Let me set the stage on how I turned into a vintage club junkie. I’d recently purchased three hickory-shafted clubs, restored them, and I’m working on completing the set. I decide to drive home from work during lunch to get a break from the office. I pull up to wait at an intersection at which I have wasted too much of my life. The arrow finally turns green and I begin my turn.
The next thing I remember is seeing a white flash coming from my passenger side and feeling the impact. Immediately, I am in full adrenaline mode. I frantically rush out of my car and look around to see what happened to the other guy’s car. All I can see is his bumper in the middle of the intersection and no second car to be found. At this moment I had no idea that the course of my next months was about to change a hobby into an obsession. All I knew was I was just mad that some kid ran a red light, totaled my car, sped off, and now I am about to have a car payment once again.
One Thing In Common with Tiger
I’ve had a terrible back since high school, and living life the way I did ensured that we will never be able to pin down the exact thing that caused the issues. Maybe it was playing football? Maybe it was lifting weights? It could have been those days I spent wrestling calves (baby cows) in college! It could have also been that time that I thought I wanted to ride bulls so I went to a weekend-long bull riding school and got on about thirty of them from Friday to Sunday. Side note, I was terrible. I didn’t stay on a single one for the full 8 seconds, and I found out the hard way why people over 6 feet tall don’t ride bulls.
Even though we don’t have an exact reason, what we do know is that I have nothing left between L4 and L5 vertebrae in my spine. I’m only 32. Seven years ago I had a microdiscectomy to alleviate the pain, and clean up the area because I had a major blowout which left bone fragments and scar tissue. My spinal issues are the only thing I have in common with Tiger Woods, and you can be certain I wear that with pride.
At the time of the wreck I was already meeting with my spinal surgeon to see if there was anything I could do to repair the issues. Unfortunately, even with the wreck, the only option is a fusion. At my age, they are not going to be doing a fusion anytime soon. It was devastating news. So here I am, no car, extreme pain from the wreck, and no golf outlet because I wasn’t able to swing a club without collapsing to my knees. Oh, and plenty of time to kill.
Saving Grace
In the blink of an eye I had a ton of time on my hands, and I was extremely limited in what I could be doing. If I wasn’t stretching, I was flat in my recliner. I had it rigged up so that I could still work, and spend way too much time on Facebook. (Obviously.) My beloved hickory club project spurred my interest in learning more about the history of golf equipment. Once I found a few of my hickory golf groups, Facebook’s algorithm kicked its recommendations into high gear.
Another dangerous thing about being injured is that you don’t expend much energy during traditional “awake hours”. This leads to multiple hours spent scrolling through Facebook late at night without kids distracting you from your new obsessions. Within a few days I was accepted into multiple golf equipment groups, however, one group in particular was the most influential on my development in club picking/collecting. The Golf Club Pickers and Collectors group.
“Golf Club Pickers and Collectors” enabled my buying immediately, and within months my collection went from one set, to over 200 clubs. You might be thinking “that is too many golf clubs!” You’re correct, but turns out I’m not even approaching novice level! Even though I credit this group with now having more clubs than I can hit, their passion for saving old golf clubs lit a fire in my own passion. All of a sudden, I was immersed in a new world of golf. I was able to be part of something larger in the game, without even needing to swing a club.
ISO A Bigger Garage
The “Golf Club Pickers and Collectors” group, among others, really saved me during a darker time in my life. I have made lifelong friends because of these groups, and it really helped give me something else to focus on other than excruciating pain and doing literally nothing. Most importantly, it opened a door to a new way of enjoying the part of the game I have the most fun with… playing it!
So that’s where my vintage golf club addiction came from. Join me next time as I introduce you to the beginning of my vintage club collection!
