I got my dad's old persimmon woods down from his attic at the weekend and played some good stuff with them round his local course, so have brought them back with me to try them out seriously. 

I can play pretty well with just irons but now that I am getting more proficient at shaping shots I thought I would try persimmons out because of what everyone says about them being easier to play with.

My question is has anyone tried bringing old persimmons back to their former glory, and if so how? They are in pretty good nick but the paint has come off in places and the soles are tarnished.

Sandpaper(Fine grades), stain(In colour of choice) and varnish, plus a little care and attention.

Thanks John. Trim to B&Q for me! Presumably that is for the wooden area; not much one can do about the metal base plate?

You would have loved some of the shots I was hitting with the 2 wood!

I'd try with sugar soap and water first before you start with the sandpaper Stuart, but remember to wash it off thoroughly and dry the wood with a towel.  Some older varnishes are really hard and just get stained so they may come up without abrasives.  If you do need to resort to abrasives, see if you can get 1000 grade wire wool or, at a push, wet and dry.  The wire wool will work on the metal too and then can brightened up with Solvol Autosol - then a good polyurethane (Sandolin is very good) varnish, flatten with the wire wool again and then more varnish.  Repeat this until you get the finish you want. 

Thank you Tim. Looking forward to doing them up.

Stuart, what sort on comparable distances were you getting with the persimmons? What do you hit with your 1 & 3 wood at the mo.

Dave CAC handed Geordie.

Dave CAC handed Geordie, all my friends have tried my persimmons and are gobsmacked that there is no difference in distance between their own monsters and my beautiful persimmons. Dave Ley is so enamoured with them that he asked if I could leave them to him,when I finally pop off.

I have three sets of persimmons and find them better in all respects than  metal woods.

John, what swing adjustments have to be made to get the best out of these clubs?

Also isnt it funny how the big boys ( Callaway, TM etc ) spend billions on R & D the get the best materials for high MOI and inner core stability. Not to mention Cone effect modulus. When all along a 2"  square of blue  plastic and four brass screws were all that was req. Hmmmmm

Dave CAC handed Geordie.

Don't take my word for it. Dave. get hold of a copy of Shells wonderful world of golf showing Ben Hogan and Sam Snead in a match at Houston Golf and Country club, a course over 7000 yards in the fifties and you will witness Ben hitting every green in regulation, something you very rarely see today.

This is the problem, today, the invention of new words to help flog a new club that is not different from last years or the year before. Nothing but marketing hype.

The modern game is now mechanical, no skills of yesteryear are required, just the ability to smash it a long way and launch every shot from a great height into the greens. Where is the pleasure in that, I ask you.

The move to metal was made  because there was a shortage of persimmon and the declining skills of clubmaking. combined with the loss of clubmakers generally.

These pictures are enough to make one drool! Don't think I will ever get my persimmons like that but I shall give it a go!

Dave, I would say I got comparable distance. I can probably hit a driver 250 to 275 maybe? For some reason we couldn't find the driver so I have a 2, 3 and 4 wood. It wasn't so much the distance though it was the ball flight. I am a bit of a purist like that; love to hit the perfect shot, not just belt it. The course I played on was on a cliff by the sea, so plenty of wind. I took the 2 wood, teed it low and hit a low draw into the wind. Lovely feeling!

John I,m with you all the way. I saw an article the other day comparing 1959 clubs with todays clubs. The astonashing fact was ( not to you ) that  todays driver averaged at 281 yds off the tee. 1959 driver 259 yds of the tee. Only 22 yds. difference But every season the new shaped sparkly driver will give us 20yds more than last years model. I do watch shell golf and they seem to perform amazing feats with those tiny headed clubs. When you have not to much choice you have to adapt and improve. When you have 1000,s of clubs to choose from the easiest option is to get some new impoved clubs.

Dave CAC handed Geordie.

Regarding swing adjustments, the good thing for me is that I feel my swing is the same with these as it is with my irons. Small head, low tee, etc. With today's big drivers my wood swing feels different to my iron swing.

Why should a persimmon be hard to hit, when it is the same size as most rescue clubs on the market today, and everyone seems to swear by those.

