The Death of Spalding Golf

[bripgall3265]

Or a new set of tires!!!!

[gabed]

On 5/23/2016 at 11:47 AM, 8bitpowerfade said:

 

Thanks for the info, Rex. I have seen pieces of those Spalding Stainless Top-Flite/Elite sets, but have not seen a complete iron set yet. I'll keep an eye out for any for sure.

Just received a set of Elite irons, three thru pw. In the late 60s I was machine shop foreman Spaulding pro golf club department.

Set seems to be a matching set but need to check serial numbers. These were professional quality. then Spaulding came out with

the exective club with aluminium shafts.

[Soloman1]

I had a set of Spalding Executives with the aluminum shafts. They had a strange feel/weight/balance to me, and I didn't keep them for very long.

[cold_war_era_golfer]

I know this might be a stupid question as to they say Professional on them but you never know with marketing.

Would anyone know if the spade faced model from 63-64 was a pro line model?  I just snagged these on ebay.

Thanks!

 

Edited February 9, 2021 by coldwareragolfer

[BIG STU]

1 hour ago, coldwareragolfer said:

I know this might be a stupid question as to they say Professional on them but you never know with marketing.

Would anyone know if the spade faced model from 61-62 was a pro line model?  I just snagged these on ebay.

Thanks!

 

Absolutely good sticks

[cold_war_era_golfer]

27 minutes ago, BIG STU said:

Absolutely good sticks

Thanks!  40 bucks seemed like a no brainer.

[deejaid]

2 hours ago, coldwareragolfer said:

I know this might be a stupid question as to they say Professional on them but you never know with marketing.

Would anyone know if the spade faced model from 61-62 was a pro line model?  I just snagged these on ebay.

Thanks!

 

Yeah, nice pickup.  1961-62 I believe.

[Brewski_golfs]

Is there any good source to identify Spalding clubs pre 1950?  I have the Golfworks price guide book from the 90's, but it only goes as far back as 1950.  Have a few Bobby Jones Spalding persimmons in the inventory that I plan on refinishing this year, and I would guess they are 30's, would be great to have an exact range. 

 

The golfworks book also seems pretty light on details for Spalding in the 50's, curious if they just weren't producing many club model or if its missing details.

[The Aspidistra in the Hall]

On 1/29/2021 at 2:38 AM, deejaid said:

Yeah, nice pickup.  1961-62 I believe.

If the face has framing with 'ace of spades', yes, it's very nice. The year before, same club different cosmetics, was the Al Geiberger 59 set......which I have and is a great set. I believe the Japanese were very keen on your model.

You will see that the shafts are 'paired', that is  unlike Wilson's groundbreaking Turfrider of the same year which had individual shafts for individual clubs.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

1 hour ago, The Aspidistra in the Hall said:

If the face has framing with 'ace of spades', yes, it's very nice. The year before, same club different cosmetics, was the Al Geiberger 59 set......which I have and is a great set. I believe the Japanese were very keen on your model.

You will see that the shafts are 'paired', that is  unlike Wilson's groundbreaking Turfrider of the same year which had individual shafts for individual clubs.

 

I'm not knowledgeable at all on Spalding sets, but I do know that the red Spalding Topflite irons were indeed popular at one time in Japan (and still sell reasonably well at auction from what I have seen).

Golfers in Japan nicknamed them "Aka-toppu", with aka meaning red.

[cold_war_era_golfer]

10 hours ago, The Aspidistra in the Hall said:

If the face has framing with 'ace of spades', yes, it's very nice. The year before, same club different cosmetics, was the Al Geiberger 59 set......which I have and is a great set. I believe the Japanese were very keen on your model.

You will see that the shafts are 'paired', that is  unlike Wilson's groundbreaking Turfrider of the same year which had individual shafts for individual clubs.

This is the one I got two through 9. 

 

They have that early mid 60s midcentury design that my beloved Wilson turfriders have.  I know that has nothing to do with the playability but cosmetically they tick a lot of boxes for me and will be happy to have these in my bag next spring.

 

Interesting about the shafts I did not know that.

 

There's a set 1-wedges on ebay for 250 I'm tempted to grab. Do you think that's too much?

Edited January 31, 2021 by coldwareragolfer

[deejaid]

2 hours ago, coldwareragolfer said:

This is the one I got two through 9. 

