No new acquistions...?

[bcstones]

oh, yeah...the flanged putters I have no real interest in (including the MacGregor VIP Jack Nicklaus putter mentioned the that posting above)....the others, I pulled out - MacGregor Jack Nicklaus Muirfield, Walter Hagen gentle ben by Crenshaw, Wilson Original 600 forged GeoLow shaft putters. All w/fluted shafts & practically pristine leather grips (oops, the VIP putter has a new Golf Pride Pro Only grip on it)

Edited May 3 by bcstones

[Hockeysam66]

6 hours ago, bcstones said:

Found these MacGregor VIP Jack Nicklaus irons w/MacGregor Microstep shafts 2 medium & putter w/fluted straight shaft. All grips are Golf Pride, non-original.  I can't find anything in Kaplan's except that the Microstep shaft was exclusive to the VIP lineup....and nothing in Kaplan's addresses the cast club heads (I think they are stainless). They are 2,4,6,8,10 irons....interestingly not the usual 3,5,7,9,PW (if a 10 iron is the equilevant to a PW).
The putter was included....and yes, it is a flanged putter.

 

So any ideas of year(s) made?

 

Thanks for reading this far

 

 

 

 

 

Based on this description from the Golfworks Golf Club ID and Price Guide, I’d say your Nicklaus VIP irons are the 1976 model.  Do the faces have the referenced semi-circular scoring pattern?

[bcstones]

1 hour ago, Hockeysam66 said:

Based on this description from the Golfworks Golf Club ID and Price Guide, I’d say your Nicklaus VIP irons are the 1976 model.  Do the faces have the referenced semi-circular scoring pattern?

I did see that......however - OH BUGGERS! I forgot to pic the faces...so here they are. The iron on top is the 10 iron, the others (2,4,6,8) are like the bottom. No "semi-circle"

[Hockeysam66]

Not an exact match then, but close.  Perhaps a slightly different version for European or British market? 

[bcstones]

4 hours ago, Hockeysam66 said:

Not an exact match then, but close.  Perhaps a slightly different version for European or British market? 

maybe....was wondering if any VIP set sold retail. 

[cold_war_era_golfer]

Not a persimmon, not the original grip, possibly a refinish, no shaft label indicating flex. Influenced by discussion in the Rounds with a Vintage Bag about laminates on wet days.  This just came in the mail.  

 

[DCCarpenter]

@cold_war_era_golfer nice looking laminate . Please follow up on how it plays , I have a similar vintage Wilson staff 4w that played great.
 

I somehow slightly bent the shaft and just can’t get it feeling right again …. might just be in my head now. 

[Maine Golfer]

In a free bin at my course. Lotta hickory but I went with this one because its graphite shafted now. On paper I should be able to have the lie up right?  its about 36.5 which is workable for my long legs

 

 

[bcstones]

1 hour ago, Maine Golfer said:

In a free bin at my course. Lotta hickory but I went with this one because its graphite shafted now. On paper I should be able to have the lie up right?  its about 36.5 which is workable for my long legs

would you show a picture of the hosel/ferrule/graphite shaft juncture....it sounds interesting to go from hickory shaft to graphite shaft

[Maine Golfer]

34 minutes ago, bcstones said:

would you show a picture of the hosel/ferrule/graphite shaft juncture....it sounds interesting to go from hickory shaft to graphite shaft

 

[bcstones]

14 minutes ago, Maine Golfer said:

 

now I'm a bit confused....you posted "...Lotta hickory but I went with this one because its graphite shafted now..." I guess I misunderstood, I thought this was originally a hickory shaft that had been adapted to a modern shaft. I guess not 🫤

[Maine Golfer]

47 minutes ago, bcstones said:

now I'm a bit confused....you posted "...Lotta hickory but I went with this one because its graphite shafted now..." I guess I misunderstood, I thought this was originally a hickory shaft that had been adapted to a modern shaft. I guess not 🫤

Well it was mixed in with them in a free bin. I take it you are suggesting this is like a 30s club that was steel shafted OG? 

 

 

[bcstones]

2 hours ago, Maine Golfer said:

Well it was mixed in with them in a free bin. I take it you are suggesting this is like a 30s club that was steel shafted OG? 

 

 

Yeah...something like that....that putter I listed might be similar to what I "suggested", so I was hoping to see something....as it stands, tho, you have a good looking quite usable spade mashie.

never seen a "free bin"...

[Maine Golfer]

1 hour ago, bcstones said:

Yeah...something like that....that putter I listed might be similar to what I "suggested", so I was hoping to see something....as it stands, tho, you have a good looking quite usable spade mashie.

never seen a "free bin"...

it's at my public course the free bin. Im going back, I need a hickory now lol 

[ezgoer]

Made out like a bandit winning 4 of 5 auctions last week. Only bummer was narrowly missing out on a Cleveland Ben Crenshaw persimmon. Just picked these up this morning and took a few pictures.
 

Little bit of persimmon porn. 

Stole this 1966 H&B set for $23. They look brand new but great leather grips are kinda dirty. Regular flex shafts I believe. High quality refinish.?.

Cleveland Classic RC75 with DGS400 shaft. Felony theft paying $15.54!! Very faint brush marks on sole plate so it’s been swung a few times I think. I’m told by someone I trust this is dollar for dollar the best persimmon you can buy period. I was leaving the auction with this one almost no matter what and luckily for me nobody wanted it. 

