1950’s Era Macgregor Woods Lie Angles

[deejaid]

So I have a lovely set of 1953 Macgregor M75 woods that I rarely play as I just don’t hit them as well as my other persimmons. I have my 1953 Powerbilt’s in the bag now and I was thinking maybe I’d give the Mac’s another try. As I was pulling the Powerbilt’s out of the bag to put the Mac’s in I placed both drivers side by side and noticed the Mac has a much flatter lie angle than the Powerbilt. I thought that was interesting so I grabbed the driver to my 1953 Wilson Staff set and it was the same as the Powerbilt. Then grabbed a early 1950’s Spalding and again, same as the Powerbilt. So now I’m certain this set of M75’s is flatter than my other sets which might explain why I don’t hit these nearly as well as my other sets.

 

So then I grabbed a Mac M33 driver to see if it was just that set of M75’s that were flat and again, the M33 was very flat, same as the M75 driver. Finally I grabbed a 1957 M85 Super Eye O Matic driver and once again, flat like the other Mac’s and definitely much flatter than the Wilson, Powerbilt, and Spalding clubs of the same era.

 

So were Macgregor woods known to be flatter in their stock specs than other companies of the day? Was this common knowledge that players shopping for new woods would have been drawn to knowing that if they wanted a flatter lie angle set of woods to go with Macgregor’s?

 

 

[Bella Woods]

deejaid

 

The short answer is yes, MacGregor standard specs for their woods were flatter than all of the companies you mentioned above.

But much can happen to the standard, like ordered differently or subsequently adjusted up or down lie angles by reshafting or

otherwise. I have many classic/original 693s, M85s etc that are right on spec with the "industry standards". Clubs/sets that have

shorter lengths from the factory would probably have flatter lies as well (like a set starting with a 42" or 42 1/2" driver) as opposed

to 43" or 43 1/4"/43 1/2". Historical standards and MacGregor according to Maltby in 1974:

 

Driver 55                   MacGregor 53

3 Wood 56                MacGregor 54

5 Wood 57                MacGregor 55

 

2 degrees flatter than PowerBilt, 2 1/2 to 3 degrees flatter than Spalding and 1 1/2 to 2 degrees flatter than Wilson according to

Ralph Maltbie in his original club repair guide and subsequent editions.