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Macgregor Jack Nicklaus Player Of The Century Irons (Japan Market Limited To 1000)


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JACK NICKLAUS PLAYER OF THE CENTURY IRONS

Allow me to share the story of this Japan market, limited-to-1000-sets MacGregor Jack Nicklaus since there is news now of Miura producing a limited run of Nicklaus sets.

I got these in the local Facebook classifieds here in the Philippines. For a long time, this had been sitting there with a high asking price until I found a recent 2020 result in Japan auctions where the set sold for JPY 6,000 ($56) which I made the basis of my first offer to the seller. He countered with a higher price, but after committing to get 2 more sets (1 for a friend) from him, I got a final broken down cost of PHP 5,000 ($99) for this set!

The paintfill on the signature was originally red but I found it jarring because everything else in the set had gold trim: ferrules, shaft bands, and grips. The red motif must have been an Asian stereotype for this Japan-market set. I repainted the signature to black and the rest of the test to gold to match Macgregor's color scheme.  

After research, which consisted mostly of exchanging messages with Clay Long who worked in MacGregor during that era, here's the information I gathered from this set: 

(1) Heads were forged in the USA by Cornell Forge from a blank tooling dubbed the "Pro 82" and the muscle was milled to shape; 

(2) Since the Japan market preferred more offset in the short irons, the PW of this set appears to be from a sandwedge tooling bent to loft and grinded, and and the 9 probably was from a pitching wedge tooling all because bending strong adds more offset; 

(3) The text reads "Player Of The Century 1888-1988" because Jack Nicklaus was voted by Golf Magazine as Player of the Century in 1988, a year which marked a century since the first golf club was established in America in 1888.

(4) Nicklaus never played this set as he has always preferred a satin finish and diamond scorelines by the grooves to help his alignment - two elements absent in this set. However, it does seem to have the low bounce, straight leading edge, and virtually no sole camber that Nicklaus preferred.

After repainting, cleaning, and polishing, I decided to take some "studio" shots of these irons in my workshop. All in all, I think they look like a bargain for the price I paid. And with my motto of no wall hangers, I can't wait to take this out to the course!

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I like your painful better!

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Driver:  TaylorMade 300 Mini 11.5° (10.2°), Fujikura Ventus Blue 5S Velocore

3W:  TaylorMade M4 15°, Graphite Design Tour AD DI 7S

Hybrid:  TaylorMade Sim2 2 Iron Hybrid 17°, Mitsubishi Tensai AV Raw Blue 80 stiff

Irons:  Mizuno Pro 223 4-PW, Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 stiff

GW / SW: Mizuno T-22, 52° (bent to 50°)/ 56° (bent to 54°), True Temper S400

LW:  Scratch Golf 1018 forged 58° DS, Nippon Modus3 Tour 120 stiff

Putter:  Byron Morgan Epic Day custom, Salty MidPlus cork grip

Grips:  BestGrips Augusta Microperf leather slip on

 

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You can see some of the similarities between these and something like the Hips or Muirfields. The thicker topline is something that stood out to me, as well as the flatter soles you mentioned.

These are simply awesome

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The Ever Changing Bag!  A lot of mixing and matching
Driver: TM 300 Mini 11.5*, 43.5", Phenom NL 60X -or- Cobra SpeedZone, ProtoPype 80S, 43.5"

Fwy woods: King LTD 3/4, Rogue Black 75X -or- TM Stage 2 Tour 3w, NV105 X -or- TEE E8 Beta 12*, Rogue Silver 70X
Hybrid:  Cobra King Tec 2h, MMT 80 S -or- TEE CBX 17*, HZRDUS 85 6.0

2 iron:  Arias D-23, Modus3 120 S; Mizuno MP-20 HMB, NS Pro 950 R

Irons grab bag:  1-PW Golden Ram TW276, NV105 S; 1-PW Golden Ram TW282, RIP Tour 115 R; 2-PW Golden Ram Vibration Matched, NS Pro 950WF S; testing: Arias D-23 5i w/Modus 120 S
Wedges:  Dynacraft Dual Millled 52*, SteelFiber i125 S -or- Scratch 8620 DD 53*, SteelFiber i125 S; Cobra Snakebite 56* -or- Wilson Staff PMP 58*, Dynamic S -or- Ram TW282 SW -or- Ram TW276 SW
Putter:  Snake Eyes Viper Tour Sv1, 34" -or- Cleveland Huntington Beach #1, 34.5" -or- Golden Ram TW Custom, 34" -or- Rife Bimini, 34" -or- Maxfli TM-2, 35"
Balls: Chrome Soft, Kirkland Signature 3pc (v3), Wilson Triad

Grip preference: various GripMaster leather options or Star Grip Sidewinders of assorted colors

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