MacGregor MX Custom Diamondbacks

[HandsomeMatt]

Picked these up a while back and after destroying the ferrule on the PW trying to reshaft the set I put them in the corner. They are numbers matching,hadn't been hit ,and have Custom Professional 1 shafts in them, 2-PW. The grips were dry rotted so I removed them and discovered some steel plugs in the butt ends that were the obstacle from extending them so I drilled those out and found a bunch of metal powder that must've been used to make the heads a bit heavier.

I have it from a pretty good authority that these were from the Mac Custom shop from the early 60's . I know they did some reissue stuff a while ago but that the stamping on those was different. I haven't found much in the way of google searches and don't really care if they are that old or not. I've extended them and bent the lies to my preferences and managed to get a couple rounds with them. They feel like I'm hitting the ball with Mjolnir on well struck shots. Not forgiving as you'd expect but nowhere near impossible to play. They won't usurp my 588mb's but distance loss is nowhere near what I expected, almost exactly the same as my gamers. Shafts are a little spinny but they just force you to choose the correct club, no going after something that's a bit out of range.

If any of you can decipher the serial number, it's 43X5S18. Thanks.

[HandsomeMatt]

Couple more

[fluffy265]

Nice clubs! The original diamond back SS1's were produced from 1958 for only a few years. My gut feeling is telling me these Customs are from the mid 70's or possibly even early 80's. Generally speaking with Mac's the first number was the swing weight, if this is correct yours would originally have been D4. Earlier codes were a little easier to decipher' though Mac often juggled these codes around a bit from what i've read. Since your irons are from the custom shop it's possible that this is a registration number, not a decipherable serial number.....

If you post a picture of the shaft band that could tell us much more.

 

..hopefully Rex can shine some light on this one.

 

this thread might help you out .... http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/585299-macgregor-tourney-custom-irons/page__hl__macgregor%20custom

 

J

[BIG STU]

Nice Sticks--- Fluff basically nailed it--- Yep they are straight out of the custom shop and could be made in the years Fluff said. The soles and the face scorings look like the Macgregor Tours from the late 70s--- Also like you stated the butt plugs and powder down the shaft indicate the custom shop too. I have a set of 58s and the Diamondback on yours seems more pronounced

[elwhippy]

Stunning. Simply stunning.

[weeicemon]

Beautiful clubs. Anyone else notice how thin the 9 iron sole stamp is compared to the rest of the set?

[HandsomeMatt]

Beautiful clubs. Anyone else notice how thin the 9 iron sole stamp is compared to the rest of the set?

Yeah, kinda weird, very thin and shallow. The 7 iron stamping is a little weird too, the cut isn't crisp on the number or the MX on the back, same thing. Wonder if the polishing was poor or there were contaminants in the plating,or maybe rust forming underneath, tried using steel wool but to no avail. Here's pics of the shaft bands , also were in great condition.

[ZNC Dandy]

Absolutely beautiful! Great find!

[Opinder]

Very very beautiful clubs.

 

You can't reshaft new steel in hosel irons are trimming tip .335 or smaller.

 

 

Heavy Equipment tool golf work...

[Opinder]

I bidded won MacGregor irons of set by EBay

 

That's lady club of set. I custom fitting there my new set.

 

I pulled there steel shaft trimmed smaller than .335 hole hosel. Stand drills, Reaming and Boring Vise hole hosel .355 irons

 

- Nippon N.S. Pro 120s steel shafts

- A.W.T 2.0 Stiff by Nippon from Ping Golf special

 

 

[rex235]

Handsome-

 

Wow!- An MacGregor MX Custom Professional set! With "1" shafts. Reg No43X5S18

 

"Professional" shaft labels-Really? Something about the "Custom" stamping here-needs only a date.

 

To me, this is the top Sporting Goods store line, or someone close to MacGregor who had a longstanding account with them. The lead in the shaft screams '70s.

