Where are the Powerbilt Collectors?

[deejaid]

As I’ve been collecting vintage clubs for the last few years I’ve have had plenty of Hogan, Macgregor, and Wilson’s in my collection. I’ve even been getting into Spalding lately. The one brand that I am really digging is Powerbilt but it seems to be one of the least talked about of the major club manufacturers of the 1940’s, 50’s, and 60’s. Were Powerbilt never as well received or as popular as the bigger name brands?

 

And who are the guys collecting old Powerbilt’s? I’ve got a few sets of woods and a single lonely set of irons but the old early 1950’s stuff seems to be so hard to come by. Is anyone here a Powerbilt guy?

[dcopp7]

Big Stu is. I like their woods too. I've got a few. I have a ProSonic driver with alloy shaft I refinished. It has a brass firing pin insert.

[Maxwell]

There's a few people at GolfWRX who like Hillerich & Bradsy persimmon woods.

Blair

Canada

 

[scomac2002]

And who are the guys collecting old Powerbilt’s?Here! I have several woods, both persimmon and laminate. No irons or wedges though. I wouldn't call myself a collector though, more like a hunter and gatherer as my interest is for play.

[twidener]

They made some really nice persimmon woods, especially drivers. I picked one up a couple of months ago. It's sometimes difficult to find the good models. I looked for a few years till I found one in near mint condition. From my experience PowerBilt seemed to be popular in certain regions of the country. I played in a tournament back in the mid-70's with a group of guys from New Orleans and they all had PowerBilt drivers. They were pretty popular on tour in the 60's and 70's.

[BIG STU]

Like copp says I am sorta a collector but mostly drivers. I did have a couple of fairways but gave them to my bud Bear. I played the drivers a lot back in the day. For some reason I always liked the way they hit still do. I have always been a Penna collector but will admit I did not hit them or Mac woods as good as I did Power- Bilt. I do not know on the 50s but in the 60s and 70s in my area they were the woods to have among better players. Most of the better players had either Mac,Spalding or Wilson irons combined with PB woods. One guy he was sorta strange played a full PB bag with the famous orange staff bag. In fact the 66 Citation irons I played for years he gave to me and he had them built custom ground for him. This guy was a member of one of the big country clubs in town. He was wealthy but did not play in the big money games. He played at his club during the week but on weekends he played with the $1 round robin weekend guys at our place. IMHO I think the reason you do not see as much PB stuff is because simply I think they did not make as many clubs as the big 3 did. I also think in the 60s and 70s they were known for their persimmon woods more than their other equipment and concentrated on that.

[Fellaheen51]

Not a collector by any stretch, more of a gatherer. Have several Powerbilt woods. The player set (1, 3, 5) of persimmons are Citations. Nice shape, but not to nice. Perfect for attempting to beat balls around. Also a "Horseshoe" soleplate driver that's a bit untidy. A Citation 3 wood that someone reshafted with a Hogan Apex shaft of unknown number.

Like the look of PB woods with the brass back weight. They play quite nicely for wood woods, in my incapable hands. Have had some decent swats with the fairways. Yeah, no problem with gathering additional PB persimmons (primarily) whenever found on the cheap.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

I'm actually keen to acquire set of PowerBilt irons, but I don't know what's good and what's not. I've seen Super Citations and ProSonic irons, but don't know which is better.

[Bob Cat]

I just retrieved my dad's old PB Citations (H&B) from the depths of my garage. I have one of those orange over sized PowerBilt staff bags in my mancave that shops used for display. Past time to pair the two. Thanks OP.

[dcopp7]

Levelume are the irons to get IMHO

[Bigarch]

I'll agree with most everything posted so far. The Levelume were always the best looking irons in my opinion. Great looking square toe and a little bit thicker sole to get the ball in the air. Nice irons. I've never had any luck with their drivers although I like the look. But the fairway woods were fantastic in my opinion. I had a Citation 5 wood with the small head and brass back weight that I could launch out of any lie. It stayed in my bag for about 10 years. Back before some genius came up with the idea for a "hybrid", we had to rely on clubs like that to get the job done.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

No love for the Powerbilt Scotchblades, then?

The 5w really was the hybrid back in the day, wasn't it? I finally managed to find a nice persimmon 5w late this year with a shaft that fits me, and since putting it in the "old school" golf bag, it has become a go-to club in so many situations.

