If you played them, what made the the Tommy Armour 845 Silver Scots such a great iron?

[hammergolf]

They were a very good performing iron in a smaller package, but also had stronger lofts than the Eye2 so people were hitting them a club further. They also had a great staff on tour, Couples and Love were both playing them. Of course we didn’t have launch monitors back then but due to the stronger lofts they went lower and spin less. Which back then I was playing Maxfli HT and a full short iron was spinning back 15ft at the least. Tommy Armour had a great program for college golfers when I was playing. For $150 they would send you whatever you wanted. I bought a set, (was using Eye 2 BeCu at the time) and they were good, but I’d been playing Ping so long I didn’t make the switch.

[Notashank]

3 hours ago, Ghostwedge said:

Couples played Lynx back then.

He also played 845 along with Davis love the 3rd. I still have the poster in my garage 

Edited March 28, 2022 by Notashank

[grm24]

4 hours ago, Ghostwedge said:

Couples played Lynx back then.

Couples did play the 845s for a short time. It was before he went to Lynx. He joined Lynx in 1992.

[JAMH03]

15 hours ago, SlothofDespond said:

 

My dad had a set of those '93 Lynx Parallax irons. They were great compared to the hand-me-down MacGregor MCX blades I was playing as a kid. Were the Lynx irons really any better or worse than the 845s? I don't know about that. I sort of recall the 845s were popular but a bunch of similar strong-selling relatively basic cavity backs started showing in the 90s as well: DCI, King Cobra, 845, etc. Being early matters for perception though.

The Parallax were great. Some forgiveness and lots of precision. I have no idea what Freddy loved about them but they were exciting irons. Good news is I still have some and hit them from time to time. Relative to the new stuff they play like blades. The Parallax short irons were lauded and now I think I can see why.

Relatively traditional lofts which made sense for gapping purposes. Some offset which combined with the blade like headsize and narrow sole which allowed work-ability combined with some forgiveness made them especially effective.

Personally I'd say the long irons were too blade like, they didn't seem to offer much performance enhancement for average golfers.

I'd imagine 6-GW they're comparable to blades right now.

Lofts on the 92-94 Parallax as I recall.

44 9
40 8
36 7
32 6
 

[braincramp52]

12 hours ago, Fairway14 said:

 

The 845's had a small head size with a deep cavity back, which is a winning combination.

Today's cavity back irons have too large of a head size.

You got that right. They're smaller than most blades. 

[braincramp52]

2 hours ago, JAMH03 said:

The Parallax were great. Some forgiveness and lots of precision. I have no idea what Freddy loved about them but they were exciting irons. Good news is I still have some and hit them from time to time. Relative to the new stuff they play like blades. The Parallax short irons were lauded and now I think I can see why.

Relatively traditional lofts which made sense for gapping purposes. Some offset which combined with the blade like headsize and narrow sole which allowed work-ability combined with some forgiveness made them especially effective.

Personally I'd say the long irons were too blade like, they didn't seem to offer much performance enhancement for average golfers.

I'd imagine 6-GW they're comparable to blades right now.

Lofts on the 92-94 Parallax as I recall.

44 9
40 8
36 7
32 6
 

I was a big Freddy fan back then and I bought the Parallax the first year they came out. My first new set of irons. Loved them.

[RightHandRough]

21 hours ago, braincramp52 said:

I'm hoping to that will be the case for me. I've got my shovels for golf league and the 845's to dink around with for fun. 

 

I don't have 845s-mine are 855s, but the fun factor was kind of low compared to the power bats that my 699pro's are. Tech has advanced, and tbh my swing at least has at best stayed the same lol

 

[braincramp52]

1 hour ago, RightHandRough said:

 

I don't have 845s-mine are 855s, but the fun factor was kind of low compared to the power bats that my 699pro's are. Tech has advanced, and tbh my swing at least has at best stayed the same lol

 

I've got my tour Edge C522's for that. 

[me05501]

I didn't play the 845's but I did enjoy playing a set of the V-31's for a couple of seasons. They were a great "progressive cavity" set that went from a blade-like wedge up through a full-cavity 4 iron. 

