No new acquistions...?

[RobotDoctor]

9 minutes ago, dnewma04 said:

Cleveland Classics Tour Action TA588, never been hit. 
 

 

That was the first persimmon driver model I ever gamed.  Terrific 1980s driver!

[dnewma04]

Not quite the vintage classics that some are but the last of a long line of great irons from one of the great names in golf.  MacGregor MT Pro-M

 

 

[dnewma04]

12 hours ago, No_Catchy_Nickname said:

 

 

Very nice. I mean to get some Titleist persimmons one day to match my original Tour Model irons that I played with as a Junior. The condition of those is remarkable.

 

Also, I love that ferrule on the Dick Coffey stamped wedge (I assume it's a wedge). #ferrulefetish

It’s a TP63 VIP wedge I gave to Bobby Grace for a future trade but USPS delivered an empty box nearly torn in 2.

 

I believe the Titleists are NOS.  There isn’t a mark on them.

Edited August 26, 2021 by dnewma04

[dnewma04]

12 hours ago, RobotDoctor said:

That was the first persimmon driver model I ever gamed.  Terrific 1980s driver!

Glad to hear some positive feedback.  Other models seem to have a lot more posts than the 588.

[dnewma04]

I had been looking for some 1025M v-foils for a couple of years and finally tracked down a decent set and since added a 3i.  Probably my fav bladed irons I’ve ever played.

[dnewma04]

MacGregor JN Muirfields we’re another set I had been wanting to find.  1/3/5 woods in very nice shape came up days later in July.

 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2021 by dnewma04

[Swingingk]

Wow - great week for this thread.  I'm lovin' it.  Keep it coming lads!  

[thepunch_out]

Looking for a bit of help finding info on this set of irons. The listing I bought them from mentioned he thought they were a Japanese issue set of Hogans, but wasn't positive. I've had them for probably a year now and haven't been able to source any more info.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

4 hours ago, thepunch_out said:

Looking for a bit of help finding info on this set of irons. The listing I bought them from mentioned he thought they were a Japanese issue set of Hogans, but wasn't positive. I've had them for probably a year now and haven't been able to source any more info.

They've come up here before, and I've seen irons like that come up for auction here in Japan. One member here said they were from the time when Hogan were owned by a Japanese company (late Nienties to early 00s??). Seems right to me. Perhaps they were a Japan-only release?

 

More to the point, how do they play?

[dnewma04]

Those Hogans look fantastic.  I’d use those in a heartbeat.

[Brewski_golfs]

On 8/26/2021 at 10:10 AM, dnewma04 said:

Not quite the vintage classics that some are but the last of a long line of great irons from one of the great names in golf.  MacGregor MT Pro-M

 

 

Have a set of Macgregor Forged MT Pro-C that i picked up NOS off ebay a few years ago, very solid irons.  Its a shame they didn't sell better when they were first introduced, but Macgregor was already too far gone to save at that point.

[thepunch_out]

7 hours ago, No_Catchy_Nickname said:

They've come up here before, and I've seen irons like that come up for auction here in Japan. One member here said they were from the time when Hogan were owned by a Japanese company (late Nienties to early 00s??). Seems right to me. Perhaps they were a Japan-only release?

 

More to the point, how do they play?

Really great playing set of irons and a very soft feel, as nice as any set of Hogan's I've played. The shafts are 1/2" short though from standard. Were Japanese manufacturers still pinning shafts that recently, I thought that was a practice that died out much earlier when epoxies improved? 

[raggal62]

25 minutes ago, thepunch_out said:

Really great playing set of irons and a very soft feel, as nice as any set of Hogan's I've played. The shafts are 1/2" short though from standard. Were Japanese manufacturers still pinning shafts that recently, I thought that was a practice that died out much earlier when epoxies improved? 

Hogan kept pinning irons for some time after other club companies stopped doing it. And perhaps the Japanese Hogans extended that even further.

[MrFlipper]

First set of Staffs I've ever  purchased arrived today. 67 or 68s, 2-pw. Other than that, purchased blind, but cheap.

