No new acquistions...?

[Blade Junkie]

[quote name='freddiec' timestamp='1449717433' post='12701652']
BJ, what are you going to do with those? Don't tell me your gonna go hit them. LOL.

[/quote]

I only got the 1-iron lol ... and I shall definitely play it (just not for a while as it is Stateside!)

You could fill a whole bag with VAS Irons without having any woods ... 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,P,D,S,L ... 13 irons plus your putter ...

If I like it then I might just look for the rest of them ... would be a good set to play on April Fool's Day or some such other nonsense ...



Good spot on the Pavin video. Some shot that 4-wood ...

[rex235]

Regarding the VAS irons-

In the TV Promotional for these irons, you see Roger Cleveland behind a design desk, actually stating the VAS iron design was so that any golfer could have [b]"MORE FUN!"[/b]

The Cleveland VAS reminded me of those Lil David Slinger irons, designed a generation earlier by Jim Flood, and were played by Lee Elder at the 1975 Masters.

Strange indeed...

This Toney Penna design of the 60 degree wedge #12

These are cast S/S, not forged, and the #12 designation rather than call it Lob Wedge, like PING

The PW was #10, and the 55-56 degree SW was #11, so....

[jonnygrouville]

Smith's anti-shank irons?

[Shallowface]

[quote name='Texsport' timestamp='1449721994' post='12701930']
Damn! Cory was even better than I thought! Also didn't remember that VAS were Cleveland irons - I thought Cleveland but didn't have the VAS connection.

I know he didn't win much after the Open - once or twice, and the VAS irons were blamed by golf fans for the fall off.

Texsport
[/quote]

There was a tour version of the VAS (792T) which was a little less funky than the 792.

Here's an example.

[url="http://www.ebay.com/itm/CLEVELAND-VAS-792T-3-IRON-GRAPHITE-REGULAR-FLEX-97761-/351468515377?hash=item51d527f031:g:UtgAAOSw9N1V1hhf"]http://www.ebay.com/...tgAAOSw9N1V1hhf[/url]

I have a book called "Corey Pavin's Shotmaking" that has a lot of pictures and this appears to be the model he used.

Regarding his drop off after winning the Open, he signed with a Japanese company called PRGR and that was when his game began to decline. There have been so many examples through the years of guys chasing endorsement money and losing their games in the process. But it's hard to blame them.

I've never played a full set of the VAS, but I have a couple of loose irons sitting around here. As you can see from the picture above, it has a really straight leading edge and is one of the easiest clubs to align I have ever tried. I used the lob wedge for a time a number of years ago. The hosel design seemed to allow the club to cut through rough a little better than some wedges, but I never could get used to that hosel sticking into the face. The second version of the VAS didn't have the hosel sticking into the face and looked a little better.

And as it turns out it wasn't a new design. Northwestern made a forged iron in the 1960s called the Slipstream that had the hosel sticking into the face in the same manner. I saw one in a thrift the other day. I should have bought it for my collection of oddities.

[Texsport]

Great post-Thanks!

Texsport

[scomac2002]

[quote name='Blade Junkie' timestamp='1449692055' post='12699926']
I have a new $12 acquisition that goes all the way down to '1' .

It's analagous to a band with zero style or taste for sure ... I can't wait to hit it

[attachment=3060218:The Fugly Stick .jpg]


How on earth did Pavin ever win a US Open with a set of these. I mean ... it's not as if you can play something like this, but it's actually just a bit of branding covering up your Mizuno forged blank or something like that is it ?

No other golf company on the planet would have been making garbage like these at the time apart from Rossignol Cleveland. Pavin definitely WAS playing the Cleveland VAS lol
[/quote]

I don't know what it is about these, but ever since you posted about your acquisition Junkie, I can't get these out of my head! They are so odd and funky that they are almost begging me to buy a set! The tour and + versions don't have the same appeal as Cleveland tried to normalize their appearance. If I could find a set in good condition for under $100 I think I'd have to own them!

[Davewn]

[quote name='scomac2002' timestamp='1449863941' post='12708424']
[quote name='Blade Junkie' timestamp='1449692055' post='12699926']
I have a new $12 acquisition that goes all the way down to '1' .

It's analagous to a band with zero style or taste for sure ... I can't wait to hit it

[attachment=3060218:The Fugly Stick .jpg]




How on earth did Pavin ever win a US Open with a set of these. I mean ... it's not as if you can play something like this, but it's actually just a bit of branding covering up your Mizuno forged blank or something like that is it ?

