Most of the White River system lakes have been near capacity for most of the summer. There’s been little wade fly fishing in my backyard, the Norfork River in south Baxter County. Generation has been heavy.
It’s led to more golf than usual over the last eight weeks, including a discovery that my equipment is ancient. For the second time in my life, golf partners are telling me to hang my clubs on the wall as decoration of a time long gone.
The new technology is off the charts good. Golf balls, shafts and faces of clubs are wonderful.
But all who look into my golf bag point to a few clubs that should remain. I don’t think I’m removing the putter or most of the irons.
I’m concentrating on upgrades with the driver, fairway metal and perhaps a hybrid. Even the club fitters I’ve seen agree that only a few new shafts and grips would help the majority of the clubs I’ve played this summer.
I spent 20 minutes on the practice range with Big Creek Golf & Country Club pro Todd Dunaway on Tuesday. The goal was to figure out if the new Callaway Mavrik driver would provide both better distance and accuracy over the Great Big Bertha No. 2 wood that’s been my go-to club off the tee for the last 20 years.
Dunaway handed me two demo Mavrik drivers from his shop bag, then said, “You decide for yourself. Tell me what you think and if you want another brand (Ping, TaylorMade), we will get you those to hit.”
I went to the range alone and warmed up in proper fashion, working through my short irons to the driver in my usual routine. I hit my old driver, inherited from my father. It was a Father’s Day gift from me.
Because of the sentimental value, it was going to take more than a few extra yards to retire that driver. Yes, it’s ancient, but it was a special day when I handed it to him.
A few swings later I knew I was probably going to buy a new driver. The Mavrik’s bigger sweet spot was obvious. There were fewer mishits and I was gaining 20 to 30 yards. That’s enough to make a difference.
I settled on the 10.5-degree loft with the stock regular shaft. Dunaway had also asked me to try the 9-degree version with stiff shaft. I hit that club too low. You want carry at Big Creek, the lush Mountain Home course with gorgeous Zoysia grass fairways.
Back in the shop to settle on price, Dunaway began to get excited when I told him I’d gained some yardage. He wondered aloud if there might be more in the tank when he realized that the loft was actually lower than the factory settings on the one I liked.
“I want to see you hit this after I set it to 10.5,” he said. “I think it was at 9, too. The shaft is probably correct and made the difference.”
After some quick adjustments, we both went back to the practice range where I explained my normal drives are line drives with plenty of run out. Dunaway's eyes lit up as he took out two irons for alignment sticks.
I stood behind him to pick out a target, a navy flag about 250 yards out. The second was used to make a cross where he said was the middle of my stance where I’d placed my tee.
“Now, I want you to move back to where that (alignment) shaft is almost touching the instep of your left shoe,” Dunaway said. “And, tee the ball as high as you can.”
I didn’t realize that I’d moved the ball so far back in my stance. I vaguely recall a lesson about 15 years ago when my teaching guru moved the ball forward to eliminate a hook. I didn’t stick to it. I liked the hook, something the late Marshall Smith opposed.
Dunaway smiled when I mentioned that lesson. If you have roots in Oklahoma or Northwest Arkansas (as Dunaway does), you knew of Smith. The Miami, Okla., insurance man taught Hale Irwin to play and was instrumental in Luke Donald’s rise to No. 1 in the world.
Craig Stadler, 1982 Masters champ, had Smith fly to California for regular lessons when he was a stalwart on the PGA Tour.
“You probably did that in college and have never changed,” Dunaway said. “We all went for low-driving tee shots for the extra run on firm golf courses. The ground was hard from poor watering systems. It was the right way to play.
“Not now. The courses are softer and you need carry. And, with this equipment and the new golf balls, you can create more ball speed and carry. You want to hit it on the way up, not at the bottom of your swing.”
I thought I’d probably miss the ball completely, but instead I hit this high blast that was 50 yards further than what I’d been getting with the old Great Big Bertha.
It was the most fun I’ve had hitting a golf ball in ages. My drives were landing within a few feet of the navy flag 250 yards away and bounding forward. I hit five in a row that were almost exactly the same, dead straight. Each went a little higher as I gained confidence with the ball position and the driver.
It was an immediate fix. My ball flight was high and majestic like nothing I’ve ever done.