 

They have that early mid 60s midcentury design that my beloved Wilson turfriders have.  I know that has nothing to do with the playability but cosmetically they tick a lot of boxes for me and will be happy to have these in my bag next spring.

 

Interesting about the shafts I did not know that.

 

There's a set 1-wedges on ebay for 250 I'm tempted to grab. Do you think that's too much?

Very nice!  How did I miss those? 😁

 

Which model are you looking at for $250?   It’s not too much to spend if you like them.   Most golfers think we are crazy for spending anything for these relics but the heart wants what it wants.

[Bogey Bomber]

It's actually the 1963-1964 model that has the spades. The model for the two years before that was exactly the same head but just without the spades on face. So thats a way to differentiate the 63-64 model to the earlier 61-62 model. Also another difference between the two versions is the colouring of the script on the back, the later version with 'spades' is yellow and red painted, and the earlier version 'without spades' is plain black... i'ld suppose they play the same don't you think boys!? I personally just think the later version is prettier and it does seem more desirable!

[cold_war_era_golfer]

On 2/2/2021 at 11:58 AM, Bogey Bomber said:

It's actually the 1963-1964 model that has the spades. The model for the two years before that was exactly the same head but just without the spades on face. So thats a way to differentiate the 63-64 model to the earlier 61-62 model. Also another difference between the two versions is the colouring of the script on the back, the later version with 'spades' is yellow and red painted, and the earlier version 'without spades' is plain black... i'ld suppose they play the same don't you think boys!? I personally just think the later version is prettier and it does seem more desirable!

Thanks!  I edited my original post to keep down any confusion for anyone else who lands here while searching vintage Spalding irons on Google etc.

 

 

[cold_war_era_golfer]

Been doing more research on these clubs.  I came across this page on advancedballstriking.com

It appears to be from Golf Classics by Mike Doherty.  One comment on this page about the Synchro Dyned models being thrown off with a regrip has me wondering about the set I just got that has been unfortunately regripped.   Can any of the Spalding gurus comment on changes of feel from original grip to regripped Synchro Dyneds?

 

 

 

 

[The Aspidistra in the Hall]

I'm certainly not a guru but I have a set '61 Topflites ie, without the Spades framing and with black infill which I have regripped, or rather replaced the regrip on when I got them. They are great and I like the firm and positive feel.

I don't think there was a special wedge in the set and the wedge I have is a generic club bought separately, still nice and nothing wrong with it.

[Greg_B]

I started playing golf in the late '80s and in 1991 joined my first golf club. I was astounded to see maybe half of the member's bags had a set of Spalding Executive irons in them back then. They seemed to be the go-to clubs to use at least at that place. Guys liked them because they were not expensive and easy to hit.  Like everyone starting out, I went through untold numbers of Top-Flite balls in those days. Later on when I could play a bit better I tried the Strata balls and quite liked them.

 

Some may remember that when Lee Trevino first hit the Senior Tour and was winning everything in sight there for his first few years, he was a Top-Flite tour staff player. He used a set of Top-Flite metal woods that I tried and quite liked, so I ended up buying a 5-wood first, followed by the driver and finally the 3-wood. Very small heads even for the time I believe, but they had some unusual kind of hybrid shaft that was mostly steel until just before you got to where the grip was, where the shaft then became graphite for the top 10"-12". Those worked well for me for a few years. The picture isn't of mine but the same model that I found advertised on a well-known auction site.

[cold_war_era_golfer]

Boy the revival of this has me loving the look of those Spade faces again.  I sold mine after trying them a few times this Spring.  Something just didn't click for me. But they are probably the most attractive irons created by man!

[Joe85]

Were these Centurion irons any good, or were they generally junk? 

 

 

I ask because I have a set of them that I might get rid of (give to Salvation Army). Need to know if they were decent or not. Responses would be much appreciated. 

[@_the_crook]

On 2/9/2021 at 9:01 AM, cold_war_era_golfer said:

Can any of the Spalding gurus comment on changes of feel from original grip to regripped Synchro Dyneds?

@deejaid might be able to tell us the weight of those original long leather grips.

he has done some stunning club work and restorations.

