Vintage Irons
 

Anybody collect 'em? Which 'uns and why come?

I have been coveting some old irons on e-bay. There are some pretty specimines out there . . .

I once had a set of ben hogan personal irons those where nice. there are some nice older blades out there my favvorite are the 1951 macregor bantam irons. I can just think of hogan playing those during his 1953 campaign where he played 6 tournaments won 5 of them and the a second place in the 6th. And of course 3 of them where majors witch he won.

Gosh, Bucket
 

Bucket ole pal,

You may have to look a long time to find equipment as old as you are.

Actually I have a set of Wilson Bulletbacks about 1969 vintage that still feel

supersolid. You know, when you hit it pure you can feel it all the way from

your loins to your toenails. Think about that while you are sippin' your Grape

Nehi and munching on your moon pie.

UPP in way too cold to play Ohio

My bossman was coveting a set of new Mizunos today. The dude was in anal obsessive compulsive frenzy over these irons and trying to decide how many smackers to drop. Me not being one to egg something on was like . . .

Dude if you really owned a set . . . you'd by the custom stamped, grind, and finish Mizunos that START at $1200.

So after giving him a huge rash of sh... all day. I roll into his office and tell him . . . I couldn't stand you being a punk all day and not buying anything. So I bought some irons. He was flabergasted because bucket = cheapskate.

How much did you pay man!!!!!

I told him a purchased a set of primo blades . . . for $2.32.

Yep that's right . . . I got some Macgregor Tourney Colokrum's for $2.32 . . . it cost $19.95 to ship 'em . . . The look sweet too! I got bids on a set of circa 50 to 60 Armours too . . . right now going for $9.95.

I'm checkin' into the OLD SKOOL.

For anybody interested in some sweet looking vintage irons . . . checkout

http://www.houseofforged.com

It's cool to see just how much the looks of the clubs haven't changed. I understand that the design characteristics are different. Backindaday they had really long ferrels and COG was towards the heel evidently. Now they have redistributed the weight on blades and supposedly they are much easier to hit. We shall see.

Hooked on Hogan
 

I still play Hogan Directors from the 80's. Tried some of the new 2006 Apex irons. They are for sale on eBay as we speak. Nice irons, but the Directors are my babies. :)

Directors are Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiice . . . Hi-5! I was looking at some "personal" Hogans they are sweet too! Lil'bitty thin soles.

Like these?
 

http://www.quickpicturehost.com/imag...1169347248.jpg :eyes:

Yes - i saw them on an auction site - nice - look like the Hogan model that was reissued rather than the original. I posted on another site (more equipment based site) asking for opinions on the design of early Hogan irons.

It interests me that their chief test pilot ( Ben) and their designer were obviously the 2 key minds involved in their products and one can see an evolution within their models... I just can't explain why they evolved that way!

http://www.benhogan.com/legacy/irontour.html

ANy thoughts? He seems to be taking mass away from the toe in varying different designs (personals are similar to MP29s/37... and then he has the powerthrust then apex designs)

Come the 80s The directors redistribute the mass differently too.

I enjoyed a lovely set of Hogan Apex BH grinds ( late 80s models) so sweet... until stolen from car!!!!!

I have a feeling that the older forgings were softer than modern ones. Old mizunos almost drip steel all over the ball... they are that soft - beyond butter!!

It could be the shafts were softer in the 80s? in the average set but i still think that the sweetspot of an old forging is so much better than a modern one!


Is it all a

oldies
 

I have a set of 57/58 Wilson Staff 2-pw, rechromed, reshafted.

Sweetspot location
 

I have felt that the sweet spot on the older irons is slightly closer to the hosel, rather than in the center of the face. Maybe that's why they don't feel the same to you.

I pretty sure I read in Wishon's book that a softer shaft would produce a more "solid" feel.

Check out what Wishon had to say on the subject . . . you are absolutely ON IT. This is from a post in a thread I started on his site. He's I nice dude. Wish we could get him and Yoda together.

12 Piece

Being an avid historian of the game and its weapons of grass destruction, this is a fun post to answer!!!

As you know, investment casting did not enter the golf business until the later 1960s and into the early 70s. So all of the 50's and 60's era (and before) irons were all forged from carbon steel. Anyway, in the 50's it was still very common to see very long hosels on blade irons with the blade length being in the area of 3-5mm shorter than what you see on many of the forged blades of today. This had the effect of pushing the CG well into the heel side of the blade.

Also, iron soles were not radiused from front to back hardly at all back then. So there was a pretty high tendency for less skilled golfers to battle with hitting the ball fat more often than they should have. Also most of these 50's blades were still pretty short in the blade height compared to what you see today - that evolved into a little taller blade through the 60's though, so shallow blades was more of a 40's and 50's thing. This actually put the CG a little lower.

So when golfers look at modern blades and think that they have not changed all that much, their focus is primarily on the BACK design of the "muscle" - which in fact has NOT changed that much. But in these other areas I mentioned, the modern blades are MUCH better for playability than the old ones.

That being said, the modern blades are still NOT for the avg to less skilled player at all because of their very low MOI. Typically if you take a muscleback 5-iron today, you are looking at an MOI of about 1100 g-cm2 - a shallow cavity back forging will be around 2000, and a larger game improvement DEEP cavity back iron will be in the area of 2800-3000 g-cm2.

I am probably going to sound like a broken record on this, but I think one very strong reason that the average golfer handicap has not changed in 50 yrs has to do with the fact that the vast, vast majority of golfers have always bought their clubs in standard form, off the rack with NO heed for any aspect of custom fitting to THEIR swing and manner of play. I'd be willing to make a bet that if somehow we could pass a magic wand over say, even just 1/3 of all golfers to have them custom fit by a GOOD clubmaker, you would see the avg handicap move down.

I do believe that - even though I also freely admit that most golfers are 1) not that athletically inclined, 2) do not receive accurate instruction on the swing, 3) do not take the time to really work on the right changes to improve their swing.

TOM

That is a great bit of information there Bucket. I would love to be able to get my hands on a set of 60's MacGregors or Wilson Staffs.
Alex

You can get some on e-bay for less than 100 smackers. If you ain't got no e-bay over yonder . . . PM me and maybe we can work something out. They are EASY to find. I'm going to by a set of hogan personals today at lunch . . . $60.

Ha ha ha we have ebay. Its just that I am saving my money for other things :D
Alex

Dude I bet you can get a set for less than $30. I just bought some Macs for $2.32 plus $12 to ship 'em. You can't eat no fish and chips for that!

Hey Bucket,

You are talking to a Scotsman, and a crowbar is needed in order to part them from their cash.

Offer them for free and they will ask you "What's the catch?":laughing9

Tough Sale
 

LOL, Burner. LOL! :laughing9

Yea yea yea yea yea......laugh it up Pops :D
Alex