Also, you have to take into consideration that the length of old persimmon clubs were probably at least two inches shorter than what is produced today.

I was playing a few holes the other evening and I caught up a two ball, so I joined in with them. On the 14th at my club which is 428 off the whites and stroke index 1. The 8 handicapper hit his metal wood with a very high hook like flight that finished just in the semi down the left hand side. He then had a go with my persimmon which was the Hiro Honma I have with a regular graphite shaft, but shorter, of course and he hit the most beautifully flighted ball one could imagine. Nice low trajectory with just a slight draw at the end of the flight. When  we got up to balls there was no difference in the length apart from the fact that the persimmon was in the fairway.,

They do have that classic ball flight that I like and may be the smaller head that I was trying to find (with Ivan) in steel.  May be worth dragging out my old woods for a go at the range, not persimmon I don't think, but worth a go..

Tim, we play this game for pleasure and pleasure comes from hitting a shot the way we intended..

The modern equipment has made this difficult, all we like to see is the finished result of a ball 250 yards plus down the fairway, without a thought given to how the ball was flighted. Being old school, the flight is the most important thing, as it tells you immediately what happened at impact.

Hear hear (you old fuddy duddy).

Stuart, I feel the time is right for you to pop down and test yourself on a real golf course. Easy to get to from your house. You can stay overnight if you wish.

That would be lovely John. What days next week suit you? With sufficient notice I could probably do any day except Tuesday.  It looks like our Stevenage match with Russ and David might not happen for a while, if at all, so we should arrange a game just you and me.

Back to topic...

Got the woods in front of me now and they are Trypower by Daiwa, which I think were around in the 70s (that's when my dad got them). I don't think they are a particularly good make, in fact they may not even be persimmon (I'm not an expert). Does anyone know?

It doesn't bother me particularly, as I just like the idea of trying out clubs from yesteryear. Just curious.

Stuart I have PM'd you.

Maybe we should have a 70's/80's equipment competition...

There are many things which sadden me in today's golf world, and likewise in today's motoring, housing, and other  worlds, and that is that  modern designers tend to design on a functionality basis with total disregard  to beauty. To build in quality materials with care takes time and money and everything now seems to be geared to lazily making a quick buck.

Ironically many of their functionality arguments do not stand up and hence manufacturers' sponsorship and advertising budgets grow annually larger in order to sustain and expand the sale of shoddy goods.

Most of today's golfers are unfamiliar with the beauty of persimmon woods, and fail to even notice that golf grips are not finished off with either a plastic collar or whipping. Want to touch up the paint on woods?  Where can one buy scoring paint, which is a latex based material?  Where can one purchase lacquer based soleplate paint?  Whilst I know how to mix and make  such items one should not need to.

Golfers no longer have the sophistication to request a club builder for an advanced finish. For example a lace pattern. A lace pattern was achieved over the crown portion of the club by simply laying an intricately patterned lace over the partly finished wood head and passing over with an air brush. Such could be replicated on today's metal heads.  

Whilst there are several specialists in the world producing quality finishes I would guess that only one in every million golfers use their services.

Can beauty and performance go hand in hand? Most definately "yes." Unfortunately though the European market demand is not on all fours with quality. Why should a culture that largely dresses itself in a scruffy blue jeans and t shirts uniform have an entirely higher ethos for quality and individuality with its golf equipment?

I try to make sense of the world but my rationale for its 'sense' is  often just as daft as golf equipment sales' hype.     

Nicely put, Ivan. unfortunately we are only aware of the era we are born into and for us old farts to keep on suggesting that golf was a better game years ago is falling on ears that cannot relate to those times. 'Progress' is the word that solves everything in their minds.

Just had to happen didn't it.  Dug my old Ram Tom Watson No 1 wood out of the attic and took it over the range today.  Despite the fact that the steel shaft is horribly whippy, the grip is as hard as rock and it was covered in cobwebs I was cracking it straighter and longer than my driver.   It feels and sounds a bit wierd compared to the metal but the ball flight is much lower, so am just wondering whether to try it on a round tomorrow...