Introduction

Persimmon is nature's gift to club makers and golfers, used by almost 90% of the touring professionals, but never truly examined or understood. Nevertheless its mystique has captured the golfing industry. Nearly every innovation in woods has been compared to persimmon in some way; for example, the "sound" of persimmon or the "feel" of persimmon.
 
For ten years, since the beginning of Louisville Golf of which I am president, I have listened to golfers, salesmen and manufacturers talk about persimmon wood. At first I believed their stories: "the best persimmon is cut from the heart of the tree near the stump." "You just can't find good persimmon any more... it's all been used up." "If you find a heavy piece of persimmon there days, save it for a friend." And so on.

It's easy to understand why people feel this way when you consider that persimmon clubs made in the mid-'50's currently sell for as much as $1,000 for a single driver. But as our company expanded and we started our own persimmon mill, I began to realize that these stories just didn't hold up. So I started researching the subject of persimmon- more specifically, persimmon as it relates to the manufacture of golf clubs.

Occasionally I found articles on selecting persimmon clubs, but in many instances they contradicted each other and most of them were loaded with myths. I found no single source that could be used as a standard of information by those of us with a deep interest in the real facts about persimmon, and the best methods of utilizing it for fine golf clubs.
 
I began to wonder if we at Louisville Golf weren't as close to being experts on the facts about persimmon, from forest to produce, as anyone around. That's when the idea of writing this book was born. I don't offer it as a scholarly to me, but I do offer it as a factual and -- to the best of my knowledge -- the only accurate, complete discussion of persimmon wood. It includes information about the use of persimmon in the manufacture  of fine clubs, the processes involved in the manufacture, and the reasons that the persimmon club has developed a mystique and a following unshared by any other.

Elmore Just       
Louisville, Kentucky
December 1984

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