 

Does your Pitching Wedge have the same Custom "MX" "Diamond-style" cuts as the rest of the irons?

 

The club reads "Pitching Wedge, and not "10" iron? Show us this club.

 

Sadly, MacGregor could have told you more about this set, but they folded in 2009.

 

Records of Custom sets like this one are likely gone, unless kept by the owner.

 

The Pitching Wedge to this set would answer some questions...

[mocokid]

oddly enough I thought they were sporting goods, not pro only. If you are going to go Custom, typically the top of the line is used. Just sayin' those appear to be a VERY nice blade.

[Opinder]

I guess...

 

My theory

 

MacGregor Iron called "MX" for custom rare. It's not common from MacGregor make.

 

I was pulled custom original iron steel shaft trimmed tip smaller than .335 from wood shaft. Wow!

 

No nail on hosel iron MacGregor "MX" custom.

 

 

[Nard_S]

Now that's a blade! Really nice, congrats.

[mocokid]

Charley Penna may be able to add some info.

[xgolfx]

I will look through some old MacGregor stuff. I seem to remember seeing data for orders prior to the downward spiral of the company

 

CHARLEY PENNA

[HandsomeMatt]

Thanks, that would be cool, I'd be curious to find out more about them. They definitely feel great, even if they wind up being 70's sporting goods store house releases. They are very playable too, a bit heavy but not as bad as some of my old Hogans were. I had done a bunch of searches trying to find something and came up empty. I actually bought them expecting them to be all dinged up and needing a lot of attention. My original plan was to strip the chrome and massage the soles a bit , dull the leading edge, etc. but when they arrived numbers matching, perfect paint in the serial numbers even, unhit, and seemingly brand new, I couldn't bring myself to molesting them.

I did want to reshaft though so at first I heated the PW with a wet towel on the ferrule to try and salvage it but when the heat was doing nothing I destroyed it trying to see exactly how these things came apart, at least Hogans you can see the pin and which side to drive it out. These, I couldn't even find ANYTHING about , a date, nothing, let alone disassembly tips. So I figured, what the heck, I'll just extend them, at least they are already stiff flex. That's when I found the plugs in the butt end, heated those up and they STILL wouldn't come out. So in the corner they went and I figured I'd stumble across something at some point, it was May and I was really just wanting to go play, not tear my hands up on some old clubs.

Well I have been eyeing some NCW's pretty hard and since seeing the Buck Club diamondbacks that they did were really what motivated me to buy these to begin with, I started pondering what to do with these MX's again. So I burned up a couple drill bits until I went and bought a proper auger type bit and managed to get the plugs out and THEN had to find extensions that were a small enough ID. After these sitting in the corner of my studio for several months and me finally being motivated enough to get working on them again, I wasn't going to let some extensions slow me down nor was I keen on waiting another week to order some. So I ran to GG and picked up some graphite extensions and put those in.

Regripped, bent my lies and have played three rounds and one extended range session with them. One round was played with no woods in the bag so I was teeing off with a 2 iron the majority of the time and became quite fond of it. They are beautiful clubs and I'm thrilled to have them, the price I paid was almost embarrassing to admit it was so low.

[xgolfx]

This set was made by the MacGregor custom department when it was domiciled in Albany Georgia. , I have the 8 page brochure which my dad had received giving options for custom woods and irons from the plant at 1601 S Slappey Blvd.

 

CHARLEY PENNA

[HandsomeMatt]

This set was made by the MacGregor custom department when it was domiciled in Albany Georgia. , I have the 8 page brochure which my dad had received giving options for custom woods and irons from the plant at 1601 S Slappey Blvd.

 

CHARLEY PENNA

That's very cool , thanks for taking the time to look it up. Is there any way to decipher what the serial numbers meant? What years were the custom department making irons in Georgia?

[rex235]

Matt-

 

Pretty much the years this guy (Don White) was there.

 

 

 

He was hired in 1970.