 

I've always thought I could go back to those at any moment.  

[aenemated]

7 hours ago, braincramp52 said:

I was a big Freddy fan back then and I bought the Parallax the first year they came out. My first new set of irons. Loved them.

 

Same. They were my first set that were brand new. Got 'em for Christmas in '92 after begging my dad for them after Boom Boom won the Masters. 

 

Man, I loved those irons. After every round, I'd bring 'em inside and clean every little speck of turf off them and try to polish off any scratches haha. Absolutely my most prized possession in those days. 

[Tiptx1122]

I liked my PING ZINGs but they came after the EYE2's as they were the set to own as actually there wasn't much to choose from as the 845's were good but they were used by the PING haters

[@_the_crook]

my first set were Nicklaus VIP blades. never loved them, could have been the shafts.

tried the 845's shortly after introduced, the CB design converted me.

played a long time with a confirmed Eye2 guy. we tried out each others irons.

he thought the TA's were too light and I thought his Pings were too bottom heavy.

still use a CB head. feels more balanced to me.

 

 

 

[wjdpar1]

At the time they just plain looked good!

[mosesgolf]

 Used to play these.  So good.  Very forgiving and overall great set of irons. 

[kblahey]

For whatever reason, I liked that the 8-PW toes were rounded off.  Seemed to look a little better when addressing the ball.

[chipa]

I played a set of Tommy Armour 845's for at least a year and I see now it was a mistake to get rid of them. They were soft feeling and looked great, somewhat angular compared to many irons today.

 

I recently started playing a set of Titleist 962's which remind me of the 845's but with less offset and I love them.

 

[BDubya]

For cast irons, they were (and still are) fantastic.  The stock tour step shafts were eventually used by multiple companies.  As most have said, the main clubs being played at the time were Ping Eye2.  For those of us who were just getting in the game of golf, rather than have to be confused with measurements to determine which color dot Eye2s fit the best, Tommy Armour 845s were a welcome option.  I loved the offset of the 845s.  I have tried multiple sets of the newer clubs since then (Nike, Titleist, etc), and I never could hit them consistently because the lack of the offset in newer sets wasn't comfortable to what I had played for years with the 845s.  I recently found a gently used set of 845s on the Bay (3-PW) for cheap and bought them.  I'll be regripping them soon and putting them in my bag as my new/old gamers.  For anyone interested, another HUGELY popular set of clubs that came about in the early/mid 90s, the Titleist DCI gold triangle irons (played by numerous PGA pros), the measurements for loft, lie, and offset are almost identical to the 845s.

[Joepa324]

They were the first good irons I ever had.  They were completely awesome!

[buckeyefl]

I have unused 845 MB sitting in the closet just waiting for me to stick the right shaft into them and out them in the bag. I just can't pull the trigger unless I buy some iron covers!

[ChipNRun]

Tommy Armour 845 family is one of my favorite irons of all times that I never actually owned. Included are the Ping Eye2 and the Mizuno MP57.

 

The original 845 Silver Scot got detailed coverage in Ralph Maltby's 2005 book, The Maltby Playability Factor. The TA 845 Silver Scot and its variants were produced from 1988 to 2002, one of the longest runs of modern irons.

 

In MPF ratings, most fell in either the Game Improvement or Super Game Improvement* categories. The model came on heels of Ping's perimeter weighting design with a related cavity balanced design. As others have mentioned, it had a more classic look than the Ping Eye2 line.

 

Maltby notes that a lot of the popular irons from 1980 to 2000 incorporated perimeter or cavity head designs, and likewise had high MPF scores.

_____________________________

* Maltby's MPF system has six golf club categories, while Hot List has only four. MPF has both the SGI and the highest Ultra Game Improvement categories. Hot List groups SGI and UGI under one category, SGI. In the Maltby system, SGI picks up the upper end of the Hot List Game Improvement slot.

