Byron Ellis
Signal Mountain
Auditor
Byron Ellis tried upgrading from a wooden Spalding No. 1 Star Flite driver about five years ago.
There's a good reason he reverted back to the club.
He hit a man in the groin with a shot from a modern club.
"I remember it well," Ellis admitted. "It was about five years ago in Johnson City."
It's hard to forget such a moment.
"I was using a monster club and the guy I was playing with was a lefty (already standing in the tee box)," he said. "I swung and it was like I dropped an antelope. There was a lot of apologizing. We worked out a payment.
"So I took a few lessons when I got home, and in preservation of my fellow man, I went back to the wood."
The Star Flite driver matches the rest of the set Ellis purchased 26 years ago. They are Lynx irons he bought from a friend on Lookout Mountain.
He doesn't have a burning desire to upgrade now.
"I'd rather go to the range and hit a bucket of 105 balls than play 18," Ellis said. "I can hit all of those and eliminate all of the frustration of playing."
His profession has taken him across the country and repeatedly to California's Bay Area, Texas and Minnesota. The Star Flite has never made the journey with him.
"I see nice courses along the way like Pebble Beach," he said. "But I'm not going to spend that kind of money and play from the sand all day."
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.