Thanks Mizuno for that story. Mantle also drove the green of the 9th hole dog-leg par 4 of the Black Course.......I saw video of Mantle swinging the club. Looked like he set up with a flat left wrist and his right hand underneath...........
Originally Posted by MizunoJoe
Happy birthday Yoda! The following should remove any doubts that top performance is still possible after 50.
It is well known around here that Mantle drove #9 at Southern Hills in Tulsa in the 1980s when in his 50s. The green is elevated and plays 374 from the championship tees(2001 US Open) and 359 from the whites, from which Mantle played. This was all carry and done with a persimmon driver and Titleist balata. I should also say that he was in poor health due to baseball injuries as well as liver damage from alcoholism.
In the 2001 Open, Woods hit a steelheaded Cobra driver to the crosswalk, some 80+ yds from the green.
Thanks Mizuno for that story. Mantle also drove the green of the 9th hole dog-leg par 4 of the Black Course.......I saw video of Mantle swinging the club. Looked like he set up with a flat left wrist and his right hand underneath...........
SNTS,
You mention his swing - I saw Mantle play at the Roy Clark Celebrity tournament in the 80s. He had the most unusual move with the driver that I've ever seen. The best view was behind him. He was a "width" swinger, taking his hands straight back, starting the BS with his hips and mooning the target - no sway. Then he did something, which I thought was a gag for the spectators, but it was not. He paused at the top and waggled his butt two or three times and then fired his hips. Yes - a butt-waggle! The sound at impact was a rifle-like crack, which caught the attention of everyone. My guess is that he was a 4-barrel Hitter.
One of the best books about the mick was "Explosion", I think that was the name. But this book talked about all of his long homeruns, the sound it made.
Back in the 80's I was at a gift shop across the street just outside of Yankee Stadium. This old timer there said that when the yankees were playing he knew by the crack of the bat when Mantle hit one out.He said you can hear hit across the street.........
When I was a kid, Warren Spahn brought all the OK major leaguers to old Texas League Park in Tulsa to play a game against TL stars. Mantle was batting RH and the pitcher fooled him badly with a low sinker that would have hit the plate, but Mantle, off balance with his weight forward, golfed the ball over the CF fence with an arm/wrist swing.
Happy Birthday, Yoda. 901 years is it? I guess you've already shot your age.
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When James Durham recorded 94 at the Old Course at St Andrews in 1767, he set a course record that lasted 86 years. Golf: A curious sport whose object is to put a very small ball in a very small hole with implements ill desiged for the purpose - Sir Winston Churchill
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