I’m at a local yard sale and see a set of golf clubs leaning against the wall. Nothing fancy, certainly not new, but looked as though rarely used. I bee line over to them but can see out of the corner of my eye Jay lightly shaking his head and rolling his eyes at me. I ignore him. I know what I want this set for if I can get it cheap enough.

“Spalding Futuras” Old guy says. They been sitting in his closet for years. It showed. The faux leather brown on brown bag was still looking cool, old school style, but with rusty zippers. Bulging pouches full of golf balls plus God only knows what else. A few extra woods not part of the set thrown in for good measure along with a ball retriever and metal cart.

Jay has now positioned himself next to our car like he’s ready to leave in a half- hearted attempt to stop whatever deal I am trying to make, but, says nothing. I smile at him like the Cheshire cat.

Old guy likes me so much he gives me all of it. Clubs, bag, all his nonsense. Insists I take everything including the old rolling cart. I didn’t tell him what I had planned for these clubs, just that I was excited to take ‘em off his hands and clean ‘em up. I think he was under the impression I was very new to golf. Wonder where he got that idea from? (Insert Cheshire cat smile here)

Using free clubs also makes it easier for me to justify ripping off grips and wasting supplies just to see if I can put new grips over excessive amounts of tape like Bubba Watson. It’s my math logic. Paying for newer expensive clubs to try this seems silly. I’m not trying to impress, I’m trying to grip.

The book “Golf is Not a Game of Perfect” by Dr. Bob Rotella talks a lot about the thoughts you have as you play your game. Positive thoughts tend to produce positive outcomes. Its part of the puzzle that creates a winner. Practice and natural ability of course are huge parts of the equation as well. So, my positive outlook on old clubs is this: when these clubs were made they were considered good to play with. Yes, we have better materials now blah blah blah but honestly, I refuse to make the excuse that my bad shot was my clubs fault. If I were to hand one of these “old clubs” to a scratch golfer I’m going to bet tons of money he could hit the ball with it.

I’m more than happy to try my “tape it like Bubba” experiment out on a set of older clubs. I want a set of clubs that I can put different layers of tape on random clubs of my choice. I do not want all the same thickness otherwise I won’t be able to tell. Again, my logic.

I took the bag home and dumped its contents all over the floor. Some really old, crispy golf balls came tumbling out along with nasty cigarette butts, matches, tobacco unused, score cards, tees…the usual suspects.

Warm soapy water and some scrubbing gave me a shiny set ready to be regripped. Now all I needed was to decide what tape, how much and on which clubs?