UK Classic Club Thread - John Letters, Ben Sayers, Slazenger, Dunlop, George Nicoll, Swilken, Petron

[Jiggered]

Picked up a nice set of Gradidge irons today which will go nicely with the two Gradidge Bobby Locke woods I posted previously, I fancy that these will be my weapons of choice for the Historic Golf Open at Clitheroe in July.

 

They're an interesting set, a bit of a crossover in styles.

 

Numbered 2 to 10; numbers 2 to 8 are traditional dot faced irons, number 9 is the putter as I believe was common, but then number 10 is a line faced sand wedge with "BE-OUT" engraved on the top line as picture below.

 

 

 

 

All have the same stampings on the back and the sole as shown below, backs of 7 to 10 irons shown.

(The 2 iron has had a big disagreement with a stone at some point in it's life)

Shafts are all True-Temper in black. Grips look original leather, just about playable.

 

I'm guessing that they're probably late forties early fifties in date but any more learned suggestions are welcome!

 

 

[stixman]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-Vintage-Peter-Butler-Maple-Laminated-Woods-1-2-3-4-5-Set-Halley-Scotland-VGC/292135575245?

 

Have a look at these Halley (Scotland) woods, red diamond shaped inserts, pre-funky or what?

[Jiggered]

I've been watching those too Chris, great looking clubs and I was sorely tempted myself.

 

I was wondering what irons you could match with them that would compete in the funky stakes?

 

I hope that somebody buys them.

 

 

PS, I see that you're down to play tomorrow at Cavendish, I look forward to meting you there.

[TheCompleteHacker]

Having been a little inspired by Golfingfanatic's John Letters loft find on another thread today, I thought it would be fun to actually build up a proper reference thread on UK classic irons, woods, and putters

 

 

 

Certainly from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s there were a number of great sets of UK-made blades, putter designs, and woods with fancy inserts, etc etc, so the idea is for the UK guys to show our friends across the pond and around the world all sorts of cool stuff they might not have seen before.

 

I'm going to kick things off with a medley of John Letters adverts, pulled from my collection of vintage golf magazines ...

 

 

In chronological order:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UK Team .... Birly, Johnny, Stixman, Moaning M, drpurpell et al .. over to you !!! Let's see what you've got lurking in the dark recesses of garages, garden sheds, cupboards, cellars and attic spaces ... you never know we might even be able to tempt Okesa back to the fold with this ! :)

 

I love those Players and Par Busters

[Blade Junkie]

http://www.ebay.co.u...C/292135575245?

 

Have a look at these Halley (Scotland) woods, red diamond shaped inserts, pre-funky or what?

 

I quote:

 

"Driver weighs approximately 780 grams"

 

Either a typo or the head is a laminate coating on a lump of church roof lead :)

[stixman]

http://www.ebay.co.u...C/292135575245?

 

Have a look at these Halley (Scotland) woods, red diamond shaped inserts, pre-funky or what?

 

I quote:

 

"Driver weighs approximately 780 grams"

 

Either a typo or the head is a laminate coating on a lump of church roof lead :)

Nice one, I hadn't registered that.

Are you 'Grailing' this week? Jason has gone on a golfing tour of the Hebrides as a warm up to Macrihanish. He's some man!

[Blade Junkie]

Nice one, I hadn't registered that.

Are you 'Grailing' this week? Jason has gone on a golfing tour of the Hebrides as a warm up to Macrihanish. He's some man!

 

yes - driving up tomorrow, leaving early ! Should be passing by about 10am if all goes to plan :)

 

Was quite envious of his ferry hopping trip to Askernish, Traigh & Shiskine .. wish I'd had more time to accompany him on that ...

[stixman]

Nice one, I hadn't registered that.

Are you 'Grailing' this week? Jason has gone on a golfing tour of the Hebrides as a warm up to Macrihanish. He's some man!

 

yes - driving up tomorrow, leaving early ! Should be passing by about 10am if all goes to plan :)

 

Was quite envious of his ferry hopping trip to Askernish, Traigh & Shiskine .. wish I'd had more time to accompany him on that ...

 

We are also heading North... but only as far as Silloth for an Open event there. At Buxton Cavendish GC yesterday, lovely MacKenzie course, pretty much unaltered since it's creation, for those who don't know it.

Have a good time, hope the weather is reasonable.

