What classic iron set would you start with?

[Texsport]

One advantage of playing an old set with classic lofts is that it absolutely messes with the heads of your opponents, who get no clues about clubbing on what you hit at all :)

 

The other advantage is that you don't have any loft gaps or redundant clubs, and you don't need to spend additional money on specialty wedges as they are already in your set, just marked, 9-iron, PW and SW :)

 

I had memorable opportunities to walk 18 holes with Arnold Palmer (at an exhibition) and Seve Ballesteros (practice round at Houston) - both during their playing primes - and neither carried any wedge other than PW and SW. Both were under par, exhibiting great green side recovery shots along the way.

 

I'm obviously not that good, getting to many fewer par 5s in two, and missing more greens, so I need a 46*,50*,56*,60-62* and a 64* in my bag

 

Texsport

[bermuda]

Here are my top 5 picks..........

 

1) Hogan Directors (1980) best looking and playing blades Hogan made

2) Mac Murifields

3) Ram Tour Grind

4) Wilson 17's

5) Mizuno 4 (Not quite sure of the number it's been so long ago, but they were made for the asian tour and not found in the states. Only reason I had them was because they were a trade in at the local AF base from someone who was stationed in Japan)

 

I found a full set of Muirfield irons 2-PW with a VIP 1-iron and an R90 sand wedge at a second-hand store yesterday. But when I asked about them, the cashier said they were on layaway. Probably good for me since I have a long list of things that I should spend money on before another old set of golf clubs. :rolleyes:

[birly-shirly]

Even though I've already posted above, I logged in today and misread the title of this thread as "What classic iron set would you part with?"

 

I swear, I had palpitations at the very thought....

[Fellaheen51]

Even though I've already posted above, I logged in today and misread the title of this thread as "What classic iron set would you part with?"

 

I swear, I had palpitations at the very thought....

 

Buy and sell. Play or liquidate. Out with the old, in with the new. All part of a cyclical process. I've instituted a two year rule. If they haven't seen a course in that period of time, they depart.

 

WTS, my pick for "what classic iron set to start with" is ...........Hogan Apex II "Black Cameos". If white, make 'em black. Beautiful. And decent players on good swing days.

[HoldenCornfield]

 

Buy and sell. Play or liquidate. Out with the old, in with the new. All part of a cyclical process. I've instituted a two year rule. If they haven't seen a course in that period of time, they depart.

 

I feel the same way, Fella, except that every time I sell a vintage set I end up regretting it later and want it back. So I'm trying not to do that anymore!

[Fellaheen51]

And what are you trying not to do HC? The selling part or the buying part?

 

I've been in purge mode for some time now. Selling off things that I've not been using, really do not care for, have one to many of. But the fundamental problem still exists. I have a terrible wandering eye. Always something else to try. To be discovered. Stumble into for cheap. So I've not seen a decrease in the pile of clubs in inventory despite my best intentions. And the Mrs. yapping at me about "space" intrusions.

 

What's a fella to do? Stop looking at stuff on eBay (and CL, and thrifts.....) and visiting this section of WRX would be a good starting point. But what fun is that?

[oldschoolrocker]

And there's always the odd somebody knows somebody that has an old set of something or other in the attic, and of course your name comes up, a phone call and short drive later and another set appears.

[Fellaheen51]

Randy, brings to mind a recent occurrence. Was into a local thrift, rummaging thru the end of season sale bins. Older gentleman (and that's a purely relative term these days) comes up and asks "anything interesting?". No, nothing of interest. Get to yaking. Find out he likes to poke around for old clubs. Can tell he's testing my knowledge about such things. So I classic club name drop about this and that. Tell him I like to futz around with restoration, rebuilding, etc. He discovers I may know a bit of what I'm talking about.

 

Conversed for half an hour or better. Find out he's a retired BB coach and teacher from an area HS. Lives on a nearby private C.C. Says he has appx. 40 bags of golf clubs. Has a seller than parcels them out to eBay occasionally. Would I be interested in taking a look at them? He only lived a couple of miles away. Gawd, my mind raced, the possibilities. Queried him a bit on what he had. Said he had several sets of Hogans but couldn't remember which ones. (!)