 

Open the box, heads look good, R shafts, shaft steps line up (kinda rare these days), midsize GP full cords in good shape, I'm getting excited. Start measuring, uh oh. 3 iron 39.5", 6 iron 38", and so on. 3 iron is 459 grams, heaviest in my collection of maybe 25 sets. D7 to D9 swingweights. Like swinging a sledgehammer. So pretty but into the corner you go.

 

Dang. Buying old clubs, and wanting to play them, is such a crapshoot. Or I'm getting old and require only lightweight clubs. Nah that can't be it.

[Stephen8802]

Assuming they are original shafts, my guess is that if you pull those grips off, you will find a 1 " extension if they came out of the factory as a long set and a 1 1/2 inch extension if they came out standard. The '67 staff came either 38 1/2 or 39, which would make the 3 iron either 38 or 38 1/2.

 

Pull the grips, knock off an inch, and you will knock off about 6 swingweights. If you really want them that long, or if you cut them back an inch and they are still heavy, counterweight them and you can bring the swing weight down. If they have been re-shafted, you can still cut down the shafts if you want; my Bullet Backs have circa 2000 Dynamic Shafts cut back to the 39 inch standard. I had to counter weight them to get them down to D3, but they are perfect now.

 

As a child of the '80s, I play all my clubs at 39", which is factory long for 60s Staffs but standard for the clubs of my youth. My 67s are the the long version and I think they are about D3...I'll weigh them tomorrow and edit. Yours will play much better at D3...but not lighter...those clubs were meant to play a bit heavy.

 

 

 

Edited August 28, 2021 by Stephen8802

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

4 hours ago, thepunch_out said:

Really great playing set of irons and a very soft feel, as nice as any set of Hogan's I've played. The shafts are 1/2" short though from standard. Were Japanese manufacturers still pinning shafts that recently, I thought that was a practice that died out much earlier when epoxies improved? 

Surprised to hear they are pinned. As @raggal62 said, Hogan seemed to be pin their irons longer than other manufacturers, but Japanese manufacturers were not pinning clubs n the nineties.

 

There's also a pretty funky looking Apex III that I've seen come up for auction here.

[MrFlipper]

8 hours ago, Stephen8802 said:

Assuming they are original shafts, my guess is that if you pull those grips off, you will find a 1 " extension if they came out of the factory as a long set and a 1 1/2 inch extension if they came out standard. The '67 staff came either 38 1/2 or 39, which would make the 3 iron either 38 or 38 1/2.

 

Pull the grips, knock off an inch, and you will knock off about 6 swingweights. If you really want them that long, or if you cut them back an inch and they are still heavy, counterweight them and you can bring the swing weight down. If they have been re-shafted, you can still cut down the shafts if you want; my Bullet Backs have circa 2000 Dynamic Shafts cut back to the 39 inch standard. I had to counter weight them to get them down to D3, but they are perfect now.

 

As a child of the '80s, I play all my clubs at 39", which is factory long for 60s Staffs but standard for the clubs of my youth. My 67s are the the long version and I think they are about D3...I'll weigh them tomorrow and edit. Yours will play much better at D3...but not lighter...those clubs were meant to play a bit heavy.

 

 

 

 

I agree, I can choke up half an inch and get D3 ish (my normal length and swingweight as well) or choke up an inch and get D0 ish. Really like these grips, can't find them anymore, don't want to hurt them. 

 

Biggest issue for me is total weight. The sets I play most now are 415 ish grams for 39 inch 3 iron, and so on down. Shafts of apex3/apex4/gold plus weight range. Since I've started measuring my clubs I've even found that I have a hard time feeling the clubhead if the total weight is okay, but the shaft weight is higher (clubhead relatively lighter).

 

These are just so heavy total weight, even if I cut them down a half inch. Any thoughts on the total weight issue without a total rebuild? Don't want to do that---

 

Like you've mentioned, clubs back then were built heavy. Didn't used to bother me but the last year or two, the heavy weight really throws my swing off.

[Stephen8802]

I know my Bullet Backs are heavy because I can feel it and everyone who takes it from my hand says so right away, but I never weighed them until I read your comments. The 3 iron weighs in at 445 grams. My '67 3 iron, which is factory long but has a Mint grip on it (they run about 8 grams lighter than your cords), comes in at 422. If you could live with different grips and shorter clubs, you could get those down to a playing weight.

