Hickory at the Masters

[act0fgod]

Looks like Sandy Lyle plans to play the tournament with his hickory putter in the bag.

 

http://www.thenational.scot/sport/golf-hickory-dickory-turn-back-the-clock.1859

 

Definitely some good press for Tad Moore and hickory golf in general.

 

Is this article just a one off type of thing or do you guys think hickory golf is seriously gaining momentum? If Tiger is seen playing hickory golf I figure there will be a legitimate uptick in interest. There are also lots of stories about Tiger trying to enjoy golf again, hickory is certainly a great way to go about it (not sure how it would impact his swing come tournament time).

[rtv]

“Tiger said to me, ‘I hear you played on Saturday with hickory clubs’ and I said ‘how did you know?’ He asked me where I got them, I said it was from Tad Moore,” revealed the 1988 Masters champion. “He didn’t know that name, but he sounded quite interested. At the end of the evening he came over and said ‘what was that name again?’

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2015/4/9/tiger-wants-to-know-about-sandys-hickory-round-at-augusta.html

[stixman]

Possibly one of the factors working in our favor is that the TV media refuse to mention the 'H' word. Sandy scored 1 under par in the Par 3 Comp at Augusta yesterday,as referenced by Sky, but no mention of his use of hickory. The BBC team commonly used to mention Centenary Clubs on theirr Open broadcast but never mentioned, ever, that the Clubs used a hickory event to mark the occasion.
The likely reason is that they are feared of ruffling the feathers of the mainstream 'Golf in the Now' brigade and that unspecified consequences might befall them.

At present the Hickory movement is small and underground, at least in relation to the Hoop-la of the mainstream. I would be inclined to guard against it becoming a 'cult' thing-to-do.

[Langlands]

Taken during yesterday's round, courtesy of Getty.

[attachment=2703521:Lyle 090415.jpg]

[majic]

Nice picture of Sandy, Butch Wilhelm and his Tad Moore Chicopee in brass

[rex235]

Tad-

+1

Congratulations!

Since your hickory putter model is Chicopee, let me ask you....

Did Spalding (or anyone else for that matter..Burke) make a LH HBA putter?

[Coralray]

Congratulations Tad on Sandy Lyle using your hickory putter in the Master's. I hope that helps to re-kindle the use of hickory putters by professional golfers. Did you have that putter "approved" for play by the USGA?

[majic]

Nothing to get approved including round wrapped leather grip.

[majic]

Rex good question but I would imagine Spalding did. Not being a lefty I would not have been looking. The HBA was very popular

[rex235]

[quote name='majic' timestamp='1428974826' post='11352485']
Rex good question but I would imagine Spalding did. Not being a lefty I would not have been looking. The HBA was very popular
[/quote]

Tad-

Have been looking for over 35 years..

Seen several RH HBA models, .but have not seen a single Left Hand Hollow Back Armour putter...

Burke and Old Master made similar models to the HBA, and even Roger Cleveland made a Tour Action model for Cleveland Golf.

But long ago, Gary McCord of CBS once said on a telecast that LH equipment was essentially "take what you can get"....

Someone at Spalding might have decided the Two-Way Cashin and the heel shafted Crescent blade were enough.

[majic]

You might be right. There are some guys I know that really know Dpalding as well as early steel. I will ask.

[bullrambler]

I hope I'm not drifting off the mark too much here... But, It would be interesting to see three PGA tours.
1. Hickory - shafted sets.
2. Steel, forged and persimmon
3. The Regular (current) Tour where everything is designed to bomb the ball farther and farther...

[HoganApexBlades]

[quote name='bullrambler' timestamp='1429062856' post='11361013']
I hope I'm not drifting off the mark too much here... But, It would be interesting to see three PGA tours.
1. Hickory - shafted sets.
2. Steel, forged and persimmonon
3. The Regular (current) Tour where everything is designed to bomb the ball farther and farther...
[/quote]

And in furtherance, the golf courses used for Tours 1 & 2 above will be the classical courses that we are grew up playing and watching majors on, Pebble, Merion, Medinah, Pinehurst, Hazeltine, Winged Foot, etc. The courses used for Tour 3 will all be 10,000 yards long with postage stamp greens, Par 68. Let's see how low the scoring is then!

[bullrambler]

Right on HAB and it would bring about a varied class of stars in the different formats too.

[Will Par]

The current issue of Golf Digest Stix has a picture of Sandy Lyle using the Chicopee Brass blade putter. I started wondering how well he putted with it and remembered a link with SGP stats for the tournament, so I looked it up. Sandy was minus 0.28 in Strokes Gained Putting for the two rounds he played and ranked 61st. Not bad considering he putted better... based on these stats... than Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson, Henrik Stenson, and Brandt Snedeker using a hickory stick. Here's the SGP link for those interested. [url="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1y1eV_Qi1yfyIYBkg0voCuEX8-YidWXzvMMq47s3vp0k/edit#gid=0"]https://docs.google....p0k/edit#gid=0[/url]

I thought I was through buying putters. Now this is another one I want.

[3eagles18]

Sandy Lyle was on Champions Tour Learning Center tonight. He used the Chicopee at last week's Insperity tournament and talked a bit about switching to it.

[majic]

Darn I missed it. See him next week at Tradition

[3eagles18]

[quote name='majic' timestamp='1430882893' post='11507665']
Darn I missed it. See him next week at Tradition
[/quote]

It's not about the Chicopee although he does wave it around like a magic wand. Apparently it's been working for him. Considering how poorly I am putting (again) maybe hickory will be magic for me too.

Here is the link:
http://www.golfchannel.com/media/ask-champion-lyles-tip-how-stay-calm/

[HoldenCornfield]

[quote name='majic' timestamp='1430882893' post='11507665']
Darn I missed it. See him next week at Tradition
[/quote]

I know he won the World Hickory Open last fall in Scotland. Any chance he shows up for the US Hickory Open this summer in Dayton?