 

Was oh so tempted if I hadn't, by then, been a bit pressed for time. He gave me his name and phone number in case I ever wanted to have a look, and make him some offers. Proud of my self restraint that day.

 

Maybe give him a call during a weak moment in the fast approaching off season. Old guy golfers that live on private courses. Wonder what's there? Afraid the Mrs. may disown me.

[NRJyzr]

Fella, your post made me think of this LOL

 

 

 

[birly-shirly]

Randy, brings to mind a recent occurrence. Was into a local thrift, rummaging thru the end of season sale bins. Older gentleman (and that's a purely relative term these days) comes up and asks "anything interesting?". No, nothing of interest. Get to yaking. Find out he likes to poke around for old clubs. Can tell he's testing my knowledge about such things. So I classic club name drop about this and that. Tell him I like to futz around with restoration, rebuilding, etc. He discovers I may know a bit of what I'm talking about.

 

Conversed for half an hour or better. Find out he's a retired BB coach and teacher from an area HS. Lives on a nearby private C.C. Says he has appx. 40 bags of golf clubs. Has a seller than parcels them out to eBay occasionally. Would I be interested in taking a look at them? He only lived a couple of miles away. Gawd, my mind raced, the possibilities. Queried him a bit on what he had. Said he had several sets of Hogans but couldn't remember which ones. (!)

 

Was oh so tempted if I hadn't, by then, been a bit pressed for time. He gave me his name and phone number in case I ever wanted to have a look, and make him some offers. Proud of my self restraint that day.

 

Maybe give him a call during a weak moment in the fast approaching off season. Old guy golfers that live on private courses. Wonder what's there? Afraid the Mrs. may disown me.

 

Geez, why would you not call round? I mean with your two-years-and-out rule, what can possibly go wrong? ;)

[Cbad721]

I'm not old enough myself have actually gamed anything older [...]

 

You raise an interesting point. My first thought was that there's no good reason why your age and the age of your clubs should be linked in any way. Then it occurred to me that whilst I like "old" clubs, I only own one set of irons made before I was born - and they're my least favourite irons.

 

So, now I'm curious, how many people are playing clubs that are older than they are?

 

There will obviously be the hickory players. Who else is playing steel shafted clubs made before they were born?

 

Born in 1967. Hogan PC7s also my birth year set - one of my favourites to play in my entire collection.

 

Older sets in my rotation:

 

Late 30s? Nicoll Precision (pyratone steel) 2-8

Late 40s? Nicoll Z-Pinsplitter (pratone steel) 2-9

1953 Spalding Top Flite Synchrodyned 2-9, Wedge

1955ish Slazenger Hogan Precision 2-9

1958 Nicoll Henry Cotton Autograph 3-10, Howitzer

1961 Ben Hogan Powerthrust 3-Equaliser, Exploder

 

The Spaldings, the Precisions and the Henry Cottons play very well, the others less so. Lates 30s/40s irons compared to 50s onwards are quite challenging, much more so than hickories. I guess the early steel shafts were not up to much ?

 

I have every decade covered for irons from the 1910s onwards and it is quite fun to use them all in rotation and see how the scores compare. I imagine Okesa used to do something similar with his women lol.

 

Nice list. I was born in 1964. I have a 1930 Robert Jones kroflite pyratone set that I combined with a 1940 macgregor Byron Nelson driver and three wood. Very challenging to play. Shot 81 on an easy muni but took 8 holes to find a rhythm. Never really knew where the ball was going and found it was easier to take more club and not swing hard.

