No new acquistions...?

[Lemurbait]

All those trips to goodwill finally paid off :). My first persimmons. Any info on either of these two clubs would be greatly appreciated.

[img]https://s3.amazonaws.com/golfwrxforums/uploads/534/HO64MAMKIHTS.jpg[/img]
[img]https://s3.amazonaws.com/golfwrxforums/uploads/596/D9M5QXVAFHOJ.jpg[/img]
[img]https://s3.amazonaws.com/golfwrxforums/uploads/075/A68WK8ZYDPEJ.jpg[/img]
[img]https://s3.amazonaws.com/golfwrxforums/uploads/027/7W4PP0LI5IX7.jpg[/img]
[img]https://s3.amazonaws.com/golfwrxforums/uploads/158/5A9BFOPG631H.jpg[/img]
[img]https://s3.amazonaws.com/golfwrxforums/uploads/680/2OKURTWURNY5.jpg[/img]
Here is some info i was able to find on mike coppola from @RobotDoctor

"Mike Coppola was a guy I used to use as my golf club repair/refurbish craftsman back in the early 90s. He lived in Wilmington, DE. He was fairly well known in the mid-Atlantic states and had a shop in his basement. He had many touring pros sending their woods to him to work on, as well as collectors from the area and throughout the east coast. Some of the touring pros were some not-so popular guys with names like Palmer, Trevino, Crenshaw, Floyd, Bean, and so on.



Mike apprenticed under Toney Penna back in his youth and worked for Titleist for a while. It seemed like several tour pros knew Mike and thought highly of his work. He had a tremendous M43 3-wood that had the darkest wood I have ever seen. Long story short, Greg Norman offered Mike $1,000 cash on the spot (in his shop) once for the 3-wood in the late 80s but Mike said no thank you. The point of this story is that Mike knew many on the PGA Tour and many of the stars of the day. Mike knew them because he was good at his craft. I always enjoyed visiting Mike in his shop, seeing all the terrific woods he had there that he was working on, and listening to his stories. I also like all the checks he had from the players that had purchased custom woods from Mike."

[Stephen8802]

 

Stopped by my local Goodwill on my birthday last week, bought myself a birthday present. These should pair well with my '53 driver. Still plenty of life left in these.

 

 

[RobotDoctor]

 

Outstanding! I love seeing someone has the works of Mike. I really loved hanging around his shop back in the early 90s when I lived in Delaware. My Mike Coppola driver is sitting in my office staff bag!

[humphereydumpherey]

Bought a 50's classic wood from Louisville but while it is otherwise perfect, I noticed quickly at the range the whipping is coming loose at the top. Should I put some tape on it to prevent more from coming loose? Or does it need repair; the local pro shop doesn't know jack about whipping. Pity is it coming loose so fast, my Hogan Apexes seem invulnerable.

[humphereydumpherey]

 

Saw this hogan bicentennial driver, can anyone tell what stiffness it is by the shaft steps?

[mocokid]

NOS 56* Cleveland sw and lightly used 51*, been looking for these

[Stephen8802]

Can you post a picture of the sole plate? If you can read the serial number, which is right above the sole plate on my commemorative '53 drivers, then the second to last number will tell you the stiffness of the original shaft; 3X is regular, 4x is stiff. One of my '53 drivers is an all original Apex 4 shaft and the first step is 11 7/8th from the sole, measure on the back to the line where the neck transitions to the sole.

[humphereydumpherey]

 

Dont see nuffin', looks washed out, or "42". Ill ask again the seller

[Stephen8802]

That looks like a 42 and an Apex 4 shaft to me. It also looks like it has been refinishd because that is about how clear the serial number is on my refinshed one. Were you able to measure and line up the first step?

This my all-time favorite golf club. I picked up my first one in 1983 and it was my driver until I went to metal in 1998, then it found its way back in my bag last summer. The pro I worked for had his in the display staff bag in the shop and I pulled that out to look at it pretty much every day until I found a member who couldn't hit his and bought it from him. I broke the shaft reaching for a little extra on a par 5, reshafted with an S300, and it still is magic. I have had plenty of drivers, but my '53 is still my favorite. I even picked up a spare just in case. If the seller isn't asking for too much buy it and get it out on the course as soon as you can.

Edit: Here is my original with the clear number.

 

[humphereydumpherey]

Did Louisville Golf make these? When did they make the Hogan woods?

Also the wood heads that do not have "oil hardened", are they still oil hardened anyway?

[RobotDoctor]

 

Speaking about the Mike Coppola persimmon driver, he was in search of some old growth persimmon wood to make his batch of wood. He found some old growth persimmon outside of Memphis back around 1991 or so. He had the heads roughed into shape and soaked them for a time in linseed oil for hardening. I remember seeing the blocks and Mike picked a block for the driver he made for me. He picked one of the darkest blocks for me. Mine is pretty basic but really an appreciated driver in my collection.

