Common persimmon, Diospyros virginiana, produces dense, closely grained wood. The U.S. Forest Service identifies its hardness, smoothness and even texture as useful properties for golf clubheads, alongside other demanding uses such as shoe lasts and textile shuttles.2
A MacGregor Tourney advertisement from April 1966 offers a period example. It explicitly describes its wood heads as solid persimmon and the MT series as having an aluminum-alloy face insert. A persimmon head could therefore combine timber with another material at the striking surface.3
The manufacturing tradition continues in specialist production. Louisville Golf describes shaping its heads from solid persimmon blocks through a process with more than 200 hand-touched steps. Its reproduction cleek pairs the head with a solid hickory shaft, preserving the distinction between head and shaft materials.4
At a glance
Sources
- The R&AEquipment Rules: Part 2, Conformance of Clubs
- USDA Forest Service, Silvics of North AmericaCommon Persimmon, Diospyros virginiana
- MacGregor advertisement in Golfdom, April 1966; Michigan State University LibrariesMacGregor Tourney advertisement
- Louisville GolfClubs: Woods; MacGregor Perfection Cleek