No other golf company on the planet would have been making garbage like these at the time apart from Rossignol Cleveland. Pavin definitely WAS playing the Cleveland VAS lol
[/quote]

I don't know what it is about these, but ever since you posted about your acquisition Junkie, I can't get these out of my head! They are so odd and funky that they are almost begging me to buy a set! The tour and + versions don't have the same appeal as Cleveland tried to normalize their appearance. If I could find a set in good condition for under $100 I think I'd have to own them!
[/quote]

I was in the retail golf business at the time the VAS were introduced. While I never hit them outside, I always thought they hit extremely solidly when I tried them indoors into a net. Like most, I couldn't and didn't want to get past the funky appearance. The VAS was one of the few 3-pw proline demo sets provided by the manufacturer so they actually sold fairly well for us. I mean, how much uglier were they than a set of Zings or OG Big Bertha irons, really? Ah the '90's...

Interesting tidbit (I hope): VAS is an acronym for Vibration Absorption System, hence the shock wave on the decal. The VAS purple decal was the first of the shock absorbing stickers we see on most GI and SGI designs today.

[roundersmitty]

Using the "it's not the arrow, it's the Indian" analogy regarding the VAS irons....you are hunting with a bent arrow with no quiver.

[Blade Junkie]

[quote name='scomac2002' timestamp='1449863941' post='12708424']
I don't know what it is about these, but ever since you posted about your acquisition Junkie, I can't get these out of my head! They are so odd and funky that they are almost begging me to buy a set! The tour and + versions don't have the same appeal as Cleveland tried to normalize their appearance. If I could find a set in good condition for under $100 I think I'd have to own them!
[/quote]


I think all discerning classic golfers should own a set and meet up once a year for a VAS society day



There was actually a keenly priced set on eBay yesterday (3-9 irons) for $34 ... own up .. who bought those LOL. For some reason the buyer did not also buy the PW offered by the same seller on a separate listing !

[BIG STU]

[quote name='roundersmitty' timestamp='1449865855' post='12708538']
Using the "it's not the arrow, it's the Indian" analogy regarding the VAS irons....you are hunting with a bent arrow with no quiver.
[/quote]May I add? "an UGLY bent arrow with no quiver"

[jonnygrouville]

[quote name='Blade Junkie' timestamp='1449866461' post='12708578']
For some reason the buyer did not also buy the PW offered by the same seller on a separate listing !
[/quote]

Who'd want that ugly thing?

[BIG STU]

[quote name='Shallowface' timestamp='1449799873' post='12705662']
[quote name='Texsport' timestamp='1449721994' post='12701930']
Damn! Cory was even better than I thought! Also didn't remember that VAS were Cleveland irons - I thought Cleveland but didn't have the VAS connection.

I know he didn't win much after the Open - once or twice, and the VAS irons were blamed by golf fans for the fall off.

Texsport
[/quote]

There was a tour version of the VAS (792T) which was a little less funky than the 792.

Here's an example.

[url="http://www.ebay.com/itm/CLEVELAND-VAS-792T-3-IRON-GRAPHITE-REGULAR-FLEX-97761-/351468515377?hash=item51d527f031:g:UtgAAOSw9N1V1hhf"]http://www.ebay.com/...tgAAOSw9N1V1hhf[/url]

I have a book called "Corey Pavin's Shotmaking" that has a lot of pictures and this appears to be the model he used.

Regarding his drop off after winning the Open, he signed with a Japanese company called PRGR and that was when his game began to decline. There have been so many examples through the years of guys chasing endorsement money and losing their games in the process. But it's hard to blame them.

I've never played a full set of the VAS, but I have a couple of loose irons sitting around here. As you can see from the picture above, it has a really straight leading edge and is one of the easiest clubs to align I have ever tried. I used the lob wedge for a time a number of years ago. The hosel design seemed to allow the club to cut through rough a little better than some wedges, but I never could get used to that hosel sticking into the face. The second version of the VAS didn't have the hosel sticking into the face and looked a little better.