[R_Swanson]

Always surprised how much love these irons get on this forum.  Not because they aren't great, but because they always had too much offset for me... And offset is usually the bane of WRXers.  I played the King Cobras, then moved onto the 962's around 1996, but it sounds like I was a little younger than most people in this thread.  I used to sell clubs back in the early-mid 90s at a kid at my LGS and I sold a ton of 845's.

Edited March 15, 2023 by R_Swanson

[chipa]

On 3/15/2023 at 2:44 AM, R_Swanson said:

Always surprised how much love these irons get on this forum.  Not because they aren't great, but because they always had too much offset for me... And offset is usually the bane of WRXers.  I played the King Cobras, then moved onto the 962's around 1996, but it sounds like I was a little younger than most people in this thread.  I used to sell clubs back in the early-mid 90s at a kid at my LGS and I sold a ton of 845's.

 

The 845's have a lot of offset, but less than the Ping's that were very popular at the same time (mid 90's). For a new golfer like myself with an over the top move they were easier to hit than almost anything else. I played some very good rounds with them but eventually gravitated toward irons with less offset as my swing changed gradually. The 962's look a lot like the 845's and I understand they were designed by the same guy. I play the 962's and hit them better than anything else I've tried.

[nitram]

On 3/27/2022 at 7:11 AM, braincramp52 said:

Looking for players opinions of the 845's. The old ones. I was a Ping Eye2 player back then but there were a boatload of the Silver Scots in bags everywhere. Many said they were a better iron than the Eye2's and I agree they are better looking. What do you guys that played them remember about them?

Looks and money. Eye 2's were really polarizing in a LOT of guys couldn't/wouldn't get past the looks. They were also more expensive than any other OTR clubs. This is why they were the most copied iron, ever.

 

I hit the 845's but stuck with my Hogans, as the SS's were "OK", but nothing to write home about.

[braincramp52]

5 hours ago, nitram said:

Looks and money. Eye 2's were really polarizing in a LOT of guys couldn't/wouldn't get past the looks. They were also more expensive than any other OTR clubs. This is why they were the most copied iron, ever.

 

I hit the 845's but stuck with my Hogans, as the SS's were "OK", but nothing to write home about.

Yea, they didn't stick with me. I think I played a few rounds with them and shipped them down the road. 

[klbcec]

Never played the 845s. Had a similar cast iron, the Titleist DTR.  Sharpest and most durable grooves in history.  Could shave the cover off the ball with them even using a surlyn ball.

 

 

 

 

[optimator]

I used to have a set. I really liked them.  I actually saw a set in a pawn shop the other day. 3-9 with a mismatched wedge, putter and woods and a bag for $59. Thinking about going back and making an offer on just the irons.

[caniac6]

I had Eye 2s, and my brother had 845s. I hit the 845s, and didn’t like them as much as the Pings. I was very surprised how much similar clubs felt so different.

[bluedot]

I don’t think the 845’s were “great”.  They were good, and they were in the right place at the right time.

 

It’s hard to understand now, but back in those days there was among some players a bias AGAINST Ping.  The 845’s were one of several clubs that came out that looked a little more “normal”, but offered some of the features that made the Eye2 so revolutionary.  
 

They enjoyed a nice run, but the 845’s were never really comparable as the Eye2’s.  They were much easier to hit than stuff like Wilson Staff or Haigs or MacGregor blades for sure, but Eye2’s they were not.

[Lemonde]

I played the TM Tour Preferred 3 to PW and the 1 to 4 iron were hollow, well ahead of their time.  I bought them because the pro had them and of course matched to my Burner woods.  The other juniors I played with had a mix of TM’s, 845’s, Eye 2’s, and Titleist “DTR’s” which were the precursor to the DCI’s.  One had the Hogan Edge as well. My irons evolved post early 90’s to be Cleveland TA3, the DCI, RAC TP, and then an absolute gong show after that once there was some disposable income. 

[Tiptx1122]

There wasn't much back then to compare them too as the irons that most people wanted or played were the PING EYE2's. The 845's were what Davis Love III played as he was a favorite player to watch.