The Sunday just gone wasn't just the final round of The Open. It was the first of what will hopefully be an annual event here in Australia. Many members of a largely domestic Australian golf forum (we have a few international visitors including Sirs Becker and Arble) organised a tribute to Seve Ballesteros. But with a difference.
We chose the anniversary of his first Open triumph to stage a day in his honour. It was neat that this day also coincided with the final round of this year's Open. 18 of us played with clubs and balls Seve and his generation of pro players would have used. Wound balls, persimmon drivers and fairway woods with steel shafts. Forged irons. No titanium, graphite, or anything with more than 56 degrees of loft. We staged the day at St. Andrews Beach, Tom Doak and Mike Clayton's course on the Mornington Peninsula. We dressed like Seve too! These were the recommended styles.
I think we did quite well!
Play with balata and persimmon is better than I remember, and just so much fun. It gives a real feel for how far the game has gone off-course, and just how good the players of the 80s, 70s and prior decades really were. The course was great fun with the old equipment too. Loads of width was appreciated by some using the old clubs for the first time. The abundance of short grass afforded lots of bump and run shots, putts from well short of the green, and creative approaches. The course allows everyone to find a fairway almost all the time, but presents it's primary scoring challenge inside the last 80 yards of many holes, particularly when approaching from a less desirable portion of fairway. With less carry and a bit more roll from tee shots, especially with dormant bermuda fairways, thought was required when negotiating fairway hazards.
From a GCA perspective, it was pretty clear that many recently designed courses would be much poorer venues for an event such as this, with clubs and balls of decades past. Too narrow, too long, too many forced carries. I don't think it was a coincidence that the short list of potential venues for this event comprised older, and/or higher quality courses. Layouts with considered drive hazard placement and lots of short grass around greens. Generous fairways too.
Wielding the persimmons and forged irons on a windy, wide, fun and quality course on a cold clear day was a tremendous way to renew passion for the game, discuss course design with like-minded golfers (on the final day of an Open Championship) and also honour Seve.
One of our foursome had the chance to say "I miss, I miss, I miss, I make". There were some brilliant drives considering the old Titleist 90 compression Professional balls in play. And the wind of the day. Brett Morrissey took 3 iron from a bunker. There were chip in's and some pitches which were pure Ballesteros. A good size birdie putt on 18 also led to the trademark celebration Seve made famous on the 18th green at TOC. The driving of Shane Gurnett, Mike Clayton, and several others known here at GCA was a joy to watch. The sound of those old balls well struck with persimmon heads was wonderful.
We'll hopefully stage this event on an annual basis, and stage more games with bags from 1970s and 1980s in he next few months.
Here's some images from the day.
Acushnet heel-shafted and beached blade putter with an old Tour Model 1wood and Professional 90 balls
Old school, leather soled White wing-tip brogue FootJoy Classics
A few bags from yesteryear
Talk about getting into costume ( it's a wig... )
Brett M in action, with native onlookers
The Spanish post-meal feast!
Matthew