 

I have an older Nicoll 4 iron, maybe 1930? Hickory shaft. Club is beautiful but shaft gives no lag. Talk about humbling yourself

 

I have a set of green shaft Macgregor 915 irons 2-9. From 1949 I think. I love these clubs. Oversized face and sweet spot. Go about 1.5 clubs less than modern but the distance between clubs is only about 10 yards. I have another set of 915s, probably around 1952, not green shafts. I hit these clubs better from the get go than the older ones, mainly because they didn't have the 14 inch grips which made the swing weight more to my liking

 

M85 macgregors from around 1954 I think - low center of gravity and smaller sweet spot. Clubs are heavier even though the heads are smaller

 

1962 Wilson staff turfriders - 1-PW, my absolute favorites. Heads are smaller and more square, but the shafts are stiffer and the club heads are simply easy to "swing". These are similar to my '71 staff button backs - which seem to be lighter than earlier year staffs. Also, During high school and college I played 1978 and 1980 staff tour blades - I thought these were less forgiving than any of the staffs. I tried the fg-17s when they came out and found them heavier than my liking. Most people on these posts like the fg-17s.

 

I have a set of '67 Arnold Palmer tru-matics. Very under-rated set of clubs. Classic blade.

 

I had a set of hogans from around 2004. Liked them a lot. Some similarities to my maxfli Australian blades (1997). Very solid club. Perhaps I need to try a set of hogans from the '60s. Your thoughts are appreciated

 

Obviously, each set is different and you can see that I'm open to trying new sets. I find I like the sets from the 50s and 60s to have better feel than later years. For the woods, there is such a huge difference between the "second" generation wood used in the 70s-80s compared to 40s-60s. The older clubs are so much harder, I find that I tend to want to let the club "do the work" by simply passing through the ball rather than strive to smack the ball and make it go far. You can only get so much lag out of the older shafts.

 

Anyway, I hope my comments resonate with your experience and would love to hear your response.

 

 

 

[fluffy265]

My first full set of clubs were Taylor made tour preferred TD's. I played these for over 15 years.

After returning from a long hiatus from golf, I was entertaining the idea of getting some new clubs. I was extremely disappointed with all the latest and greatest clubs being pushed in the shops. That started me on the hunt for the classics that I'd always fancied but could never afford back in the day.

 

My first find was a set of '74 Hogan Directors , then I lucked upon a set of new Spalding LT grinds...

Not long after I found an old pyratone shafted Henry Cotton 7 iron while cleaning out my grandmothers garage. I had an epiphany after swinging this club a few times in the back yard. It was heavy, rebar stiff, and super flat. I'd never swung anything quite like it before and I loved it!

 

So now I wanted heavy, stiff and flat. I found everything I was looking for a few months later .... '63 Macgregor Tourney FC 4000 M1's.

 

I'll admit that I'm a sucker for 80's Spaldings & Maxfli's.

I have an eye for 1970's Hogan's too,

but it's usually some 60's Mac's that will be in the bag.

 

J

 

 

 

 

 

[raggal62]

My first set of clubs were a present for my ninth birthday in 1963; a starter set of Powerbilts. In the following years I stuck with the brand, especially the irons, even though they were known more for their woods. Must have had 3 or 4 sets of Citations & Levelumes up until 1978, my favorite being a shaft over hosel set from the mid seventies. Can't really comment on how they compared with their contemporaries, although my best friends set of Maxfli's seemed a lot less forgiving. I got into building my own sticks shortly thereafter.

[TimV]

Playing my 85 Mizuno Cimarron again today and paired with a 39 year old French Canadian. He told me that he had never played with anyone playing a forged blade set before let alone a 2 iron. I told him they weren't that much more challenging than his newish Titleist "blade style" set, but he didn't believe me. I'd have let him give mine a try but he was a lefty.

If you ever have a chance to pick up a set of these sweet forged blades then run, don't walk, to give them your money!

[smorg]

These were $15 tonight at Goodwill. I've never heard of Wilson FCB before but the price, mint condition, forged, Wilson, R flex, probably 20+ years old meets criteria.

[mocokid]

probably store clubs, not pro only, but I definitely like that cavity forged look. very playable, a take off of the early Hogan edge model.

[NRJyzr]

Those FCB look similar to the Hagen forged CB that were sold as a club maker line in the late 90s and early 2000s.

 

Or a Peerless forged CB, possibly a Dynacraft model as well.

 

Solid products, but probably don't have the panache of other sets...