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Where are the Powerbilt Collectors?


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As I’ve been collecting vintage clubs for the last few years I’ve have had plenty of Hogan, Macgregor, and Wilson’s in my collection. I’ve even been getting into Spalding lately. The one brand that I am really digging is Powerbilt but it seems to be one of the least talked about of the major club manufacturers of the 1940’s, 50’s, and 60’s. Were Powerbilt never as well received or as popular as the bigger name brands?

 

And who are the guys collecting old Powerbilt’s? I’ve got a few sets of woods and a single lonely set of irons but the old early 1950’s stuff seems to be so hard to come by. Is anyone here a Powerbilt guy?

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And who are the guys collecting old Powerbilt’s?Here! I have several woods, both persimmon and laminate. No irons or wedges though. I wouldn't call myself a collector though, more like a hunter and gatherer as my interest is for play.

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They made some really nice persimmon woods, especially drivers. I picked one up a couple of months ago. It's sometimes difficult to find the good models. I looked for a few years till I found one in near mint condition. From my experience PowerBilt seemed to be popular in certain regions of the country. I played in a tournament back in the mid-70's with a group of guys from New Orleans and they all had PowerBilt drivers. They were pretty popular on tour in the 60's and 70's.

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Like copp says I am sorta a collector but mostly drivers. I did have a couple of fairways but gave them to my bud Bear. I played the drivers a lot back in the day. For some reason I always liked the way they hit still do. I have always been a Penna collector but will admit I did not hit them or Mac woods as good as I did Power- Bilt. I do not know on the 50s but in the 60s and 70s in my area they were the woods to have among better players. Most of the better players had either Mac,Spalding or Wilson irons combined with PB woods. One guy he was sorta strange played a full PB bag with the famous orange staff bag. In fact the 66 Citation irons I played for years he gave to me and he had them built custom ground for him. This guy was a member of one of the big country clubs in town. He was wealthy but did not play in the big money games. He played at his club during the week but on weekends he played with the $1 round robin weekend guys at our place. IMHO I think the reason you do not see as much PB stuff is because simply I think they did not make as many clubs as the big 3 did. I also think in the 60s and 70s they were known for their persimmon woods more than their other equipment and concentrated on that.

Driver--- Callaway Big Bertha Alpha--- Speeder 565 R flex

5W  --- TM V Steel Fubuki 60r

7W --- TM V Steel UST Pro Force 65 R flex

9W--- TM V Steel Stock V Steel R flex shaft

Irons 5 thru PW TM TP CB Steel Fiber 95 R F

SW Callaway PM Grind 56* Modified Grind KBS Tour Wedge

LW Vokey SM5 L Grind 58* 04 bounce Stock Vokey Shaft

Putter Macgregor Bobby Grace Mark 4 V-Foil Broomstick

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Not a collector by any stretch, more of a gatherer. Have several Powerbilt woods. The player set (1, 3, 5) of persimmons are Citations. Nice shape, but not to nice. Perfect for attempting to beat balls around. Also a "Horseshoe" soleplate driver that's a bit untidy. A Citation 3 wood that someone reshafted with a Hogan Apex shaft of unknown number.

Like the look of PB woods with the brass back weight. They play quite nicely for wood woods, in my incapable hands. Have had some decent swats with the fairways. Yeah, no problem with gathering additional PB persimmons (primarily) whenever found on the cheap.

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I just retrieved my dad's old PB Citations (H&B) from the depths of my garage. I have one of those orange over sized PowerBilt staff bags in my mancave that shops used for display. Past time to pair the two. Thanks OP.

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I'll agree with most everything posted so far. The Levelume were always the best looking irons in my opinion. Great looking square toe and a little bit thicker sole to get the ball in the air. Nice irons. I've never had any luck with their drivers although I like the look. But the fairway woods were fantastic in my opinion. I had a Citation 5 wood with the small head and brass back weight that I could launch out of any lie. It stayed in my bag for about 10 years. Back before some genius came up with the idea for a "hybrid", we had to rely on clubs like that to get the job done.

Cobra F9 Driver 10.5 UST ProForce V2 HL 5F4 46"

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Cleveland Classic Collection #10 35"

 

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No love for the Powerbilt Scotchblades, then?

The 5w really was the hybrid back in the day, wasn't it? I finally managed to find a nice persimmon 5w late this year with a shaft that fits me, and since putting it in the "old school" golf bag, it has become a go-to club in so many situations.

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I like the looks of all of their irons. They all have that nice square toe look that I really like...similar to the old GolfCraft stuff. But I always thought the Levelume was the most playable. And you are right, the 5 wood was the hybrid of its day and most everybody I know had one that they really liked. There was a time in the late 80's where I'll bet 90% of the good players I knew had a Driver, Taylormade Tour Spoon for a 3 wood and then a Baffler, Ginty or something similar as the 5 wood. I actually had a Baffler 2 wood and that Citation 5 wood in my bag for a long time....it was a beast!