Cleveland Classic RC945. Paid the most for this one and probably wanted it the most. Appears unhit, no shaft label and still has original Cleveland chord grip with a little tear in it. Stepped lower than S400 so maybe X100?? Only downside being the limited versions of these had the proper axe sole plate.

Cleveland Classic DG43. Has a TTDG Plus R300 shaft. Looks unhit to me. Paid about $100 total for the final 2 drivers.
 

Other than admiring Cleveland persimmons I never knew the whole story. For those that aren’t familiar these aren’t just tributes to 50’s MacGregor’s. They are exact duplicates minus the old persimmon and copy right stuff. When I get a little more time I’ll take more pictures and am gonna resurrect an old Cleveland Classic thread on here that is worth reading. 
 

I’m not exactly sure what I’m gonna do with these. Condition level I really haven’t had as of yet. For sure I can’t subject them to my current swing. Even though I got them for great prices especially considering condition they may end up costing me. May keep these pristine as long as possible and start collecting playing condition Cleveland’s now. 

Edited May 9 by ezgoer

[bcstones]

21 minutes ago, ezgoer said:

Little bit of persimmon porn. 

yes indeed...these are in the time frame of my first set of H&B's. If you're not sure what to do with them....pm me.

[Hickory4ever]

@ezgoer, these clubs were meant to be played, not displayed. They are not valuable in the monetary sense, only in the eyes of us vintage players. They belong in a bag and deserve to be played IMHO.

[AZBandit]

@ezgoer - I can understand wanting to keep those nice. They're beautiful clubs. But I have to agree with H4E on this one. Any damage you do would have happened eventually. And I'm sure there are pristine examples already locked away in someone's display case for posterity. Just enjoy playing them.

[ezgoer]

  Thank you Hickory4ever and AZBandit on your thoughts. I do understand and appreciate what you’re saying. Pretty sure I’ve given the same advice to others when this subject has come up in the past. This will be the first time I personally will be crossing this particular bridge.
  I recognize my hypocrisy in this and plead guilty to over romanticizing almost all persimmon. I know the realistic value of these isn’t super high.

  Right now I’m in love with the idea of having something I so covet and it appears to be brand new. Believe me I’d forever regret not ever hitting these. In my current state of confidence I’m just not in a rush. I do have plenty of others to help me get back on track and will enjoy these eventually. 

[Hickory4ever]

8 hours ago, ezgoer said:

  Thank you Hickory4ever and AZBandit on your thoughts. I do understand and appreciate what you’re saying. Pretty sure I’ve given the same advice to others when this subject has come up in the past. This will be the first time I personally will be crossing this particular bridge.
  I recognize my hypocrisy in this and plead guilty to over romanticizing almost all persimmon. I know the realistic value of these isn’t super high.

  Right now I’m in love with the idea of having something I so covet and it appears to be brand new. Believe me I’d forever regret not ever hitting these. In my current state of confidence I’m just not in a rush. I do have plenty of others to help me get back on track and will enjoy these eventually. 

I am very active in the Golf Historical Society of Canada and the organization was founded primarily by collectors and golf historians. There are two main camps, those that display and those that play their treasures. I think you know what camp I belong in.

 

The legendary clubs are for the most part coveted because they were great players. I could not imagine acquiring one without having the opportunity to put it in play. At our buy and sell events, I will not sell a good playable hickory or classic club to anyone that merely wants to display it on a wall, it just rubs me the wrong way.

 

Every one of our collectors have a modern set of clubs and never hesitated to play them at the first opportunity they could despite being orders of magnitude more expensive than their vintage stuff. 

 

A couple weeks ago, I made a trip to Fore Golfers Only, an iconic golf shop with clubs from old to modern. I always check out the classic area and came upon three mint condition Wilson Persimmons with regular shafts in them. The cost was $5 each. They were not priced wrong, Fore Golfers Only knows what they will sell for. There were a couple Hogans there but left them for someone else. 
 

Most of my classic stuff was either given to me or I get it for next to nothing and it is in good condition. When acquired, it goes into play at the first opportunity. Sorry for the rant.

 

 

[AZBandit]

Picked up this short set (2, 5, 7, putter) of Wright & Ditson "George Wright Autograph" clubs over the weekend. They appeal to my love of vintage golf AND vintage baseball. These must be some of the last irons manufactured with the "hickory" style heads. The shafts are chromed, so I don't think they were coated. I'll have to dig around for a year of manufacture.

Edited Tuesday at 06:00 AM by AZBandit
Adding pic

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

16 minutes ago, AZBandit said:

Picked up this short set (2, 5, 7, putter) of Wright & Ditson "George Wright Autograph" clubs over the weekend. They appeal to my love of vintage golf AND vintage baseball. These must be some of the last irons manufactured with the "hickory" style heads. The shafts are chromed, so I don't think they were coated. I'll have to dig around for a year of manufacture.

 

Now those are some crazily long ferrules! 

 

I wonder if they were put on to stop the chrome getting scraped off on the bag?

 

[AZBandit]

11 minutes ago, No_Catchy_Nickname said:

Now those are some crazily long ferrules! 

 

I wonder if they were put on to stop the chrome getting scraped off on the bag?

I wondered that too. They look like heat-shrink but they're a hard plastic of some sort. And yes, they seem a bit excessive 😄

[Jiggered]

Nice clubs, love the faces on those!

And my love of ferrules is also satisfied.

Blue rings on ferrules often indicate a ladies club and the "W" adds further weight to that.