[Bigarch]

I like the looks of all of their irons. They all have that nice square toe look that I really like...similar to the old GolfCraft stuff. But I always thought the Levelume was the most playable. And you are right, the 5 wood was the hybrid of its day and most everybody I know had one that they really liked. There was a time in the late 80's where I'll bet 90% of the good players I knew had a Driver, Taylormade Tour Spoon for a 3 wood and then a Baffler, Ginty or something similar as the 5 wood. I actually had a Baffler 2 wood and that Citation 5 wood in my bag for a long time....it was a beast!

[rgk5]

The Super Citation was my favorite only edged out by a Toney Penna Model 65 as the best persimmon driver I owned. The best non-metal 3-wood Iever owned was a 1974 laminated Citation.

[deejaid]

Would it be fair to say Powerbilt reached their peak in the 1970’s with their Citation line of woods? Just looking at 1970’s era Powerbilt woods they look to be a bit nicer than what the big 3 of Macgregor, Wilson,or Spalding we’re putting out.

And after those big 3 would it have been Powerbilt and Hogan as similarly sized companies below the big 3 in terms of # of clubs produced and sold?

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

My late Eighties woods were TaylorMade Burner (which every self-respecting junior in my city had), then Maxfli Australian Blade Persimmon 3 and 5 woods. Now the shafts were awful, may be even ladies' shafts, but the 5w worked for me. The 3w not so much.

[raggal62]

I would have to agree that the 70's Citations were their finest overall. Both build quality and playability were top notch. But having said that, I carry in my vintage bag a PowerBilt driver circa 1960 that is very nice.

[BIG STU]

Kinda off topic but your 5 wood/ hybrid synopsis or comparison reminded me of something. I was on the range back in the summer hitting my vintage stuff. Among the vintage stuff I had a little Custom Mac 5 wood that I have had for years. That thing is tiny and hooked faced as heck. I actually call it "hooky" This kid I would say 14 or 15 years old was hitting beside me. I went to hitting my persimmon driver and pureing it and it sounded good. I had stood the 5 wood up beside my bag intending on hitting it some more. This kid asked me very politely "sir when did they start making hybrids out of real wood?" I had to explain to him what it actually was. He had some modern Callaway hybrids and they were about the same size as that 5 wood. Yep I schooled him about back in the day about 5 and 6 woods he was interested.

[twidener]

Even in the late '80's H&B advertised that they were the No.1 selling persimmon wood manufacturer in America. But I would have to agree that the mid to late 60's and all through the 70's were PowerBilts best years. Quite a few tour players had a PowerBilt driver in the bag at that time, including Trevino, which no doubt helped sales. The old ones are solid feeling excellent clubs.

[Joe S]

 

I see a lot of PowerBilt single irons at Goodwill that I pass on, but this year I found three nice sets. Scotch Blade, Levelume and Citation Stainless "DeLux". I haven't taken any of them out on the course yet, but they feel great in the simulator. If you're looking for a set of Irons my vote would be for the Scotch Blades.

 

[mocokid]

nice,I like the stainless one at bottom.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

Somewhat inspired by this thread, I picked this up of a Japanese auction site for 1 yen (about 1 cent). Postage came in at about $12 though...

Flex is B, so regular, but it seems to be "Old school" regular, so fairly stiff. Should be playable. It also came with a delightfully gaudy yellow Powerbilt head cover (not pictured).

 

[mocokid]

^^^ that's the real deal, very nice.

[deejaid]

Very nice find. ?

[Steele47]

There is a brand new set of Powerbilt Scotch Blades on Ebay right now.

[Steele47]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Power-Bilt-Scotch-blade-irons/254329514293?hash=item3b37386935:g:BfMAAOSwiR5dUsW6

[deetsal]

Have a bunch of these Powerbilt sets if anyone is interested, very cheap I need the room for hickories, which are in the thousands now.

[BIG STU]

The bottom one is a 66 67 what we called the Horse Shoe irons---- I played a set of them for years with exception of the PW which I found the flange to be too wide----- I traded a set of Spalding Elite 333 Customs for them---- They were 35% worn out when I got them and I finished them off playing and practicing every day---- I had bought my first set of VIPs at the time and you know the rest of the story

[BIG STU]

Great grain and it is a blonde too!!! Judging by the sole plate and carbon fiber insert that was the next to last generation made. The last generation made had TPS ( Tournament Players Series) on the sole plate and some of those came with graphite shafts. I do have a TPS I found on the pile one day with a Steel shaft. LOL I have been hitting the older one so well that is in my vintage set I am scared to try anything else including that beautiful Mizuno I told you about a while back

[mocokid]

the horse shoe iron was the good players choice for many...