1967 Wilson Staff X31 Irons

[DaveGoodrich]

I picked up a 2-SW set of these irons at a pawnshop the other day for $40. Nice condition; a little bag chatter...no significant browning...dried and cracked original grips. They have the Power Groove regular shafts. They have a pretty big sole flange, especially in the short irons. This is the model I am talking about.

 

 

Anybody know anything about these?

[BIG STU]

I am not a Wilson guru but I think they are around the 1966 to 1968 era. I do remember my Dad sold quite a few of those sets In his shop around that time. The X-31s were more popular with his customers than the Staffs for some reason

[dbuck47]

I am not a guru either, but I believe the X-31's were maybe 1 notch below the Staffs of the time but very close. Maybe 10-20% less in price, but still a forged club of virtually the same quality.

Put some fresh grips on them and give them a go.

[oldschoolrocker]

Having played both that era Staffs and x-31s I can give you my opinion. I found the X31s to be a bit harsher than the Staffs. Although the set I had was forged they felt somewhere between a cast club and the Staffs when struck. Certainly a different dynamic sole charrtistic which some liked better than the Staffs. All in all not a bad club which can produce a nice ball flight and distance dispersion.

[DaveGoodrich]

Thanks guys. Its interesting that this particular set (1967 according to Ironfinders) is both "X-31" [b]and "[/b]Staff." Other (later) years of the X-31 were not labelled "Staff."

I need another set of irons like I need another hole in the head, but I will definitely regrip at least a couple of them just to be able to try them. Regripping all of them will more than double my original investment! Of course, if they feel nice (which I'm sure they will), I won't be able to resist regripping them all so I can put them in play.

I can't find any specs on these. Would these likely be a 52-ish degree PW?

[oldschoolrocker]

I don't remember the specs, but I do remember they worked best for me when I choked down about half an inch and took a 3/4 swing. With those heads there was enough mass behind the ball to produce a nice trajectory that way without ballooning.

[DaveGoodrich]

Well, I couldn't resist. Stopped to pick up a couple grips on the way home from work yesterday, and ended up buying 10 Lamkin Crossline grips. The old grips (Swing-Rite) basically peeled and crumbled off. Blew the new ones on over the the original grip tape using compressed air and a little grip solvent to get them started. The clubs cleaned up really nice.

I walked (and carried) nine with them this morning before work, with my 983e, 904f and Ping B63 rounding out the set. The irons are sweet feeling, and not particularly hard to hit. They launch pretty high, which is probably as-intended with the big sole flange. I don't know the lofts, so it took a few holes to figure out my distances, which ended up being pretty similar to my Hogan Apex 50's. I ended up shooting 40 for 9, and birdied the last hole with a 75 yard sand wedge to 3 feet!

So I ended up with another set of irons I don't need, but I will chalk it up to "historical preservation." Seemed a shame to let a full 2-SW set of nice old blades in good condition rot away somewhere.

Here are a couple pics:

[DaveGoodrich]

I went back to the same pawn shop this weekend and found the matching (I think) laminated driver and 4-wood. Both in good condition, except the original grips are cracked. I say "I think" because I'm not absolutely sure, but they are X-31 woods, and say both "Wilson Staff" and "X-31" on them, like the irons. All other sets of X-31 series irons I have seen don't also say "Wilson Staff." I think this year (1967) was the only year of "Staff" X-31 irons. Perhaps the original intention was to have two models of "Staff" irons, but they later changed to having a "Staff" line, and a "something less than Staff" line.

These pics are from google images, but look like the same clubs except that I just noticed that these pics don't say "Staff." I am almost sure the ones I bought include the word "Staff" as well as X-31. Not that it matters, but I will check tonight.

[DaveGoodrich]

 

Yep, the driver and 4 wood I bought say Wilson Staff X-31. Thay also say 4300. No idea what that means.

[oldschoolrocker]

Dave,
I have seen a lot of Wilson Clubs, and I have a few of their woods, laminate, and persimmon, and I have never seen their x31 wood. Thanks for posting.
Interesting sole plate as well.