[elwhippy]

Hope you enjoyed Silloth. In excellent condition. My home course Carlisle is well worth a trip, a fine test of skill and also in great nick at the moment.

[stixman]

+1 on Carlisle.

Now, do you go left or right of the tree on 16th?

[elwhippy]

Left side of tree is called "the fast lane" or "oops I pulled it!"....new back tee going in....a lot more of the field to clear.....ouch. I hear Morecambe is in excellent shape at the moment, friend's daughter was playing in ladies match week and really enjoyed it.

[stixman]

Left side of tree is called "the fast lane" or "oops I pulled it!"....new back tee going in....a lot more of the field to clear.....ouch. I hear Morecambe is in excellent shape at the moment, friend's daughter was playing in ladies match week and really enjoyed it.

 

Yes, we hosted the Ladies Northern Counties, very high quality field and Morecambe was set up really well. There was a 12 year old batttering it 300 yards!!!

[Jiggered]

Picked up an ebay purchase this morning, not sure if I'm disappointed or not, went for a quick practice round with them this evening.

 

Uniroyal "Arnold Palmer" 1, 3 and 4 woods, the 1 wood has a cracked neck but the 3 and 4 woods are in very good shape and I was hitting them well.

John Letters "Gary Player" Master Model 3 to 10 irons, these have seen a lot of action and the grips are well past it but I was hitting them quite nicely (apart from a couple of massive shanks with the 4 iron on the par 3 ninth),

4 ladies clubs, "Lady Ultra", very small heads but again I hit them well for the few shots played.

A Spalding "Cash-In" putter

And a couple more odd putters.

 

All contained in a "Wilson Professional" bag that looks pretty tired but it might be possible to get it looking good again, this could be the star item.

 

In the bag were a motley collection of tees and old balls, some 1.62", and a day ticket for a local municipal course now closed.

[elwhippy]

I remember our Pro selling lots of Uniroyal Plus Six balls. I know they had a factory in Dumfries (Dumfries and County is a lovely parkland course, and Southerness is a true championship links) that made balls. My old playing partner used a Cash-in when the greens got really fast. He actually still uses it now he plays in Australia...

[Jiggered]

Just been going through the balls and found a Uniroyal Plus 6 in amongst them, will have to give it a trial one evening soon.

 

Looking at the bag it's in pretty good shape for its age, can't find any splits and it's complete with shoulder strap and rain hood. It has a wide top and I can arrange my irons in a nice numbered sequence.

Just needs a clean with soapy water and one of the zips to a small pocket is stuck, hiding a few more balls inside, oil soaking in now.

[skajaquada77]

My dearest beloved set, took me a while to put it together. RIP Seve, the greatest. Those younger years breaking into the tour and playing those Opens against Miller & Co... never seen anybody play Golf with such a passion and joy, big smile, creating shots nobody else could see or dare to try... Slazenger Seve blades Spain Ferrules...

[Jiggered]

Came across an interesting lot on the bay:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mega-Rare-1970s-Petron-II-Adjustable-Irons-3-PW-in-gc-with-Instructions-weights-/162580952058?hash=item25da9473fa:g:K3cAAOSwo4pYa43p

Has anybody come across these before?

 

 

Also for sale now are these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Spalding-Top-Flite-Forged-Blades-Persimmon-Woods-New-Old-Stock/162563909999?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

Silly price but offers can be made.

[stixman]

Silly price but offers can be made.

 

Mmm, not sure about that. New Old Stock of top quality P&Bs will find a collector/buyer somewhere.

 

Also 'one of our own' might not agree with you either

[baloo]

I don't think the price is that bad considering they've never been hit. I don't think I'd buy them, but I bet somebody does.

[Blade Junkie]

Also for sale now are these:

http://www.ebay.co.u...353.m1438.l2649

Silly price but offers can be made.

 

£400 for a modern driver is a silly price ... £400 for 13 brand new unhit top of the range matched set classic clubs, 4 woods and 9 irons, plus a mint condition sand iron, is a pretty fair price I would say, especially as the seller is amenable to decent offers :)

 

Not one for this thread anyway ... these Spaldings are American ;-)

[Jiggered]

That's me told then. But the Top Flites were an aside, what about the Petron adjustable swingweights, they're a new one to me and I wondered if anyone had seen they're like before?