It will change the way I play some holes at Big Creek. There are trees that set the corner of a dogleg left at the ninth that I couldn’t fly.
Dunaway's changes give me hope of turning that hole into something fun. I’d been playing it with a metal wood from the fairway and rarely hitting the green. I might be hitting a short iron in the future. I liked the pro’s prediction.
“You are not going to need much more than a wedge when you play the forward tees,” he said. “You are going to enjoy that hole going forward.”
I wanted to hug him. It was just like those many lessons with Smith that provided instant fixes. I told him that.
“I have great respect for Marshall, so that’s a great compliment,” Dunaway said.
We had not talked price, but it didn’t really matter. I was going to buy it. The question was more how fast he could get it delivered. He wasn’t going to sell the demo model.
“I’ll order it now,” he said, as he pulled out his phone. “It will be on the way today since it’s before 5 p.m. You’ll have it next week.”
Then, I thought, we will move on to the fairway metal and perhaps add my first hybrid. Both will elevate my game.
There are thoughts about refinishing the putter face, a 50-year old Ping Anser. It’s a collector’s item, one of the early models of the putter that won over 500 times on the PGA Tour, including 19 majors.
But doing that work might reduce the value. It’s worth a lot of money in its current condition. I need to think more on that.
My irons probably need new shafts. They are Ping Eye-2s from around 1985. They have been re-shafted once. The current shafts are about 25 years old.
“They were stiff shafts when new, but probably have gotten a little softer through the years,” Dunaway said. “I’d keep those. I’m not sure you even need to change out the shafts.”
There is a story with the irons. I was a young golf writer at the Tulsa World with no time for golf. We had two daughters in diapers. Certainly, I could not afford new clubs.
I was playing some vintage blade irons from McGregor Tourney. I was so proud of those MT irons. They had a black face with stars on either side, just gorgeous.
Things were changing then as rapidly as they have changed over the last five years. Ping Eye-2 had cornered the market on irons in the mid ‘80s.
Invited to play in the media scramble by Oklahoma State football coach Pat Jones, I found myself in the same cart as OSU golf coach Mike Holder, now the Cowboys' athletics director. Holder began to laugh as he looked into my bag on the first tee.
“These clubs,” he said, as he pulled a long iron, “should be hanging on the wall. They are antiques and don’t need to be hit anymore. You need these.”
Holder picked out a Ping Eye-2 long iron from his bag.
“Hit these a few times today,” Holder said. “I promise you will see the difference. Those MTs have a sweet spot that not even my players can hit.”
I was a good long iron player in those days. I grabbed a No. 1 iron somewhere along the way and smashed a 220-yard shot. It was unlike anything I’d ever felt.
“I rest my case,” Holder said. “Get those MTs out of your bag when you can afford it.”
Well, I couldn’t afford new clubs. We’d just bought our first washing machine. Remember the days when you had to wash diapers?
The next night there was a phone call from Bill Connors, the sports editor at the Tulsa World, and my boss.
“Clay, Coach Holder wants to send you a set of used Ping irons,” Connors said. “Do you think having them will change the way you cover things?”
He really wasn’t waiting for an answer. He said he gave Holder my address. They were on my front porch in two days.
They were used. One of Holder’s hot shots soon to be on the Tour had gotten a slightly different set and had no use for the old ones. I was told not to reveal their origin for fear that Karsten Solheim, Ping’s founder, would change Holder’s deal.
Most know that was never going to happen. Holder and Solheim were best buddies for life. Holder built a wonderful golf course near Stillwater, Okla., that is the home course for the Cowboys and named it Karsten Creek.
I don’t know how much golf I’m going to play, but it sure seems like it’s going to be more. I had only played four scrambles over the past five years until June. I’ve been out six times this summer.
If the lakes empty and there is low water, I’ll go back to more fishing and less golf. But what if my scores start to dip? I’ve moved up to senior tees and that’s provided new life, too.
I sent a text to an older brother who plays golf every day in Tuscaloosa, Ala. He’s never beaten me, but we have not played the last three years. He just got fitted for new clubs and his handicap is now an all-time low six.
There is speculation that while he may not be ready for the Senior Tour, he might be ready for a trip to Big Creek for a match against his undefeated brother.
Then, I sent him a text about ordering the Mavrik driver. His reply: If you are buying a driver instead of a new fly rod, I’m staying in Alabama.