[sbboudreau]

The late 70's early 80's X31's where my first full set, woods and irons, crown with X31 inside near the toe top lip. Played the living daylights out of them until I could afford or should I say convince the wife to allow me to spend the $265.00 for a NEW set 1991 Titleist Tour Models and Big Bertha Warbird Soleplate woods(D, 3 & 5), still use the Berthas most days. I sold that set of X31's on eBay for $125.00 plus shipping earlier this year. The man who bought them said his dad had the exact same set when he was young and enjoyed using his dads and wanted to reconnect with his youth. His dad is still alive and enjoyed seeing the old set he played with for years. I enjoyed selling them to him for that single reason. Now I play vintage PING ZING Green Dot Irons and have way more fun than ever before, most forgiving Irons.

[DaveGoodrich]

After (of course) I regripped these irons, I realized that they are pretty short (~37" 5-iron). The weird thing is that they are at a good swing weight (about D1) at their current length. I would like to be able to play these, so I want to extend the shafts.

EDIT: After reading some specs for other '60's era irons, it seems like a 37" 5 iron might have been "standard" back then. Does this seem correct? If so, it seems like I am stuck with the higher swing weight if I extend them.

I will extend only about 1/2" so my SW stays in the low-mid D's. That will still be ~1/2" under modern standard length, but with the weak lofts, they will be essentially one full club "off," meaning the 5-iron will be essentially the loft and length of my current 6-iron.

Last night, I blew the grips back off, and I noticed that the shafts had a weird kind of plug in the butt end. A hard, red plastic plug appears to have been driven into a soft black plastic sleeve that fits tightly in the butt end of the club. The total weight of both the sleeve and plug is probably only a few grams, so I don't think it is any kind of backweight. It seems like it may have just been to keep moisture out. Not sure.

Obviously, these plugs will get in the way of shaft extensions, so I pulled them out by screwing a drywall screw into them and heating the butt of the shaft a little with a torch.

The Power Groove shafts seem to be smaller diameter than typical shafts are nowadays. I don't have a caliper, but using a good ruler, they seem to be ~ 9/16" o.d. (~0.56"). I will be buying shaft extensions from Golfworks, which seems to have them in this size.

[NRJyzr]

Don't be so sure there's lead down the shaft. Clubs were shorter, and clubheads were heavier, in Ye Olde Dayes.

[DaveGoodrich]

[quote name='NRJyzr' timestamp='1442354809' post='12318662']
Don't be so sure there's lead down the shaft. Clubs were shorter, and clubheads were heavier, in Ye Olde Dayes.
[/quote]

Thanks, I figured that out. See my edits.

[MoaningM]

What a great thread Dave, keep the updates and pics coming, always enjoy reading about a set of irons/clubs being rejuvinated.

Cheers
M

[Forged4ever]

Nice pic-up Dave!!

The X-31s were first introduced in the 50's and ran pretty much unchanged into the 80's.

They were the big box box set irons/woods and later a bag and as has been mentioned, the "Staff" moniker was removed from them. They were on par with the Sam Snead and Patty Berg box sets(Blue Ridge) however I would say that they were above them cuz they were forged, though they were not near the quality of the Staff Dynapower Turfriders, Bullet Backs, etc, their Pro line blades.

However the woods from the 50-60's were manufactured from solid maple, unlike the laminated crap that the Snead and Berg woods were made from.

I believe that they re-released them to the big box stores(K-Mart, WalMart) as a cast CB, with metal woods and bag around 6-7 years ago.

Again, great job of sprucing them up!!

Enjoy em

Fairways & Greens My Friend,
Richard

They kept the X-31s in play into the early-mid 80's and I believe that a number of

[DaveGoodrich]

OK, this is weird. I went back to the same pawn shop again, and this time found the matching 3 and 5 woods! I swear they weren't there last time. So I now have the 1, 3, 4 and 5 woods, and 2 through SW irons. That's 14 clubs (without a putter), so I guess I will have to choose between the 2-iron and the 5-wood.

[Hoganite65]

X-31's were more expensive than the Staff irons of the 60'sand I believe they were marketed as Wilson's top of the line. I know they resurrected the X-31 moniker later on for big box store garbage.

I play my 1969 aluminum shafts and nothing feels better when i strike the ball correctly.

Can anyone tell me why the S/W and PW are longer than what seems to be normal? thry are the match for the set but both same length as the 9. My set is 2-S/w. Nice to be able to still hut a 2 iron, feel that i is because of the aluminum shaft, i get alot of action with them.

[super20dan]

those plugs in the shafts are a pain to get out. i bought 65 staffs intending togame them but like you i found them too short. after discovering the plugs-i just set them aside. i started buying hogans and never looked back

[augustgolf]

I don't remember the specs, but I do remember they worked best for me when I choked down about half an inch and took a 3/4 swing. With those heads there was enough mass behind the ball to produce a nice trajectory that way without ballooning.