[Blade Junkie]

That's me told then. But the Top Flites were an aside, what about the Petron adjustable swingweights, they're a new one to me and I wondered if anyone had seen they're like before?

 

Before my time in golf if they are 1970s, but will have a look through some of my old golf magazines and see if there is anything in there on these :)

[Blade Junkie]

The Swilken Alta line of woods and irons were very good and very popular. Quality irons at low prices.

 

Just found a review of these in Golf World July 1984 !

 

 

 

 

 

 

[stixman]

What a great find!

While you are on a roll, do you have any references to Swilkens Perfection irons. My set goes from 2 - SW. I'll bring them along to Clitheroe, and depending on any report re 'Classic' status, may play them since it is improbable that many British sets will be represented, apart from Ingvar who says he will play John Letters.

[Blade Junkie]

What a great find!

While you are on a roll, do you have any references to Swilkens Perfection irons. My set goes from 2 - SW. I'll bring them along to Clitheroe, and depending on any report re 'Classic' status, may play them since it is improbable that many British sets will be represented, apart from Ingvar who says he will play John Letters.

 

Quite refreshing to be able to READ a decent club review, rather than have to suffer a trendy "30 second culture" video with loads of trackman crapola to try and make any real sense out of ... golf magazines from the 80s were wonderfully edited and full of informative articles. Sadly the modern variants are as dumbed down as everything else these days ...

 

I'll keep an eye out for anything on the Perfections, but it may take some time, as I would have about ninety 1980s golf mags to flick through :)

 

Looking like I'll play Slazenger Ben Hogan Precision 2-Ex, and a set of J.H.Busson woods 1,3,5 at Clitheroe. Played 11 holes on the Park course last night with them and was 6-over, but did have a run of 5 straight pars at one point so they do have the potential to be competitive, depending on which version of myself shows up that day of course :)

[Jiggered]

I'm torn between sets for Clitheroe. My first choice were the Gradidge clubs but the recent purchase of John Letters irons and Uniroyal woods would probably see more scoring better....

 

But no, my game is so poor at the moment that it won't matter what I use so I'll stick with the Gradidge clubs (post #91 above for the irons and #78 for the woods), I might add the Uniroyal 4 wood to complete the set.

[stixman]

I've no idea what I'll play, and won't until I wake up on Tuesday. Even then, I shall drive to Clitheroe havering about what I've selected. That, I fear, is the nature of the beast.Will I have a clearer idea on the following morning what I should have played, and will that influence what I take to play West Lancs?...I doubt it.

 

However, I propose bringing a few of my favorite clubs because it seems like that sort of an event.

 

For those interested in English Classic Links courses and do not know of West Lancs GC, have a look here http://www.westlancashiregolf.co.uk/

 

It's a seriously stiff test.

[Chris122]

Love the Broadbent review,the only golf magazines I've bought recently are some Golf Monthly editions from the 1960's,thirty-plus years ago I had Golf World and Golf Monthly on subscription and despite the huge amount of advertising provided a decent read unlike the crap that's turned out today by so-called 'journalists' who are completely clueless and who must trawl the internet on a voyage of plagiarism.You only have to check out some of the articles on here and for me one of the worst is Iain Carter of the BBC.

Hope Clitheroe goes well for you all,I'm suffering with kneemonia or might have cycled over!

[stixman]

+1 on Iain Carter crit.

Where are the Doebereiners of yesteryear?

[Chris122]

Or the Longhursts or P-P-P-Patrick Campbells,or any of those real journalists who had to work under an editor who demanded fresh and readable material for the paying public.

The BBC is nothing more than a self promoting club where it's possible to earn big bucks for having little or no talent as long as your face fits and you have the right connections.

It saddens and annoys me to see how golf has changed so much,the unbelievable fascination with the professional game and overpaid twerps like McIlroy who patently has no love for the game just the massive paychecks it provides.

I see that the winner of the Open is to be paid in $US to something like the tune of 1.5 million!

What???!!!

As a lover of the game wouldn't you settle for £25,000 knowing that lifting and kissing that Claret Jug is guaranteed to provide millionaire status?

Just another example in my view of how far the R&A are distanced from the reality of grass roots golf,they are clueless and no amount of brainless intiatives will bring them back to earth.

The greed that manifests itself in the current game has even seeped down to club level where too many are prepared to sandbag their handicaps or blatantly cheat in order to win,the days of winning a trophy just for the prestige have gone.