata....i'll try it one day soon.
I think your spin goes way up, but I could be wrong. I am 70 now, and my carry distance at age 50 was 255 with equipment inferior to today's, now down to 225. Old age isn't kind.

P.S. Did you happen to read my post #36 about Ron Widby in "best Athlete" thread? Had you ever heard about that? Have you ever heard of a round like that?
 
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#27
#27
I did enjoy watching the UT/Bama game last night. Like watching a movie for the second time, you see things that go unnoticed the first time.

The refs looked worse the second time around. I swear it did look like the refs were intentionally targeting UT.

It was almost comical watching one play where 3 flags were thrown on 1 play. Some flags were thrown very late on the play also.
I didn't watch it again. But, if the refs looked worse the second time, I just can't imagine.
 
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#28
#28
I was carrying it (the good ones) about 230 with 2,100 rpm
My driver today. 250 carry and 2,300 RPM's
One of our favorite discussions on the course when the ball “misses the screws but works back left or right” and still flys a respectable distance is how that same shot would translate to our ole persimmon head drivers of yesteryear! We generally play with a couple of younger technology golfers who never fully understand that discussion. What’s really amazing is watching old footage of Nicklaus still hitting it over 300 yards with the persimmon driver.
 
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#29
#29
One of our favorite discussions on the course when the ball “misses the screws but works back left or right” and still flys a respectable distance is how that same shot would translate to our ole persimmon head drivers of yesteryear! We generally play with a couple of younger technology golfers who never fully understand that discussion. What’s really amazing is watching old footage of Nicholas still hitting it over 300 yards with the persimmon driver.
Gear effect....;)
 
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#31
#31
ESPN is really dropping the ball here so to speak. Since they don't have any sports to show right now, they should be going back in time and replaying classic college football games. I'm not talking about their current practice where they call a game from 2009 a classic, it should be games like Texas Arkansas from the 60's or Nebraska Oklahoma from the 70's (my favorites would be Tennessee PennState from 1971 or 1967 Tennessee Alabama). Since ABC held all the college football telecast rights and they typically only showed one or two games a weekend, it was huge when your team was the game of the week and they always showed Tennessee Alabama in the late 60's early 70's.

If the game was played less than 25 years ago it's not a true classic. Bud Wilkerson, the great Oklahoma coach did color and he loved Tennessee. Plus I would love to hear Keith Jackson back in his prime yell out "Whoa Nellie" again.

Your games?
I think the greatest non UT game I ever saw was the 84 Orange Bowl Miami-Nebraska. I'd love to see that one again.
 
#36
#36
Right on the screws, baby!

Persimmon woods, blade irons, and a balata ball. The good ole days.

My brother and I were just talking about when we learned to play and that was what we learned on. I can't imagine playing some of the tougher coursed around Knoxville today (Toqua, Cherokee, Holston Hills) like we did in the mid-late 80's.
 
#37
#37
Persimmon woods, blade irons, and a balata ball. The good ole days.

My brother and I were just talking about when we learned to play and that was what we learned on. I can't imagine playing some of the tougher coursed around Knoxville today (Toqua, Cherokee, Holston Hills) like we did in the mid-late 80's.
I played Holston Hills the week after they held the NCAA Tournament there in 1965. The rough was so deep that we had to use forecaddies. Marty Fleckman, from the University of Houston won the NCAA going away.

Fleckman also led the 1967 U.S. Open at Baltusrol as an amateur after 3 rounds. I happened to be there as a spectator for both the NCAA at Holston, and the 67 U.S. Open. Fleckman was by far the best amateur golfer in the country at that time. He turned pro later in 1967, won his first and only PGA Tour event. I remember reading that he went to work with Byron Nelson on improving his game, and apparently he lost it instead.

From what I remember, Fleckman hit into a very rigid left leg, and Nelson hit with his knees sagging towards the target, very relaxed. I read that they were working on changing his impact position because of worry over knee problems. He never had much success after his first win.
 