X-31's were more expensive than the Staff irons of the 60'sand I believe they were marketed as Wilson's top of the line. I know they resurrected the X-31 moniker later on for big box store garbage.

I play my 1969 aluminum shafts and nothing feels better when i strike the ball correctly.

Can anyone tell me why the S/W and PW are longer than what seems to be normal? thry are the match for the set but both same length as the 9. My set is 2-S/w. Nice to be able to still hut a 2 iron, feel that i is because of the aluminum shaft, i get alot of action with them.

 

It was standard for a lot of companies to have the 9 & pw be the same length shaft.

 

A good friend of mine won the Michigan Open in the late 70's playing a set of X-31 irons. Not the "staff" version, however.

[DaveGoodrich]

I just regripped these with Golfpride Victory grips I got for cheap from the local Golfsmith store that is closing. They are now looking very "authentic." I played them the other day and enjoyed them, although didn't have a great ball-striking day. I extended them 1/2", and now they feel pretty "head heavy," even though I kept the swing weight at D3 or so. This is using the stock Powr-Groove regular shafts. I think I may pull the extensions back out, and just play them short.

[Titleist87]

Saw a partial set of 1968-69 or 1970-71 at a pawn shop, today. Can't fully remember the head design but the shaft I do so it must be one of those years. Still had original owners shaft labels. Wish the entire set was available. Had fluted aluminum (Power Groove?) shafts.

[Guia]

No comparison between the X31 and the Staff. X31 were sold at Kmart, my dad had a set he got there with Aluminum shaft, If I remember correctly they were $$59.95. Fairly certain that he bought those around 1970. Wilson Staff by comparison were Wilson's top of the line irons. Wilson ruled the world in forged muscle backs from the 1940s until the mid 1990s.

 

I am sure more X31s were sold than Staff irons because they were made for the masses and not the players. X31 were perhaps one step up from the Wilson Sam Snead.

[DaveGoodrich]

No comparison between the X31 and the Staff. X31 were sold at Kmart, my dad had a set he got there with Aluminum shaft, If I remember correctly they were $$59.95. Fairly certain that he bought those around 1970. Wilson Staff by comparison were Wilson's top of the line irons. Wilson ruled the world in forged muscle backs from the 1940s until the mid 1990s.

 

I am sure more X31s were sold than Staff irons because they were made for the masses and not the players. X31 were perhaps one step up from the Wilson Sam Snead.

 

This particular iron (1967, according to Ironfinders.com) is actually both a "Staff" and an "X-31." As far as I have been able to tell, this is the only X-31 iron that carried the "Staff" name also. According to Ironfinders, an essentially identical model was re-released in 1982-1984, but instead of "Staff," they were stamped "Forged."

[Cwebb]

I thought I remembered that Ralph Maltby had measured one of these. Just looked it up and yup. He measured the '69 X31 "forged" model 6 iron, which had an actual loft of 33*. COG in the vertical direction was .735", which is considered "very good" in the sense that it's not too high, making them easier to hit than most of clubs from that era

[defender2803]

Have a few sets of the x31 series and I can hit them better than the newer GI irons I have. :|

 

You just have to remember that a newer 3 iron is an older 2 iron...or in the case of TM a 4 iron is a 2 iron. :P

[DaveGoodrich]

These irons seem to have been a game improvement iron of the day. Low cg and wide soles that actually seem to have a little bounce and camber. The leading edge is still pretty sharp though.

[Shallowface]

No comparison between the X31 and the Staff. X31 were sold at Kmart, my dad had a set he got there with Aluminum shaft, If I remember correctly they were $$59.95. Fairly certain that he bought those around 1970. Wilson Staff by comparison were Wilson's top of the line irons. Wilson ruled the world in forged muscle backs from the 1940s until the mid 1990s.

 

I am sure more X31s were sold than Staff irons because they were made for the masses and not the players. X31 were perhaps one step up from the Wilson Sam Snead.

 

I think you're confusing X-31s with Wilson K-28s.

 

The X-31 was absolutely on the same level as the Staff through 1984. They are in all of the pro line catalogs, and the suggested retail is either right in line with the Staff or in some cases slightly higher. The K-28s were at the upper level of the store line offerings.

[Guia]

The more I think about you are probably correct, I am remembering K-28s.