You are most likely wondering who I am, and why I am even here. First of all, my name is Justin Thompson, and it’s a pleasure to meet you. To be frank, its because I can’t seem to get off of Facebook and I responded to a post in one of my many enabling vintage and classic golf groups that Bill so happens to be in as well. Bill’s post was asking if anyone would be interested in writing about playing and collecting classic old golf equipment. I thought to myself, I just started playing old gear, I have written articles and a book before, he must be talking directly to me!
I am your typical monthly muni golfer with two young kids at home. As you will find out, I can crush the golf ball, and have secured my place on many scramble teams. While I may not be able to help you with your swing, if you ever make your way to Amarillo, Texas I can show you how many different fairways your approach shot can be played from.
With that out of the way, let me tell you a little about myself so we can get to know each other before I start down the road of vintage golf classics.
Tardiness and Fulfilling Dreams
Golf has been an important aspect of my life, for as long as I can remember. To this day, teeing it up it is still the only time when my dad and I put away the phones and distractions. I can remember waking up early to watch The Open Championship, before you could record it, and Sundays with Majors were the only times we were able to be late to Sunday evening service. To this day I have four Sunday exemptions per year: The Masters, US Open, and PGA Championship, and then one thrown in there in case that 3:30 PM Cowboys game runs late.
Even though golf has always been part of my life, it has always come second. My goals were never to be a pro, or even have a job in the golf industry. I was a football and baseball player first, who played golf in the summers. I learned the game backwards. You know how you are supposed to learn from green to tee? Not me. When I was in the 6th grade my parents fulfilled every Texan’s dream.
Buying a house with a little bit of land out in the country.
While most Texan’s buy land to run cattle, have horses, and/or other livestock, my dad wanted a driving range, and my mom just wanted to enjoy quiet evenings. We lived on ten acres, which provided the perfect spot for my dad’s driving range. That’s when it started.
The Era of Big Bertha
Like most golfers in their 30s, I grew up in the era of Tiger Woods, big driver heads and the long drive contest. I remember watching a contest on TV and immediately going outside to try to replicate it. I started crushing the ball, and wowing everyone who played in our group. It became my one job on a 4-person scramble team to be long, and if we didn’t have a short iron into the green I was disappointed. Yes, I have both 3-putted for par on par fives, and a couple of times I have 4-putted for bogey on par-4s. Up until my mid-20s I was still playing a knock-off set of Snake Eyes, missing the 4 iron which broke mysteriously, bought for me at the Clarendon Country Club by my grandparents. So this is how it all started for me…
Dance With the One Who Brung Ya
My dad wasn’t a big equipment guy but he always loved golf. He found a set he liked and he played them until he couldn’t anymore. I am 32 and in that time my dad has only had 3 different sets of clubs. Ping Zing 2, Callaway X-18, and the set he has now. When the big day would come for new clubs, he would either trade in his old set, or give them to a friend so they could play without having to spend too much. My uncle, on the other hand, was the gear rep’s favorite person. He bought a new set every other year because it was going to change his game forever. He died young at 43, having never beat my dad in a round. The one time he was even close, they were tied after 18, went back to the 1st for the playoff, and he hooks his tee-shot into the trees. Fortunately, he had a better record in the courtroom.
Justin Thompson: “The Vintage Club Guy”
Everything about this game I have learned backwards, but you know what? I’m ok with that. Eventually my short game has filled in and I am in the middle of the greatest scoring stretch of my life. My introduction to the game, outside of the TV set, was banging golf balls out into the pasture. I didn’t grow up playing the game with classic vintage equipment, because we didn’t have any, for one, and I wasn’t interested enough for my parents to invest the money in new gear for me. But here we are today, obsessed with the game, obsessed with gear old enough to be my grandfather, and still banging balls into the pasture when I can.
