Least Punishing Wilson Staff Blade

[TimV]

[quote name='bullrambler' timestamp='1434489913' post='11764396']
It's been a while since I played Wilson irons and kinda forgot how good they can be. In another thread somewhere on WRX there was information shared about what clubs were played for some of the majors over a fairly long period of time. The 1978 set did not have threaded hosels.

Sometimes people ask which vintage clubs should I try and find...? Well, it's always a good idea to try and find the models that were proven winners. And some of the signature clubs are decent too. With some tweaking they can be set-up for anyone.

There are also some good cavity back irons out there, semi cavity backs and stainless irons that are good sets too. The vintage sets often times have weaker lofts so one may give up a few yards. Yet, this can mean not having to use a Fairway/Approach wedge in a Vintage set. If properly set-up one may not loose hardly any yardage at all....!
[/quote]

Because of the weaker lofts and shorter lengths Vintage are always going to be shorter than modern of the same club number. But so what!?!... Just hit more club!!!
I can hit my persimmon driver off the deck with a good lie if I have to. Would love to see someone try that with a 460cc volume driver!

[bullrambler]

Due to my height I usually add an extension in many of the older sets. And when they are setup there is very little if any loose in distance because I'm hitting them decently. Of course sometimes the lofts are 1 or more clubs less then the new stuff. But with newer equipment - one has to fill the set in with up to 4 wedges. I'm tying to keep it down to three wedges when I can. I always have a Lob wedge, and Sand Wedge and a Pitching Wedge. There's usually no need for a Fairway wedge when I'm playing Vintage clubs.

Yet, I know I've lost a bit of Swing Speed over the years - so I adjust and use one more club. With the onset of warmer weather and playing a bit more; which includes a practice session once a week, I'm doing OK. I always imagine that all you Vintage players on WRX are out there as often as you can be, trying your latest acquisition(s).

Today I took out an Ancient 2 wood and an old Spalding 3 wood. At first they were a bit of a challenge - because I was using metal up to this time out there. But as the round went on I was hitting them decently. The wood - woods are staying in the bag for some more fun.

Enjoy your time out there and hit'em with authority...!

[Wknd_Warrior]

I'd say any of the fluid feel ones, I think they all had the drilled out hosel moving the COG closer to the center and expanding the usable hitting area a bit.

[Forged4ever]

Having played Staff from 1967-1986, my fave from that period, including the 17's, which I played from 1981, their introduction year, through 1986, when I went to Mizzy, I would agree with Scooter, as the '71 Button Backs were an incredible iron, and my favorite blade from those years.

Regarding the later models, from the 51's through the 62's, hands down I'd say the 59's, which replaced my Mizzy 68's in my bag for my last 2 months of '12.

Regardless of your decision, the best to ya and have a great season!!

Fairways & Geens My Friend,
Richard

[ScooterMcTavish]

Had a few sessions with the goosenecks, and have to say it is somewhat encouraging. Nice shape and size to the faces, sweet spot more in the centre of the face, and a nice swingweight I'd peg somewhere between D1-2.

Looking forward to playing a round with them.

[stevemcgee99]

[quote name='Forged4ever' timestamp='1434593877' post='11773406']
Regarding the later models, from the 51's through the 62's, hands down I'd say the 59's, which replaced my Mizzy 68's in my bag for my last 2 months of '12.
[/quote]
I love my 1956 set. And have tried the turfrider (63) at the range, but need to lower the lie some more. Great clubs.

[fg53]

HI. I am a first time poster here. Although I have followed Golf WRX for many years. As one can tell by my name here FG53 im Wilson fan. Even though I have the 53 in my name the FG 17s are my favorite by far. I just recently picked up my 4th set of irons. Every time I try to "modernize" with newer irons I cant hit them for the life of me. I have played Mizuno 14 33 37 68s, a few Titleist offerings and even have a set of Tourstage X blades. These early 80s staffs just seem more accurate for me. Ive even added the 1 iron to my bag. For some reason I can not hit a hybrid consistently. Im glad im not the only vintage forged enthusiast around. I have considered purchasing a set of Miura baby blades [apparently for ego purposes] but I explain to myself how ridiculous that would be since I play so well with the 17's. Im a 14 handicap at the moment and I really don't buy into the notion that forged blades are for low handicappers...........just my 2 cents.


