‘Going retro’ is a novel way to expand your equipment interests.
The world of golf equipment is a fascinating and sometimes all-encompassing one.
Big-name manufacturers are staples, while others come and go. Options in every category are almost endless. Everyone has an opinion. And more than any other part of the game, performance jealousy and playing-partner influence can drive someone towards significant financial outlay.
Personally, the seemingly never ending landscape of golf equipment was a gateway drug to the all-encompassing addiction that is golf. Witnessing a (now somewhat rudimentary) club fitting for Dad sparked something in a sports-mad teenager, which led to formative golf-playing years spent in golf shops searching barrels of clubs, peering in the bags of others and reading every piece of equipment content that could be found.
This publication’s annual Hot List was like Christmas and a birthday all in one, despite the available funds of a teenager meaning the magazine price was barely within reach, let alone any of the featured gear.
Interest became a career in club fitting and repair, followed by the media, and some 20 years in the golf industry later, equipment of a different sort has taken hold as the primary personal passion away from covering the game.
Conceived from the brains of tour winner and fellow commentator Ewan Porter, Angus & Grace Go Golfing creator Matt Burns, golf tech guru Adrian Logue and this columnist, turning back the clock equipment-wise on the public tracks of our youth went from a few-beers-deep concept to reality.
The self-titled ‘Gala Boys’ were armed with persimmon woods, blade irons and balata balls, and after a personal love-hate relationship that was more hate with playing the game, golf was fun again and equipment addiction has taken a step back to the future.
Flushing one actually “out of the screws” as opposed to just saying it is pure joy, flighting a blade 1-iron is arguably the best feeling in golf, while the near rolling-on-the-ground laughter of a poor shot by decent players is unmatched.
Initially a one-off idea became a regular get-together as the clubs put in play, and admittedly outfits, drew the interest of others.
Current tour players who’ve never played the game with a wood actually made of wood, or a wound golf ball, ask regularly about joining, as countless others happily share their own tales of ‘retro golf’ unprompted knowing that they are in the safe space of another true golf sicko.
Our group by no means claims exclusivity to the idea of making old new again, with the concept even getting the best players in the world smiling like a junior when a persimmon driver is placed on a tee during a tournament practice round.
Rory McIlroy has been one such player featured in social-media content from various tours hitting old woods, and after completing the career Grand Slam last year was gifted a custom blonde Joe Powell drive by former DP World Tour player-turned commentator John E. Morgan during the Scottish Open.
Like any golf equipment lover, Rory hit it straight away and sailed a beautiful drive about 40 metres short of where he would expect at a minimum out of his usual weapon of choice… and yet was delighted.
Closer to home, Mike Clayton, who would prefer our retro sets were just called “sets”, placed a couple of bags of his old weapons on the back of Royal Melbourne’s range at the 2024 Sandbelt Invitational.
David Micheluzzi, the leader of the tournament, spent most of his final-round warm-up trying to hit the back fence with persimmon and shaping shots with clubs older than himself as this columnist watched on knowing that this unique equipment bug was sinking its teeth.
Sure enough, Micheluzzi has since posted videos to Instagram of his own Gala Boys-like adventures with old gear that clearly turns the game that is now his job back into a hobby, if only for a brief moment. It showed that even those who get their clubs for free can find a way to be fascinated by equipment beyond what helps deliver their best scores.
This issue features plenty of those clubs, and I certainly encourage seeking those to move your handicap in the right direction, but at the same time consider heading to your nearest op shop to see what they have on offer that won’t be found in any list of the latest and greatest.
Or follow Porter’s example of developing something of an addiction to clicking ‘Buy It Now’ on eBay when you see something you coveted decades ago.
For one, when you pick back up the new clubs it will feel like a breeze, while turning old new again is a chance to indulge equipment nerdery like you could never have thought possible, as you chase a set that’s 1-iron to sand wedge, or a Wilson 8802, or some other niche piece of playable golf history.
Be forewarned, it will be fun, although perhaps consider the potential downside of more conversations at home about the golf budget increasing, or a scenario I know all too well of one of your mates finding their golf niche with the old stuff and taking the money, dignity and whatever else they can get their hands on that belongs to opponents.
Photographs by Getty Images/H. Armstrong Roberts, David Cheskin