Can you hit a one iron?
During what looks to be a bizarre (but exciting) PGA Championship, I wanted to point out this article on Golf Online that describes Rod McCrae III, 39, attempting to recreate Jack Nicklaus’ awesome uphill, into-the wind 1-iron from 238 yards using a MacGregor VIP blade and the MacGregor Tourney ball, described as “Stone Age implements compared to today’s high-tech equipment”.
Quick summary: Rod, a 1 handicap, takes 37 swings at it, into a similar breeze that Jack had. After leaving the MacGregor balls about 40 to 50 yards short, Rod switched to Pro V1s, and was still about 25 yards short.
The moral of the story: as time passes, and the present changes into history then into legend, we cannot lose sight of how great our past champions were. Now, our pros routinely hit their 3-irons 230 yards. But those 3-irons are much different from the butterknives of the past.
Oh, and Jack was a monster.
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