H & B Persimmons

I am fairly new to ABS…still in Mod 1 but I pulled out my 48’ Ben Hogan MacGregor a week ago and was absoluted delighted at how I hit it. It has a minor chip on the face, however, so I am sending it to Lag to get it in tip top condition again. In the meantime I need some persimmon to hit, and bought these for $50 on ebay. Hope I did okay. They look nice, but I never really liked powerbilt. Maybe these H & B’s will be fine.

Grady
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Hard to see from on picture but these might be laminates; nothing wrong in playability.

No they are definitely persimmons. I know H & Bs don’t have the value of old MacGregors, but was wondering if anyone had played them and had an opinion. It is always an adventure with a golf club. That 48 Hogan MacGregor is just magical. I also have a Mac Tourney Eye-o-Matic but it just never felt the same, even though the head is very similar.

Some of the H and B stuff is top shelf. I don’t care what anyone says, they are great persimmons… especially the older stuff from the 50’s.

First Flight also made top shelf persimmons… actually had Toney Penna designing the heads. I have one I am working on now.
Best looking head I have ever seen.

Those are definitely persimmon… look like a good set… only the grain is bit off… but good shape.

How would you describe the appearance of a club with really good grain?

The classic look is to have the eye right at the top of the club and the grain then coming straight across into the face or just arcing somewhat into the face. Some visual symmetry basically.

A little more grain coming straight into the face…
I know Bradley likes his grain coming straight across into the face.

I’m not sure it makes a difference in playability…
however…
if you think it does… then it kinda does … doesn’t it? :sunglasses:

This starts getting into the realm of tasting fine wines…

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I just took delivery of the H & Bs today. One question: There is some peeling of the chrome on the shaft of the 3 wood. The seller discovered this when packaging and basically gave me the 3 wood for free. Now looking at it I see no rust. Does anyone know if the peeling of the chrome wrapper will affect playability? Also, is there anything I can apply to the area to avoid rusting? I know the best answer is just to reshaft the thing, but that is a big deal these days since no one in Dallas works with these clubs anymore.

Regarding the look of the clubs I have to say they look great. The driver looks to have less loft than what I typically see. The interesting thing is the lie of the clubs seems much flatter than what I typically see. Can’t wait to hit’em.

Grady

It won’t affect playability. I would just steel wool down the area, then put a little clear epoxy over it. That should work fine.

Well it didn’t take long to ding the H & B driver. These are quite heavy and quite flat so I was having a hard time adjusting and caught one fat and on the toe and the hit damaged the finish just above the face on the toe. Is there anything I can do to avoid the damage spreading to the remainder of the head…or do I just have to refinish?

Grady

Took these out to the course Saturday afternoon. I had hit the 3 wood okay on the range, but not the driver. Wow, what a difference getting on the course made. Don’t know if it was using new balls, instead of range balls, or just seeing shots on the course but I hit these guys great. It was a really nice feeling to play with them. I live in Texas where we get tons of wind, and the most notable thing about hitting persimmon to me is the flat ball flight. I found playing the persimmon preferable to playing my modern driver into the wind. And distance really wasn’t an issue, playing a 6900 yard course. For the most part I was in the same area I normally would be in the fairways. Really like the 3 wood over the modern stuff.

Thanks Lag for opening my eyes.

Great to hear…
I agree, you just can’t beat persimmon for working and shaping the ball, and keeping the ball under the wind.