[deejaid]

14 hours ago, @_the_crook said:

@deejaid might be able to tell us the weight of those original long leather grips.

he has done some stunning club work and restorations.

I am not sure of the weight of those long leather grips.   I know Neumann leather wraps with underlisting,  collar, and cap come in around 48 grams.

 

I have a few sets of 50’s and 60’s Spalding’s that I can’t even practically give away even when priced less than a round at a muni.  Only reason I have then for sale is they are too short and I don’t want to remove the original leather grips, but I just might and replace them with Neumann’s after putting some extensions in them.

[cold_war_era_golfer]

23 hours ago, deejaid said:

I am not sure of the weight of those long leather grips.   I know Neumann leather wraps with underlisting,  collar, and cap come in around 48 grams.

 

I have a few sets of 50’s and 60’s Spalding’s that I can’t even practically give away even when priced less than a round at a muni.  Only reason I have then for sale is they are too short and I don’t want to remove the original leather grips, but I just might and replace them with Neumann’s after putting some extensions in them.

I hear ya!  I had some sets of Spalding and they were unsellable.

The fact that I swap sets so often kind of keeps them off my list as to I don't even think Goodwill will take them?  Some sort of a forcefield around Spaulding clubs that once they are yours, they are for life.

[@_the_crook]

 

the Executives did get a bad rap after so many storeline incarnations  anything with an aluminum shaft I'd bet is worthless.

 

I've got four sets - two are playable in current times. the 53 SD's are quite low profile and the 68 Professionals are pretty solid. 

no one needs to hit the 47's. while the shafts look OK, one never knows about internal rust.

I should offload the second set that was poorly re-gripped and all of the woods.

 

come to think of it, no one's ever asked me for a Spalding/TopFlite driver.......

 

 

 

[The Aspidistra in the Hall]

Spalding TopFlite Custom Crafted 2nd Tour Edition, possibly the most enjoyable persimmon driver I've hit

Edited July 24, 2021 by The Aspidistra in the Hall

[@_the_crook]

On 7/24/2021 at 2:35 AM, The Aspidistra in the Hall said:

Spalding TopFlite Custom Crafted 2nd Tour Edition, possibly the most enjoyable persimmon driver I've hit

very nice looking - proper clubs.

 

today I ventured into one thrift store and don't you know there was the remainder of a Ram laminated wood set, Syncrodyned irons - probably late 50's, few odd TF woods, the storeline type,

Wilson 1300 series too.

and those were the top end of the offerings.

felt so good to walk away.

[AcePHA]

First post! Woot!

Looking for further info on this thrift store find.

Spalding 300 +1 Custom

Love the shape and they are on good condition for the age. I can't find any information on these anywhere on the internet however so I would appreciate any that you guys may have.

 

[AcePHA]

The club heads are in super shape, everything else not so much. Hoping the the Sand Club helps date this set, maybe 65-69ish? The 'Custom' and '300+1' are flipped placement on the PW. They seem VERY similar to Professional Jay Herbert and Sandra Haynie models of that era minus the spade dots...$13 well spent at Goodwill!

 

 

 

 

Edited October 20, 2021 by AcePHA

[BIG STU]

On 6/17/2021 at 11:45 AM, Joe85 said:

Were these Centurion irons any good, or were they generally junk? 

 

 

I ask because I have a set of them that I might get rid of (give to Salvation Army). Need to know if they were decent or not. Responses would be much appreciated. 

I think those were late 80s cast--- I have  10 iron like that I bought at a yard sale some time back for I think 0.50. It never did feel right to me

[Joe85]

1 hour ago, BIG STU said:

I think those were late 80s cast--- I have  10 iron like that I bought at a yard sale some time back for I think 0.50. It never did feel right to me

 

Thank you sir I am going to donate them..

[Foozle]

If anyone is interested, Talking Golf History have just released a podcast on the history of Spalding Golf - the rise and demise. 

Someone by the name of "Big Stu" gets an honourable mention as a vintage expert who lists the "bird on ball" irons as the third most beautiful irons ever issued. Surely there can only be one "Big Stu"? A quality endorsement if ever there was one.

Sorry I am too inept to provide a link but if you search "Talking Golf History" you should find it. 

I understand it is the first in a series on once great manufacturers now largely relegated to History.