 

Heavy clubs smooth out my swing, so I like the '69s. I have 20 sets of Staffs and like them all, although I do swing some better than others. Those '67s are nice sticks, I hope you find a way to come to an agreement with them.

[8802]

On 5/1/2021 at 11:15 AM, cold_war_era_golfer said:

I have these listed for sale as to I’m not enjoying the way they look at address as compared to my 60s m tourneys.  But I bought them from a lady who said they belonged to her WW2 vet grandfather which I thought was very cool.  1958 only issues are they are missing the butt caps on the grips.

Are these still for sale?

[cold_war_era_golfer]

17 hours ago, 8802 said:

Are these still for sale?

Sorry they sold.

[hammergolf]

On 8/25/2021 at 8:58 PM, RobotDoctor said:

That was the first persimmon driver model I ever gamed.  Terrific 1980s driver!

I played a TC15 during college. Wish I still had it. Was the best looking head grain I’d ever seen.

[RobotDoctor]

15 minutes ago, hammergolf said:

I played a TC15 during college. Wish I still had it. Was the best looking head grain I’d ever seen.

A lot of Cleveland woods had tremendous grain.  Definitely some of the best persimmon blocks available in the 80s and early 90s.  Not as good as the persimmon blocks from the late 50s and earlier years but pretty good.  
 

I gamed a DG43 that had some work done on it (loft reduced to 9 degrees, old stock MacGregor R/W/R fiber insert installed, TT DG X100 shaft installed) and used that until I found a 1954 MacGregor Toney Penna TP Special driver in 1992.  That Cleveland Classic DG43 was LONG!!!  I still have it as part of my collection.  

Edited August 29, 2021 by RobotDoctor

[hammergolf]

55 minutes ago, RobotDoctor said:

A lot of Cleveland woods had tremendous grain.  Definitely some of the best persimmon blocks available in the 80s and early 90s.  Not as good as the persimmon blocks from the late 50s and earlier years but pretty good.  
 

I gamed a DG43 that had some work done on it (loft reduced to 9 degrees, old stock MacGregor R/W/R fiber insert installed, TT DG X100 shaft installed) and used that until I found a 1954 MacGregor Toney Penna TP Special driver in 1992.  That Cleveland Classic DG43 was LONG!!!  I still have it as part of my collection.  

Yes, I had an X100 in my TC15 and it was soooo good. Just loved the firing pin and red/black fiber insert. Wish I would have never sold it, but when I graduated from college in ‘91 I traded it in on a Big Bertha. Another silly mistake of a 20 yr old kid….

Edited August 29, 2021 by hammergolf

[Ping_Enthusiast]

Just found this at a thrift shop, thought it looked cool so I bought it!

 

 

 

Edited August 30, 2021 by Ping_Enthusiast
Text change

[Tumbleweed_1968]

3 hours ago, Ping_Enthusiast said:

Just found this at a thrift shop, thought it looked cool so I bought it!

That IS 😎! Nice find. 

[Jiggered]

Nice ferrule.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

1 hour ago, Jiggered said:

Nice ferrule.

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What this gentleman just said😍

[BIG STU]

On 8/26/2021 at 10:10 AM, dnewma04 said:

Not quite the vintage classics that some are but the last of a long line of great irons from one of the great names in golf.  MacGregor MT Pro-M

 

 

IMHO those were the last of the great Macgregor irons

[BIG STU]

14 hours ago, Ping_Enthusiast said:

Just found this at a thrift shop, thought it looked cool so I bought it!

 

 

 

Oh yeah!! Right up my alley rusty and beat to crap--- I have an Ironmaster done like that-- A friend of mine runs a golf shop and he buys clubs in bulk--- This was in one of the bundles and one of his employees was going to scrap it and he told them to save it for me. Looking at yours I see it is a Slazenger and it has a longer thicker back flange like a Wilson 600 Special.

[dnewma04]

On 8/31/2021 at 7:14 AM, BIG STU said:

IMHO those were the last of the great Macgregor irons

Agree, completely.  Got them out yesterday and they feel as good as any irons I've ever played.   These things are gems and look spectacular.  I think I may need to fit them with some of those fancy ferrules from BB&F. 😄  They had a "boba fett" model in their star wars collection that is appealing to my nerdery.