Wilson Driving Iron?

A few Goodwill finds. A Bullseye putter and a Wilson Driving Iron. The Driving iron looks to be a great fit for the late 80’s irons. Anyone know anything about it?

I have the same Wilson Driving iron. Can't remember how I came by it but it is a lovely looking bit of kit which, like you, I assume dates to mid / late 80's. I don't see any reference in my Wilson Kaplan which goes up to 1978.

I gamed it for a while. The characteristic of mine is that it is short and so is effectively a 1 iron on a 3 iron shaft which actually works quite well. I don't know if that is intentional / standard but would be interested to find out?

Pymmdcp, just measured mine at 39" so it probably is less than standard.

As mentioned, it does actually work quite well giving a little more control. I have a similar set up with my Hogan Redlines where the set is +1" but 1 iron standard, all on Apex 4, meaning the 1 & 3 irons are almost identical length. Still gain a little distance and roll out with the 1 iron but feels quite easy to hit.

Nice find.That bullseye is in pretty good shape. Most I see at thrift stores are banged up pretty bad.

The Wilson Driving Iron is a store line club that I often saw at K-Mart. Not saying that makes it a bad club, just that it is where they were commonly found.

The separation between the s and o on "Wilson" tells us that it was made in 1979 or after. They were readily available throughout the 80s. Toward the end of the 80s the Wilson store line Driving Iron more closely resembled a 1200 Gear Effect, a tumble finished cast cavity back club. In the 90s it became a hollow hybrid like design.

I have never seen any specs on the version pictured above. Can't say for certain, but I always suspected they were old X-31 2 Iron heads, as they resembled the X-31 models of the mid 1970s. If I had to guess, I'd say 39 inches and 20 degrees would be the standard specs for one of these.

It certainly wasn't unusual back then for 2 irons from discontinued sets to be re-purposed as Driving Irons. With the cast models, they would grind the soles to remove the "2" and stamp a replacement "1" on them. Saw that on a number of occasions in the late 70s/early 80s.

Shallowface, great info, thanks.

Just realised that mine is different to pymmdcp having a different muscle back and also bore through shaft.

Agree it possibly is more akin to 2 iron loft so all round just a bit easier than a 1 iron to hit. Probably why I got along with it quite well!