I've seen a number of articles comparing persimmon woods to metal woods, and it finally got the best of me, so I went on to Ebay and started looking to see how much some old woods were selling for. Specifically, I was looking for a MacGregor Ben Hogan driver (the type that my Dad had when I was growing up, and the first clubs passed to me).

Amazingly, I found the 1-3-5 set, and got it for 99 cents (plus $15 shipping). One thing's for certain — persimmon clubs are beautiful! These'll end up as art in the den… but first I'm going to take them to the range as an experiment.

I'll let you know how the trip down Nostalgia Lane goes…

I took the persimmon driver out to the range today. The first thing that struck me was how heavy the club felt, with the combination of steel shaft and wood head. The second thing was how small it looked when addressing the ball — about like a small fairway wood.

It sure felt nice to hit, though! A nice, smooth, solid sound when the ball was struck — about 30 yards shorter on most shots, although I did carry into the middle of the 250-yard net on a couple shots.

Technology definitely does make the club more forgiving, but I certainly had fun taking a swing with the old clubs!