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

[ibradley]

Maltby playability has them at minus 197 points! Pretty sure that must be the worst club ever designed.

[coops]

Maltby playability has them at minus 197 points! Pretty sure that must be the worst club ever designed.

 

Demonstrates the problem with a reverse-engineered 'playability' rating based on standard designs.

When something genuinely new is designed, the Maltby playability rating just doesn't remotely work or apply to it.

 

I suspect it was designed to get the COG/sweetspot closer to the shaft line... I saw these when I bought my first 'good' set of clubs, and made a choice to NOT even demo them.... I was scared I might hit them really well :swoon:

 

Those were some freaky times if i remember though... not just the Ping Zing, but I give you the equally horrific MacGregor ( MacGregor for goodness' sake!) DoctorX....

 

Behold!

 

 

[Bye]

Man these things were ugly, proper lofts though!

 

 

[NYMedic404]

I love these irons!!! I still play them today!

[JAMH03]

pics or didnt happen

[Kevlar10]

I have a 2i in my bag. I got it for $2 when I first started playing and hated it because I could never hit it straight. Over the winter I took it to the range and hit it well so I put it in my bag for long shots out of the rough. My first round I used it and hit 225 out of the first cut and was straight on. I’ve used it several times this season and I like it now.

[starrman77]

And to think, guys complain about how ugly modern game improvement iron are. They are beautiful compared to these.

[T.B.]

Those were the one if the 1st set of irons that I actually purchased new. Not off a friends dad or given to me by my grandfather. I had the driver too. Cory Pavin hitting that 5 wood was cool.

[JeffreySpicoli]

> @"the bishop" said:

> They were named after their inventor: Vas Deferens

 

Just read this for the first time. I saw what you did there! (Better late than never.)

[CROUSE99]

I like the idea of having the shaft more in line with the center of the clubhead. After all, a straight line from your hands along the shaft goes to the hosel on every other iron. They sure were ugly, though.

[John kennett]

Have played the vas+ iron for 20 years or more had 3 lots of new shafts god knows 15 sets of grips love them 2bits a once in a while shanker these give great confidence try before you comment loads of mates over the years have hit mine to be amazed if the shank wasn't  in my head may change but as long as any of friends  clubs very forgiving  just look ugly 

[vonbonds]

Amazing first post and a pull from the nether regions of this message board lol

[NevinW]

My dad had a set.  They were stupid easy to hit straight.  If they were not so ugly, they would have be a huge hit.  

[Lord Viking]

I remember them well, I could never play them......just too ugly

Reminded me of these Jerry Barber's, a friend of mine used to play....

The Jerry Barber's aren't nearly as ugly but still....

 

 

[br61]

I had a set that my former club pro talked me into trying them out. He played on PGA Tour in 1970's and he actually played with them in early 1990's. I reshafted my set with Loomis graphite shafts and actually played well with them. Yes they are ugly but if I hit them good, who cares.

[jwb10]

They were supposed to be shank free. Modeled after the Jerry Barber irons, also ugly and upside down. That Pavin could win an Open with them shows you how talented he was. And that he could hit a sick 4 wood

[gvogel]

On 10/9/2017 at 7:38 PM, rainkingjr said:

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

I guess only the guys who hit them well could withstand the abuse of other golfers.

[ChaosTheory]

On 10/9/2017 at 6:12 AM, ibradley said:

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

I had to go look it up.  Negative 197!   🙃

 

I would guess the C dimension was so small because it’s measured from the hosel, and the hosel was inboard.  So the MPF really shouldn’t be used on this head.

 

https://store-k9nvqai7wz.mybigcommerce.com/content/PDFs/Head_MPFs/MPF_CLEVELAND.pdf

[dekez]

On 10/9/2017 at 7:12 AM, ibradley said:

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

 

Minus 197!  Truly an engineering feat.

[billybaroo]

This has been hanging around for a while.

[bogieboy]

Still own a set here.... 3-LW... gamed them a bit, but picked up some callaway x series n415 irons (box store x hot rebadges) for $30  and play them as good or better than the vas... so they collect dust now...LOL

[jimb]

Corey Pavin won the US Open with the VAS if I am not mistaken.

[st1800e]

Proves once again, it’s the archer not the arrow …..

[joostin]

Companies were putting out some heel weighted designs in attempt to lessen slicing i believe.

 

The thing engineering-wise would be to lower the MOI around the hosel (other than shank resistance).  That's less resistance to rotation with the hands, or turning over the club.  It's debatable and subjective, but that's an MOI that no one measures.  It's an unseen factor I bring up sometimes on the forum to possibly explain some people's findings with clubs of high MOI heads, toe weighting, big C dimensions - as clubhead mass and CG move farther away from the shaft/hand axis.  All clubs have differing amounts of weight off-axis.

 

It's inline with how toe hang / face balance / zero torque is a thing with putters.  No one makes a face balanced or zero torque iron, hybrid, or wood, nor is it legal I think. 

 

Obviously VAS takes the cake on notorious design, but it was a bit of a thing for a little while.  These come to mind:

 

Ping woods

 

Cobra irons

 

Palmer irons

[scruffynick]

Ha ha found this cracking thread as I've seen a set of vas plus that for the price I want 😁 simply must have a try....but what's the difference between plus and 792?? Anyone

[Nessism]

The + is larger, I think.  They look a little less industrial, from the finish perspective (polished vs tumbled)

 

A friend bought a set of +'s back in the day, after I suggested he take a look at them.  He loved them.  

[jholz]

Didn't Rocco Mediate beat Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, Jack Nicklaus, and Moe Norman in the U.S. Open with a set of VAS irons? What was it, '93? Larry Mise just barely missed that chip shot in the playoff.

 

Seems like I heard that somewhere....