Cobra F9 Driver 10.5 UST ProForce V2 HL 5F4 46"

Tour Edge Exotic EXS 220 16.5* UST ProForce V2 HL 6F4 44"

Cobra Amp Cell 5-7 fairway (set to 20*) Fujikura Fuel 60g S 43"

Maltby TS3 4-P Elevate MPH 95 +1"

Cleveland 588 RTX 2.0 50*, 54* & 58* Apollo Matchflex Wedge 36.25"

Cleveland Classic Collection #10 35"

 

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The Super Citation was my favorite only edged out by a Toney Penna Model 65 as the best persimmon driver I owned. The best non-metal 3-wood Iever owned was a 1974 laminated Citation.

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Ping Glide 4.0 58*, Nippon 115 
TXG Custom Cobra Nova, KBS CT Tour Shaft

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Would it be fair to say Powerbilt reached their peak in the 1970’s with their Citation line of woods? Just looking at 1970’s era Powerbilt woods they look to be a bit nicer than what the big 3 of Macgregor, Wilson,or Spalding we’re putting out.

And after those big 3 would it have been Powerbilt and Hogan as similarly sized companies below the big 3 in terms of # of clubs produced and sold?

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Kinda off topic but your 5 wood/ hybrid synopsis or comparison reminded me of something. I was on the range back in the summer hitting my vintage stuff. Among the vintage stuff I had a little Custom Mac 5 wood that I have had for years. That thing is tiny and hooked faced as heck. I actually call it "hooky" This kid I would say 14 or 15 years old was hitting beside me. I went to hitting my persimmon driver and pureing it and it sounded good. I had stood the 5 wood up beside my bag intending on hitting it some more. This kid asked me very politely "sir when did they start making hybrids out of real wood?" I had to explain to him what it actually was. He had some modern Callaway hybrids and they were about the same size as that 5 wood. Yep I schooled him about back in the day about 5 and 6 woods he was interested.

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Driver--- Callaway Big Bertha Alpha--- Speeder 565 R flex

5W  --- TM V Steel Fubuki 60r

7W --- TM V Steel UST Pro Force 65 R flex

9W--- TM V Steel Stock V Steel R flex shaft

Irons 5 thru PW TM TP CB Steel Fiber 95 R F

SW Callaway PM Grind 56* Modified Grind KBS Tour Wedge

LW Vokey SM5 L Grind 58* 04 bounce Stock Vokey Shaft

Putter Macgregor Bobby Grace Mark 4 V-Foil Broomstick

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Even in the late '80's H&B advertised that they were the No.1 selling persimmon wood manufacturer in America. But I would have to agree that the mid to late 60's and all through the 70's were PowerBilts best years. Quite a few tour players had a PowerBilt driver in the bag at that time, including Trevino, which no doubt helped sales. The old ones are solid feeling excellent clubs.

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40IBNF27DLXY.jpgI see a lot of PowerBilt single irons at Goodwill that I pass on, but this year I found three nice sets. Scotch Blade, Levelume and Citation Stainless "DeLux". I haven't taken any of them out on the course yet, but they feel great in the simulator. If you're looking for a set of Irons my vote would be for the Scotch Blades.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Somewhat inspired by this thread, I picked this up of a Japanese auction site for 1 yen (about 1 cent). Postage came in at about $12 though...

Flex is B, so regular, but it seems to be "Old school" regular, so fairly stiff. Should be playable. It also came with a delightfully gaudy yellow Powerbilt head cover (not pictured).

U4N58W986NU9.jpg

5SNL4CACHIRP.jpg

ONAKGCG4N6BC.jpg

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

The bottom one is a 66 67 what we called the Horse Shoe irons---- I played a set of them for years with exception of the PW which I found the flange to be too wide----- I traded a set of Spalding Elite 333 Customs for them---- They were 35% worn out when I got them and I finished them off playing and practicing every day---- I had bought my first set of VIPs at the time and you know the rest of the story

Driver--- Callaway Big Bertha Alpha--- Speeder 565 R flex

5W  --- TM V Steel Fubuki 60r

7W --- TM V Steel UST Pro Force 65 R flex

9W--- TM V Steel Stock V Steel R flex shaft

Irons 5 thru PW TM TP CB Steel Fiber 95 R F

SW Callaway PM Grind 56* Modified Grind KBS Tour Wedge

LW Vokey SM5 L Grind 58* 04 bounce Stock Vokey Shaft

Putter Macgregor Bobby Grace Mark 4 V-Foil Broomstick

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Great grain and it is a blonde too!!! Judging by the sole plate and carbon fiber insert that was the next to last generation made. The last generation made had TPS ( Tournament Players Series) on the sole plate and some of those came with graphite shafts. I do have a TPS I found on the pile one day with a Steel shaft. LOL I have been hitting the older one so well that is in my vintage set I am scared to try anything else including that beautiful Mizuno I told you about a while back

Driver--- Callaway Big Bertha Alpha--- Speeder 565 R flex

5W  --- TM V Steel Fubuki 60r

7W --- TM V Steel UST Pro Force 65 R flex

9W--- TM V Steel Stock V Steel R flex shaft

Irons 5 thru PW TM TP CB Steel Fiber 95 R F

SW Callaway PM Grind 56* Modified Grind KBS Tour Wedge

LW Vokey SM5 L Grind 58* 04 bounce Stock Vokey Shaft

Putter Macgregor Bobby Grace Mark 4 V-Foil Broomstick

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