Thanks

John

[TimV]

[quote name='fg53' timestamp='1435403550' post='11843674']
Im glad im not the only vintage forged enthusiast around. I have considered purchasing a set of Miura baby blades [apparently for ego purposes] but I explain to myself how ridiculous that would be since I play so well with the 17's. Im a 14 handicap at the moment and I really don't buy into the notion that forged blades are for low handicappers...........just my 2 cents.
Thanks
John
[/quote]

Hi John,
No you are not the only vintage forged blade enthusiast here by a long shot.
Vintage forged blades are for anyone who enjoys them. As long as they aren't a struggle why not have fun. After I broke my back (multiple stress fractures of the L3) I quit keeping score when I was finally able to return to golf. I have finally gotten back to where I know I'm shooting upper 80's low 90's consistently. I still have no interest in keeping score though. I do know, as far as score goes, that I hit my vintage blades as well as I hit my "modern set." In fact, I just decided a couple days ago to put my modern set away for the summer until the return of the "Snow Flakes" (some call them Snow Birds ) to South Florida. Save the ego purchase and instead buy a couple, a few?, other vintage sets to try out. It's more fun and I honestly don't believe those high dollar blades have anything on the good old stuff. I am playing... 73 Wilson Staffs, 77 Haigs/Walter Hagens, and 65 MacGregor Sets and having a blast.
Regardless of what you do in the purchase department we hope to see some regular contributions here!

[oldschoolrocker]

Welcome John,
Can't go wrong with the fg17.

[fg53]

Thank you guys for the welcome. I was an ebay retailer so I have accumulated many sets over time. I attempted to turn my obsession into a business. My Wilson sets are ..........a couple of sets of 76-77 staffs...several sets of fg17s.........one set of 51's [beautiful irons but I cant hit them go figure and not my first set of them] ........the late 70s tour blade.... a sweet set of Powerbilt Scotch Blades. A set of Apex PCs........hmm and some more modern Mizzies 14 and 37s .. Im glad im single so no wife to throw them all in the yard [true story happened once] clubs stayed wife didn't.

[oldschoolrocker]

I loved the 51's. Wish I still had mine.

[stevemcgee99]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Wilson-Staff-Irons-Blades-1-Iron-PW-SW-1976-77-11-Clubs/381289053982?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D32222%26meid%3D39cd3e8f81654686981ca8e6b464a360%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D131390153362&rt=nc

Catch them all!

[lumberhack]

I can't answer "which are least punishing", but I can say this: I own & play Wilson Staff Tour Blade Fluid Feels ('84-'86 vintage), and they are the sweetest swinging irons I've ever hit. Off center hits are just punishing enough to let me I know I need to swing better. I grew up playing a mixed set of Sam Snead & Billy Caspers, and these are waaay less penal than those.

Disclosure: My other irons are Ping Eye 2 clones from 1994 and a Ping i3+ set from ~2003. Also, I'm 50, weak, and suck at golf. If I can enjoy these blades anyone can.

[oldschoolrocker]

50, weak and suck at golf. You are one of the youngsters around here. We have no dues, or fees, just banded together in our zest for Classic golf. Btw, I am 61, not as strong as I once was and suck occasionlly myself.

[Fellaheen51]

Do not despair LH, we all suck at golf. It's just a matter of degrees of suckiness on any given day, or hole or swing. Example: Yesterday, last hole, 495 yd. par 5. D, 4w, 7i to 25 feet, and made the putt. Birdie. Glory! Prior hole, 145 yd. par 3. Ponded, Shanked, Skulled and three putted my way to a 7. Agony. Max suckiness. I hate golf! The game of golf just is, often for no apparent reason. For me at least, the pursuit of playing better is to reduce the number of "I suck" moments.

As to the topic at hand, really wanted to like a couple of Wilson sets that I've acquired ('64 and '74 Staffs, and a partial set of FG-17's). A very small sample size I know. However, have not been able to hit any of them particularly well despite tweaking them to my specs. Wish I could have found some "magic" in them. Maybe there is a set of Wilson irons that I would have some degree of confidence with. However, I have moved on to others clubs in my classic bag(s) mix. As always, YMMV.

[oldschoolrocker]

Spartan, one never knows when the right set will come along. The fun thing is we can aquire numerous ones for penny's on the dollar and not feel like we are breaking the bank.

[stevemcgee99]

I have Turfriders, which I hit only once at the range, and 56 Dynapowered Wilsons. I like them both, but the 56 set is just really great. Seems like the design was pretty much the same through 59, and very close through 61.

[John L.]