And as it turns out it wasn't a new design. Northwestern made a forged iron in the 1960s called the Slipstream that had the hosel sticking into the face in the same manner. I saw one in a thrift the other day. I should have bought it for my collection of oddities.
[/quote]PRGR now that is a name I have not seen in a while. My late friend Big John had a connection in California that we could get those heads from in fact I still have a 24* hybrid head he built for me 2 weeks before he passed. In fact we put a few together and sold them. The idiots at E-bay thought they were some kind of Ping counterfits and stopped a couple of those ads until he got with them and explained what was up. Not too many people know about PRGR outside of some of the Asian Tours and JDM fans

[Shallowface]

[quote name='Davewn' timestamp='1449865772' post='12708534']
[quote name='scomac2002' timestamp='1449863941' post='12708424']
[quote name='Blade Junkie' timestamp='1449692055' post='12699926']
I have a new $12 acquisition that goes all the way down to '1' .

It's analagous to a band with zero style or taste for sure ... I can't wait to hit it

[attachment=3060218:The Fugly Stick .jpg]




How on earth did Pavin ever win a US Open with a set of these. I mean ... it's not as if you can play something like this, but it's actually just a bit of branding covering up your Mizuno forged blank or something like that is it ?

No other golf company on the planet would have been making garbage like these at the time apart from Rossignol Cleveland. Pavin definitely WAS playing the Cleveland VAS lol
[/quote]

I don't know what it is about these, but ever since you posted about your acquisition Junkie, I can't get these out of my head! They are so odd and funky that they are almost begging me to buy a set! The tour and + versions don't have the same appeal as Cleveland tried to normalize their appearance. If I could find a set in good condition for under $100 I think I'd have to own them!
[/quote]

I was in the retail golf business at the time the VAS were introduced. While I never hit them outside, I always thought they hit extremely solidly when I tried them indoors into a net. Like most, I couldn't and didn't want to get past the funky appearance. The VAS was one of the few 3-pw proline demo sets provided by the manufacturer so they actually sold fairly well for us. I mean, how much uglier were they than a set of Zings or OG Big Bertha irons, really? Ah the '90's...

Interesting tidbit (I hope): VAS is an acronym for Vibration Absorption System, hence the shock wave on the decal. [b]The VAS purple decal was the first of the shock absorbing stickers we see on most GI and SGI designs today.[/b]
[/quote]

I believe Callaway had to pay Cleveland a licensing fee to be able to use the sticker they used on the first Big Bertha irons.

It didn't help much. I thought those first Big Bertha irons (and the woods for that matter) felt awful.

[Shallowface]

[quote name='guisician' timestamp='1449713585' post='12701346']
[quote name='JMSDKS' timestamp='1449694030' post='12700066']
I had a set of those!
[/quote]

Me too. Maybe a support group is in order!

But the purple is nice & shiny...
[/quote]

This thread caused me to hunt down the five iron I've got in the basement. It's got the stock graphite shaft and it's purple too!

For years I putted with a VAS Model 8 mallet putter. It's got that same sticker that's on the back of the irons right on top of the head. I was using the old Bernhard Langer forearm clamp grip at the time which caused me to lean the shaft forward at address, and this putter was designed with five degrees of loft so the combo worked pretty well. Of course like everything else it stopped working and I had to find another way. That putter is actually nice and soft. I have three of them!

[BIG STU]

[quote name='Shallowface' timestamp='1449888122' post='12709898']
[quote name='guisician' timestamp='1449713585' post='12701346']
[quote name='JMSDKS' timestamp='1449694030' post='12700066']
I had a set of those!
[/quote]

Me too. Maybe a support group is in order!

But the purple is nice & shiny...
[/quote]

This thread caused me to hunt down the five iron I've got in the basement. It's got the stock graphite shaft and it's purple too!

For years I putted with a VAS Model 8 mallet putter. It's got that same sticker that's on the back of the irons right on top of the head. I was using the old Bernhard Langer forearm clamp grip at the time which caused me to lean the shaft forward at address, and this putter was designed with five degrees of loft so the combo worked pretty well. Of course like everything else it stopped working and I had to find another way. That putter is actually nice and soft. I have three of them!
[/quote]Veeeerrry Interesting! As much as I have been around I have never seen a VAS putter period. But that does not surprise me in the least I learn something every time I fire this thing up and go in this section with you folks. If it is not a bunch of trouble could you post a pic?