[Swingingk]

Nice! Truly a beautiful shape. I'm always about simplicity and lack of clutter and that bad boy wins on both counts. Thanks for posting the picture.

[pahogan]

Got 60 clubs off of Craigslist last night, I saw 2 Tommy Armour persimmons and bought the lot. Hopefully will have pics of them up later today. Saw a sandy Andy in there as well.

[pahogan]

 

2 full sets of VFQ irons, 1 at2 & 1 at3 ( at3 could be played as is) and a few other treasures that need a home

[ClayJ]

Grabbed a modern (for this group) 4 wood today for $1. V-steel 16.5 degrees. Needs a new shaft since the original owner bent the steel one that was in it. Anyone have any old .350 Stiff graphite shafts heavy enough for a 4 wood laying around?

[Fellaheen51]

Can always use a .335 shaft of your choosing and shim it in. Done exactly that on a couple of V-Steels that I use. Still can find .350 Grafalloy ProLaunch shafts on eBay. I'm partial to the Platinums (mid-launch). But the Blue (high-launch) and Red (low-launch) are also a quality low cost shaft option for V-Steels. May still be able to find different shaft weights. My V 7 wood has a 75g PL Platinum installed. All dependent on your launch preferences and a desired shaft weight. The PL Axis versions are even better.

As always, YMMV.

[pahogan]

Anyone interested in any of my loot.. let me know.

[deejaid]

So I found these on Craigslist and they really have me intrigued. Macgregor Tommy Armour wood set 1-4. Looking at the soleplate shape and solid red insert I thought these would date to 1950-1953 timeframe. But then the shaft bands say Tourney “D” and I thought the Tourney shafts only arrived in 1954?

Finally, they are stamped SS2w Silver Scot Model but looking in the Kaplan book there is no mention of the SS2 models until 1958 with the introduction of the Velocitized woods series.

 

I don’t know what exactly these are, but they are all original and still have the intact serial numbers. Pretty cool set.

 

[mocokid]

Very very nice, great refinish project!!!

[SteveNZ]

Hey DJ - in Mike Doherty's guide, they appear just after the TA 653 Eye-O-Matic and just before the 925 Super Eye-O-Matic, so mid-50s maybe?

[BIG STU]

Trust me on this DJ will do them justice I have seen some of his work

[BIG STU]

Kinda got me puzzled too because all the Velocitized ( or rocket Macgregors as we called them) had the butterfly sole plate. And then the shaft thing. I was wondering if they were custom shop but did not see the SO designation on the Serial Numbers or did they use the So designation back then? But anyhow they are nice and I know for a fact you will do them due justice when you refinish them just like I told The Kid there

[deejaid]

Thanks for the info Steve. Yeah, I was thinking mid 50’s, before the a Super Eye-O-Matic.

[deejaid]

Yeah, had no idea what they were but 1950’s era Mac Tommy Armour woods in original condition, never been refinished, I had to grab them.

 

And thanks for the kind words on my refinishing. I think I might try to replicate the original opaque eggplant finish on these.

[Stephen8802]

I love these woods, they are just wonderful. I would have snatched those up in an instant if I found them.

If you figure out the original finish, can you share the details with us? I have some 693s I'd like to refinish like the original some day.

 

[deejaid]

Haven't figured out the original finish yet but am working on it.

[BIG STU]

DJ those kind words are well earned--- I am sure you will figure out how to mix and match the original colors. That last is a separate talent with in itself. I know a fellow who is an auto paint and body man and is a whiz at matching paint colors

[Les Strokes]

What do you do to restore the grips, can old leather grips be saved? I like to keep things as close to original as possible...

BTW modern body shops have a device called a spectrophotometer to match colours perfectly, you might try calling a few to see if they'll help you out.

[deejaid]

I first clean leather grips with saddle soap, then I condition the leather with neatsfoot oil. I usually do multiple treatments to the grips, once a day for 3 or 4 days. Some grips rejuvenate better than others but unless the leather is dried to the point of cracking they can usually be saved.

For really dried out grips I found a leather conditioner used by horse riding enthusiasts called Passier Lederbalsam which is supposed to work wonders on old leather but I’ve yet to try it.

 

As for the paint, I’m convinced they sprayed the club with nitrocellulose lacquer during the 1950’s. You can still buy nitrocellulose lacquer today but many are formulated differently than the stuff from the 1950’s. There are certain companies that make nitro lacquer how it was in the 1950’s without additives like plasticizers. The old style nitro is brittle which is why you see guitars and golf clubs from the 1950’s with what looks like cracks called “nitro checking”. A local body shop could match the color but the paint will be nowhere near the same formula of the 1950’s stuff.

[humphereydumpherey]

Seeing some of these hogan Silver Graphite Classic shafts; they appear to be original. I can't find anything else about it, and in fact I have never used Graphite before.

What is the history of these, and how would one of these in Graphite "3" for a driver play compared to a steel Apex 3?