Browning/Maxim irons?

[nealkb]

Has anyone ever heard or seen these irons before? I picked a set of these up at a garage sale. They look old, but feel great! Im just looking for some info on these...

[dbuck47]

Browning Arms most famous for firearms and hunting equipment got into golf in the mid-late 70's until maybe the mid 80's? At one time they may have purchased or had some arrangement with Bag Boy. I do not know who produced their clubs, but they did have some innovative designs that never really caught on that much. The early ones were very low profile (the 440 series) which I have always wanted to hit but never have. Later were more traditional like what you have. I don't know what they are worth or exactly when Browning got out of golf.

[Guia]

I remember the 440s low profile (an interesting iron), but have not seen these.

[esketores]

Years, YEARS, ago dad gave my brother a set of 440's he had been playing. My brother still has them.

[Shallowface]

[quote name='nealkb' timestamp='1371178682' post='7237078']
Has anyone ever heard or seen these irons before? I picked a set of these up at a garage sale. They look old, but feel great! Im just looking for some info on these...
[/quote]

The Browning Maxim was produced from 1983 through 1985.

I'm a big fan of the 440 and 500 irons. Another poster said they never caught on, but the 440 was available from 1976 until 1998. I'd say that was a pretty good run.

It was a truly innovative product, and while modern hybrid clubs are not quite as shsllow as the 440s, there's no question one of the main reasons they are more playable than the long irons they replace is their lower profiles.

I remember reading somewhere that Barney Adams' inspiration for creating the original Tight Lies woods was from the Browning 440s.

The Browning golf division was sold and became UT Golf in 1987 and the 440 was sold in component form during the 1990s.

[esketores]

Did Lynx make a club similar to the 440?

[oldschoolrocker]

Titlest made a B 33 model that was cast, hollow, and foam filled that looked like hybrids. Some of the longest and easiest to hit irons I have ever seen. I don't know for sure, but I think they resemble the 440s.

[Shallowface]

[quote name='esketores' timestamp='1371697124' post='7287214']
Did Lynx make a club similar to the 440?
[/quote]

You might be thinking of the Lynx Predator, which was a lower profile than most but not nearly as shallow as the 440s. It had a flat sole and sharp leading edge which to me made it not as playable as the 440. The 440 had a great rounded sole.

There were a few that were as shallow as the 440 or nearly so. Slotline had a set called Greenirons. PGA made a set called Concept LCG. There were even clone versions, probably some of the earliest offerings of that type.

But there's no question the 440s had a tremendous influence. Most of the game improvement clubs of the late 70s and early 80s had a lower than standard profile. Even Ping with the Eye model was a fairly shallow faced club.

All of that started to change with the Eye2, but in my opinion the Eye was actually a better golf club.

By the time we got to the 90s, oversized irons were in vogue and frankly many of the longer irons in those sets were unplayable due to high centers of gravity. There's no question in my mind that oversized heads led to the demise of long irons and into the hybrid era we have today.

Most of which have low profiles.

[Shallowface]

[quote name='oldschoolrocker' timestamp='1371706313' post='7287952']
Titlest made a B 33 model that was cast, hollow, and foam filled that looked like hybrids. Some of the longest and easiest to hit irons I have ever seen. I don't know for sure, but I think they resemble the 440s.
[/quote]

Not as shallow as the 440s, but few were.

The design of the 440 came from high speed photographic capability that Browning used in the design of firearms.

It proved that the ball does NOT roll up the face of an iron on contact (a myth that persists to this day despite CBS and others high speed video replays showing that it NEVER happens), and therefore there was no need for all of that clubface above the ball.

Browning may have gone a bit too far with these. You have to be careful with a perched lie in the rough. You really don't need a tee on Par 3s. But they certainly were on the right track.

[Shallowface]

Here's a link to an article about the Browning 440s that tells of an interesting celebrity endorsement.

[url="http://articles.dailyamerican.com/2003-09-19/sports/26345128_1_irons-tree-ball"]http://articles.dailyamerican.com/2003-09-19/sports/26345128_1_irons-tree-ball[/url]

[OldTom]

Hi Guys,

I recently bought a set of Browning 880-s irons. Can't find any information about[i] them. [/i]
[i]Can anyone provide any details.[/i]
[i]I'm guessing they're twice as good as the 440's.[/i]

[i]Cheers,[/i]

[i]OT[/i]

[jumbogrip]

Titlest made a B 33 model that was cast, hollow, and foam filled that looked like hybrids. Some of the longest and easiest to hit irons I have ever seen. I don't know for sure, but I think they resemble the 440s.

 

Not as shallow as the 440s, but few were.

 

The design of the 440 came from high speed photographic capability that Browning used in the design of firearms.

 

It proved that the ball does NOT roll up the face of an iron on contact (a myth that persists to this day despite CBS and others high speed video replays showing that it NEVER happens), and therefore there was no need for all of that clubface above the ball.

 

Browning may have gone a bit too far with these. You have to be careful with a perched lie in the rough. You really don't need a tee on Par 3s. But they certainly were on the right track.

 

Did you hear of shaft breakage issues with these clubs?

[Shallowface]

Titlest made a B 33 model that was cast, hollow, and foam filled that looked like hybrids. Some of the longest and easiest to hit irons I have ever seen. I don't know for sure, but I think they resemble the 440s.

 

Not as shallow as the 440s, but few were.

 

The design of the 440 came from high speed photographic capability that Browning used in the design of firearms.

 

It proved that the ball does NOT roll up the face of an iron on contact (a myth that persists to this day despite CBS and others high speed video replays showing that it NEVER happens), and therefore there was no need for all of that clubface above the ball.

 

Browning may have gone a bit too far with these. You have to be careful with a perched lie in the rough. You really don't need a tee on Par 3s. But they certainly were on the right track.

 

Did you hear of shaft breakage issues with these clubs?

 

I have not.

[duffymoon]

Has anyone ever heard or seen these irons before? I picked a set of these up at a garage sale. They look old, but feel great! Im just looking for some info on these...

 

Hi Neal,

Just saw this post so sorry for such a late reply!

I bought a set of these (3-sw) with the money I saved as a schoolboy from a pro shop in Edinburgh (Duddingston) when I was 16 in 1985.

I remeber they cost me £110 (about $220 back in those days) in a sale. They were my first full set having only had a half set before. I think they were half price.

I used them for years. And shot some of my lowest ever scores around the links of East Lothian (mostly The Glen golf club in North Berwick).

I eventually sold them after I bought a set of mizuno mp14s in Orlando in 1994.

Thanks for the photos and bringing back some very happy memories.

[shawngee]

Anyone ever heard of the Browning Citori irons? I have a set and can't find anything on them.

 

[Shallowface]

I certainly remember that label, but I don't have any info on them.

Aren't they a tumble finished Ping style head? Probably late 80s/early 90s. Nearly every company back then had some model that resembled the Eye 2, along with everything else they were selling at that time.