[Shallowface]

[attachment=3063508:VASPutter01.jpg]

[Shallowface]

[attachment=3063510:VASFun01.jpg][attachment=3063512:VASFun02.jpg][attachment=3063514:VASFun03.jpg][attachment=3063516:VASFun04.jpg]

[scomac2002]

Well, that explains everything; they're French!

[attachment=3063530:Dyane.jpg]

[Blade Junkie]

BYRON NELSON PLAYED VAS IRONS ????


This thread just keeps on giving !

[freddiec]

for the record I love all this VAS talk. I think it be very cool to have a set and have fun with them. Talk about a retro Retro round!

[BIG STU]

Thanks for posting that Shallowface. Like I said I have never seen a VAS putter and learned something else again in the Fact Jane Blalock made every cut in every tournament she played in very impressive to say the least

[Shallowface]

[quote name='Blade Junkie' timestamp='1449933182' post='12711148']
BYRON NELSON PLAYED VAS IRONS ????


This thread just keeps on giving !
[/quote]

I thought there were those who would enjoy that.

Although I was afraid others might be horrified to the point of needing therapy.

[Shallowface]

[quote name='freddiec' timestamp='1449934279' post='12711180']
for the record I love all this VAS talk. I think it be very cool to have a set and have fun with them. Talk about a retro Retro round!
[/quote]

I just know I'm going to run across a set of these at Goodwill one of these days.

[jonnygrouville]

Bryon Nelson. Strewth. I'd heard they went to test these on Iron Bryon, but the machine refused to hit them. Crashed his own hard-drive out of protest. And only had two days to retirement. Had to find him a new job testing emissions of Volkswagens.

If one of these abominations ever crosses my path, I am going straight to a driving range to spend the rest of the day trying to shank one. Once I have mopped up the vomit. And tears.

Honestly though, there are wackier things out there with hickory shafts sticking out of them.

[Kathy Marie]

Ohhhh, LORDIE, Jonny--just about fell out of my chair!!

Hmmmm......

<digdigdig>

Here you go! Along the lines of your idea (which I'm still giggling about!)


[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft2fLuz9mF0"]https://www.youtube....h?v=Ft2fLuz9mF0[/url]






Kathy Marie

[scomac2002]

Well played KM!

[Kirasdad]

Several years ago, maybe 5, 6 years, I was in the Roger Dunn down by the university. This is a superstore with indoor range, trackman, all the gizmos. They also have tons of stuff for sale, new, demos, used. They have an aisle that is devoted to older stuff that they have taken in trade that is heavily marked down. Most of the iron sets are less than 100 bucks. I usually stroll over there to see what they have. Well, this particular time they had a pristeen set of purple VAS irons for 39 dollars 3-pw. Almost certainly the cheapest thing in the store. . This is before I stopped buying clubs so I grabbed the 5 iron and found an empty station at the indoor hitting facility. Proceeded to nail (according to the computer) 5 or 6 in a row. Tried several other irons in the set. Same thing. Couldn't miss (with a perfect lie off a mat) any club in the set. I thought...39 bucks...for a set of irons that I WOULD NEVER MISS A SHOT USING!

I gathered them up and walked to checkout. Several people in front of me. Had to wait a bit. And then...I looked at these purple clubs...and...Just. Couldn't. Do. It.

Sad.

I would be on the Senior Tour now making scads of money using those godforsaken irons because I would never hit a bad one using them. NEVER.

[Texsport]

Yes, we all know the feeling - make everything you strike in the store with a new shiny putter - buy it immediately - discover it doesn't perform similarly on real grass!

My policy now is to keep putting until I start missing, and then put the test putter down. If, per chance , I keep making them. I talk myself into putting it down and coming back in a day or two.

That generally is sufficient time for the feelings of overwhelming admiration to fade.

I wish I had learned this earlier - I wouldn't have a whole room full of putters now!

Texsport

[Blade Junkie]

[quote name='Texsport' timestamp='1450085436' post='12717700']

I wish I had learned this earlier - I wouldn't have a whole room full of putters now!

Texsport
[/quote]

I beg to disagree

[Texsport]

[quote name='Blade Junkie' timestamp='1450087642' post='12717734']
[quote name='Texsport' timestamp='1450085436' post='12717700']
I wish I had learned this earlier - I wouldn't have a whole room full of putters now!

Texsport
[/quote]

I beg to disagree
[/quote]

Well---O. K. I lied!

I just bought 2 this weekend - but they were vintage at least!

Texsport