Anyone remember the cleveland VAS irons? what was Cleveland Engineering trying to solve?

[Man_O_War]

[Yuck]

I think it was a secret project to see if occult technology could allow someone who averaged under 250 off the tee to win a major.

 

(Pavin @ Shinnecock Hills)

[getitdaily]

Pavin's weird wrist action through the swing?

[ibradley]

Not only were they ugly, they had one of the worst Maltby playability factors ever. Something like 100 points.

[scruffynick]

I actually quite liked them, most went yuck but I thought they set up nice for me.....but I never used them as a set. Remember pavin using them to great effect and I think Cleveland said they were shank proof but in reality that wasn't the case.

[JDFish]

I played them for a season or two right after they came out - but I can't remember why.

[TM_HOYER]

I played them when they came out. The back had a substance under the label that reduced vibration you normally felt in cast clubs back then. When Corey Pavin switched from the VAS 792 to PRGR, I knew he was not going play as well. There was just too much of difference been the VAS and PRGR irons.

[dukeman]

The purpose of the design was to get the shaft (or the momentum of the shaft) going more into the center of the club head. The theory was that this would reduce twisting.

 

Many Hogan clubs featured an "underslung" shaft/club head design to accomplish the same purpose. The difference being that Hogan cared what the clubs looked like.

[KYMAR]

I thought I remember reading that Pavin played a highly modified version that didn't have nearly the amount of forward bend in hosel as the retail version. I could be wrong.

 

Either way these things are totally hideous and i can't believe they are real.

[golf0101]

These were just way ahead of their time. The shaft technology was not there at the time to take advantage of the engineering in them but it is getting closer now.

[Lancj1]

This was the era of the Tiger Shark and Spalding executive iron to name a couple of others. Happy times indeed!!

[Dpavs]

For the time it was an extreme and innovative attempt at a GI or SGI iron.. move the hosel back to avoid issues there, move the weight to the perimeter, heel and down as much as possible, dampen the strike area (ala the badge) to soften the strike, camber the sole to reduce digging and maximize the progressive offsets to help the average golfer who fades the ball more times than not.

 

They were judged pretty ugly by most but.... IMO, they actually were a pretty darn good GI club for their time.

 

Corey sure liked them in 95'.

 

Edited July 8, 2023 by Dpavs

[cgasucks]

These clubs were before I started golfing but from what I've read their unique hosel was shank proof.

[ParParAgain]

I cannot speak to the engineering benefits, if any, of the unusual design.

 

I have a fairly strong memory that the unique design was a marketing ploy by the new owners of the company.

 

Roger Cleveland had sold the company to Rossignol, a large French (?) Sporting goods conglomerate who had a big market share of downhill skiing business.

 

The new design was intended to convey the message : hey look at me; i'm cool and exciting; you should buy me and be the envy of your golfing buddies.

 

As i say, i think the answer lies in the corporate history of the company in the early 1990's and an advertising strategy to raise the awareness level of the Cleveland brand.

[the bishop]

They were named after their inventor: Vas Deferens

[Petunia Sprinkle]

I'd hit 'em.

[KYMAR]

I'd hit 'em.

 

like you sneeze

[Gdpers]

I actually have a set of clone heads like those in the garage. Played them back then but it was too easy to blame every bad shot on how ugly they were. Can't remember what shaft I had in them but the shafts got re used so liked the shaft better than the head design.

[buckeyefl]

A buddy of mine played them a few years. One day we were at the range and one of the heads came off and went flying. He looked at me and I just said "leave it there". LOL He ended up having to re-epoxy all of the heads but always played quite well with them.If I recall he passed his PAT with those clubs but damn were they ugly.

[rcain1us]

[hef63303]

They were very high MOI for their time period and very unusual for a company that had produced classic looking designs in the past. I saw them work for lots of people. They did not sell well at their original price point of $1000 for a set but began to sell reasonably well when the price dropped to $699(where many popular sets were priced). Corey played a modified version of the Pro version of this iron. For those that are commenting on Pavin's change to PRGR, the biggest problem was the PRGR shafts. He was contractually obligated to play the PRGR Shaft and it was pretty soft for his swing.

[ParParAgain]

They were very high MOI for their time period and very unusual for a company that had produced classic looking designs in the past. I saw them work for lots of people. They did not sell well at their original price point of $1000 for a set but began to sell reasonably well when the price dropped to $699(where many popular sets were priced). Corey played a modified version of the Pro version of this iron. For those that are commenting on Pavin's change to PRGR, the biggest problem was the PRGR shafts. He was contractually obligated to play the PRGR Shaft and it was pretty soft for his swing.

 

Re: not the classic looking iron designs of the past

 

I agree. I am going to suggest that these irons looked different than previous Cleveland irons (such as the 588s) since Roger Cleveland had already sold his company and was not, therefore, the guy who designed the VAS 792s.

[Stumpnav]

Never had the irons, but I had a VAS driver. With the shaft more forward, it was a hard club to slice. I had a bad tendency to hook it, but man I could keep it low when I wanted to.

[Beeez]

I was a freshman in high school at the time but I used the 1 iron as a driving iron for a while and it was very playable that way. I moved on to a set of 845's though.

[Qqq123xx]

I got a wedge for cheap and on hitting it the ball would always phase out to somewhere other than where I was aiming.

[callawayjay]

Used a set for awhile in the 90s. At least a season

Or 3. Was able to hit draws wirh them for the first time. They were my 3rd set of clubs

[bladehunter]

pretty sure the design came as a cold war hack from moscow.... the silent war against the hoard of gorgeous Irons made at the time... this was supposed to lure us all in to the comrade train of thought .....

[rainkingjr]

I knew a guy who played them and he hit them really well.

[super20dan]

straightest hitting iron I ever hit. long irons are extremely eaisy to hit. even my wife bags a vas 1 iron

[buckeyefl]

straightest hitting iron I ever hit. long irons are extremely eaisy to hit. even my wife bags a vas 1 iron

 

And with that your wife emasculated hundreds of golfers.