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#38
#38
Persimmon woods, blade irons, and a balata ball. The good ole days.

My brother and I were just talking about when we learned to play and that was what we learned on. I can't imagine playing some of the tougher coursed around Knoxville today (Toqua, Cherokee, Holston Hills) like we did in the mid-late 80's.
The thing nobody can understand unless they played with the old stuff is how much the ball used to curve and how much worse the misses used to be. I can’t tell you the number of narrow places I used to hit 2 iron off the tee to keep it in play, but now I just hit Driver because the ball flies straighter and dispersion is so much better.
 
#39
#39
The thing nobody can understand unless they played with the old stuff is how much the ball used to curve and how much worse the misses used to be. I can’t tell you the number of narrow places I used to hit 2 iron off the tee to keep it in play, but now I just hit Driver because the ball flies straighter and dispersion is so much better.
Agree totally. The thing that is hard for me to get used to is how little the ball curves now. I played a draw for over 30 years with the old equipment. Still, to this day, I visualize more draw that I can pull off, especially with the driver, which I can barely get to turn over now. It is hard for me to not aim too far right, and leave it hanging out there.
 
#41
#41
The thing nobody can understand unless they played with the old stuff is how much the ball used to curve and how much worse the misses used to be. I can’t tell you the number of narrow places I used to hit 2 iron off the tee to keep it in play, but now I just hit Driver because the ball flies straighter and dispersion is so much better.
Agree totally. The thing that is hard for me to get used to is how little the ball curves now. I played a draw for over 30 years with the old equipment. Still, to this day, I visualize more draw that I can pull off, especially with the driver, which I can barely get to turn over now. It is hard for me to not aim too far right, and leave it hanging out there.

You aren't kidding about how much the ball would curve. If you can (maybe YouTube) some of the old Shell's Wonderful World of Golf episodes from the 60's-70's. They are great to watch and great examples of "working" the ball around difficult courses like Pine Valley.
 
#43
#43
You aren't kidding about how much the ball would curve. If you can (maybe YouTube) some of the old Shell's Wonderful World of Golf episodes from the 60's-70's. They are great to watch and great examples of "working" the ball around difficult courses like Pine Valley.
I remember some Shell WWoG match from Pine Valley that I saw several years ago, and I think Gene Littler was one of the pros.
 
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#45
#45
That's right, vs. Byron Nelson
I almost wrote that it was against Nelson, but I wasn't sure. I have seen Littler play in person in the 1960's, but not Nelson. I did see both Hogan and Snead play, while they were in their early 50's, and could still play.
 
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#46
#46
I almost wrote that it was against Nelson, but I wasn't sure. I have seen Littler play in person in the 1960's, but not Nelson. I did see both Hogan and Snead play, while they were in their early 50's, and could still play.
On the cover of the 1967 U.S. Open program from Baltusrol. I got this when I saw Hogan walking in front of the big tudor clubhouse pictured on the cover. Nicklaus and Palmer played together the last 2 days, and I followed all 36 holes. Nicklaus beat Palmer by 4 shots.
 

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#47
#47
Autographs from 1967 U.S. Open.
 

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#48
#48
More autographs.
 

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#49
#49
Autographs from 1967 U.S. Open and 1966 PGA
Correction: these were all from the 67 Open. My PGA autographs are on another sheet of paper. These are Don January, Deane Beman, Gene Littler, Ken Venturi, Dave Marr, Julius Boros, and Bobby Nichols.

Previous post were Marty Fleckman (amateur who led the 67 U.S. Open after 3 rounds and won 1965 NCAA at Holston Hills Knoxville), Art Wall, Gay Brewer Jr, Lee Trevino, Billy Casper, Wes Ellis, Steve Spray, and Bruce Devlin.
 
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#50
#50
I still use a set of persimmon woods from time to time and there is an effortless feeling when you hit one between the screws. I have a full set of charger blades, but I really don't miss hitting them, I do still use the putter that came with that set though.
 

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