As I had mentioned in another post, the Wilson X-31 model irons were very underrated, and very affordable back then.

 

 

[TimV]

I have a set of 60's and a set of 73/75's. Both work...

as long as my swing does.

[golfmj228]

Those X31 look sweet!

[Par-net-birdie]

Ditto on the x31's

 

[mike8212]

I believe I have the 84-86 fluid feels as well. These are my first set of Wilson irons and I think they are beautiful clubs. I'm really trying to make an effort to hit them well and consistent.

 

 

[HitaHouse]

I had a set of 68 Wilson Staffs with regular shafts and the original leather grips. Played great with them, good tournament scores, and sorry I got rid of them.

[Shallowface]

I had a set of 68 Wilson Staffs with regular shafts and the original leather grips. Played great with them, good tournament scores, and sorry I got rid of them.

 

The 84 Tour Blades pictured above were essentially a remake of the 67-68 Staffs, and I do believe they are among the easiest to hit of the Staff blades. I also had a nice set of the 67s that I got rid of back in the late 80s and I regret it to this day. Not that there aren't plenty available but most of them aren't in very good shape and those that are seem to be the ones with aluminum shafts, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but just not my first choice.

[oldschoolrocker]

The sad tales of woe. Getting rid of a good set of sticks. Had a set of late 80's remakes of the Fluid Feels that I played on and off for 10 years, then "stupid me!!! I jumped on the "I ain't got the real game for blades bandwagon." Thank Goodness that was just a phase I was going through, but I did get rid of the sticks sorry to say.

[birly-shirly]

Timely thread for me, as I have just recently finally succumbed to the lure of Fg17s. Only been at the range so far, but have been very impressed. More than anything though, these clubs just look to me more or less exactly how I think a classic blade should look.

Whether they're the easiest to hit might be another story. I'm waiting for the matching 2 and 5 irons to arrive to round out the set of Fg17s, so I went to the range today with a 2 iron from a set of '89 Fluid Feels. Same length and shaft as the 17s, but my suspicion is that the Fluid Feels are probably the easier club to hit. On the other hand, I think the Fg17s could be more useful around the greens - short irons and wedges look great.

[Shallowface]

This past weekend i saw a couple of loose 78-80 Staff Tour Blades, the predecessor to the FG-17. It had been awhile since I had seen any in person.

 

They had plenty of Soul, but virtually no sole! Man, they are thin.

 

Today I want a little more sole width and bounce for the conditions in which I play, but I played FG-17s for years in the days when things weren't so mushy. A beautiful and solid set of irons.

 

And yeah, they're gone too. When I took a ride on that same bandwagon as OSR, the Staffs got sold to help finance a set of the original Titleist DCI golds. Which I still have, and is the last brand new set of irons I ever bought. And they were great from the six iron through the wedge (the longer irons are hugely offset), but they haven't been in the bag for years. But, I made two of the three aces I've made with them (and haven't made one since 1992), so they have a permanent home.

[NRJyzr]

Sole appears to be the biggest difference between the 78 Staffs and the FG17s, the latter are slightly wider. Going from memory, that is. ;)

[sbboudreau]

I had a full set of X31's, D, 3, 4, 5 woods with matching 3-PW *MINT*(I sold these 2 years ago for $125) My very first full set of clubs found at a yard sale back in 92, including a original PING PAL, a Peter McEwan Hickory shaft Rustless Putter(I still have it) 5 Ben Hogan Irons(still have them) some generic no name putter a couple of other woods a Bag and pull cart all for $15.00, yes fifteen dollars. The wife was selling all his clubs (deceased husband). I played these for a full year and did enjoy them and miss them in a way. All my friends loved the retroness of them, I think they were from either the late 70's or 80's. Looking at the back of the head they had the X-31 in red inside a crown shape in gold near the toe. I can't find my pictures.

[wannabepar]

I picked up a set of FG-17's today for the tidy sum of $1.07, including the sales tax. That's right, a little over $1 for 2-PW and the heads look virtually unhit. The shafts had a few dots of surface rust on them and are probably too much for me being stiff, but the Golf Pride tour wraps cleaned up to be almost as new. I couldn't pass up such a beautiful set of irons for that price, even if I'll never be able to hit them. I've been reading everything I can about them and am pleased to find that they held in such high esteem. Wish I could find out more about my other set of Wilson irons. I also have a set, 3-SW, of the Turfriders from 1986-87 that looks like a full set of hybrids. I can't find ANY information about them ANYWHERE.