Why Aren't Vintage Clubs More Collectible/Valuable?

[golfunderpar18]

This thread is hilarious.....

[Bigarch]

Sitting here watching Golf Channel and some hack named Tiger Woods is putting with a new Scotty Cameron with no alignment line on it. Just a sight dot to mark the center of gravity. Poor guy doesn't stand a chance with an inferior piece of equipment like that in his hands. Announcers are talking about how this putter is better than his last one because it has changeable weights on the sole of the club. I guess his last one was just a solid piece of metal...no insert or nothing. They said it didn't have a line either. Someone needs to pull him aside and have a talk with him. That poor guy will never win anything!

[Jiggered]

 

Modern golf marketing has brainwashed a generation into thinking that they can't play the game without every piece of high-tech snake oil.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

Yeah, that's guy's done. If he's lucky, he might find his way into the Stanford HoF, just for managing to hole the odd putt or two with a putter that lacked a sight-line.

 

[Foozle]

Interesting debate. Like Jick, I do wonder why vintage equipment isn't valued to reflect the craftsmanship, quality and heritage behind it. However, I am quite glad it isn't as it allows me to indulge in my hobby.

I am 100% with the comments on marketing which so many take hook, line and sinker. Disagree with much of Used2playalots comments and in particular the comment about vintage being worse in every matrix - IMHO it is better; far better feel and communication from the clubs and much more satisfying to hit well. It may be more difficult to hit well but all forgiving modern clubs are as soleless and tedious to play as modern driver assisted cars are to drive - dull utilitarian machines - no fun in that?

I don't collect as an investment. When I started collecting I allowed myself the equivalent cash value as one set of modern clubs. Admittedly I am now in PXG territory (don't tell the wife!) but I get far more pleasure from owning many sets of vintage clubs, enjoying their beauty, researching their history and, most importantly, experiencing playing them than I would from a set of PXG's. What is more, when / if I come to sell I will probably get back what I paid unlike the PXG's.

What is not to like? As Justasgood said, ssshhhhhh!

 

 

[NRJyzr]

 

Go troll somewhere else

[BIG STU]

I myself prefer the funny looks. What really gets them is when you can hit them. It does not bother me one iota that they hit a 8 iron where I hit my 6 iron.

[BIG STU]

What I want him to do is troll on down here with billfold in hand. I can still putt with a broken back. I will putt him for some serious cash. I will let him pick from my bulls eyes or my numerous Iron masters or the only 8802 styles I own a Little David 8802 or a Cleveland designed by 8802. Hate to think what he would say about my rusty Santa Fe but I think it has an alignment mark on the back of the bottom flange can not see for the rust. My old man told me years ago " Do not mess with a man who has an old beat to heck Bulls Eye or 8802 in the bag"

[Mitchell]

...Or a lead-taped Ping Zing2 ?

[Bigarch]

You mean you hit your 37 inch long iron club with 31 degrees of loft the same distance that they hit their 37 inch long iron club with 31 degrees of loft? But how is that possible??? I mean there's has an "8" on it and yours has a "6". Get your wallets out kids, you're about to pay me and Big Stu for a physics lesson. :)

[Foozle]

I was told that if it walks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck it is almost certainly a duck.

I also know that if it is 37" long and has 27* of loft it is NOT a 7 iron regardless of what it says on the sole!

[8602081]

I have 1963 "Designed by Arnold Palmer" putter. I think it's suppose to be collectible and valuable..

[nsxguy]

Don't you EVER get tired of being wrong ? (<--- that's a rhetorical question BTW LOL)

First you say nobody uses classic clubs. When proven wrong you then go to "Putters gotta have alignment - 8802 is inferior".

 

"Oh ? I'm wrong again ? I'll just move the goalposts a bit". LMAO Good grief.

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

Love my vintage clubs. Unfortunately, that makes me vintage too. Haha!

It’s possibly just not as appealing to most folks to hit an old hunk of iron?

Much like vintage hammers or the like? There are some who like restoration hardware, but not much mass appeal.

[farmer]

I have a couple of sets of vintage irons. One forged by the Hogan company, one by Hoffman. Very nice old irons, but I bought them before they were vintage. I used them at every opportunity, so they are pretty much beat to hell. Same thing with my vintage woods. they were used often and hard. I know nothing about old guitars, but I owned a muscle car. In every metric, other than go fast, our Subaru is a better car. Better steering, better brakes, better suspension on and on. That old SS 396 ran like a birch, but, looking back, it was a miserable car for every day driving.

[golfunderpar18]

Yup! Definitely is...depending on condition, originality (original grip ans shaft band for example).....

[smashdn]

On 8/3/2020 at 3:14 AM, Jiggered said:

As you say, Japanese blades are the in thing and a golfer turning up on the first tee with a set (or posting some pictures in the main WRX forums) will get their ego stroked with admiring oohs and aaahs, if they turned up with a set of classic blades all they'd get are some funny looks.

People have always wanted to be admired and to fit in, but more so now than ever what with all the social media stuff. The day it becomes cool and respectable to have a bag full of great classic clubs will be the day prices start to rise.

 

While I'm buying clubs I'm happy with this state of affairs, when I'm selling more clubs than buying then I'd be okay with prices rising.

 

I don't get many ooh's or aah's when I show up with the Apex Plus's though they are Japanese forgings.  They have some serious bag chatter and some nice worn spots on the faces.  I get some sideways glances for sure.

 

And to go along with the OP's question and my statement above, they aren't collectable because they got used.  They are designed to be swung into and strike the ground.  That beats them up.  They rode around in bags on shoulders and carts and in trunks of cars or beds of trucks.

 

Jack and Johnnie weren't trying to get their hands on 50's models Macs to hang on the wall, they were gaming them.

Edited August 20, 2020 by smashdn

[James the Hogan Fan]

I believe classic clubs do not command high prices because there is a difference between "classic" and "collectable". 

 

It's kind of like stamps and coins. The vast majority of stamps and coins are common, millions were made and used, and even things that seem like the would be rare (1929 Silver dollar, for example), wind up being worth about their weight in silver without much collector's premium. In car land, I had a 1985 F-350. Great truck, well built, but only $1500. Same deal, too common

 

From 1945-1990 millions upon millions of golf clubs were made at all price points for all golfers. Even clubs with good reputations, let's say "Hogan Apex 1988" were still produced on the order of thousands upon thousands of sets. There are simply too many still available to be expensive beyond the $50-200 commanded by almost all 25+ year old clubs. 

[BIG STU]

On 8/5/2020 at 4:16 PM, Mitchell said:

...Or a lead-taped Ping Zing2 ?

HA HA I have one of those too. But unlike yours mine is SS

[BIG STU]

On 8/20/2020 at 9:16 AM, smashdn said:

 

I don't get many ooh's or aah's when I show up with the Apex Plus's though they are Japanese forgings.  They have some serious bag chatter and some nice worn spots on the faces.  I get some sideways glances for sure.

 

And to go along with the OP's question and my statement above, they aren't collectable because they got used.  They are designed to be swung into and strike the ground.  That beats them up.  They rode around in bags on shoulders and carts and in trunks of cars or beds of trucks.

 

Jack and Johnnie weren't trying to get their hands on 50's models Macs to hang on the wall, they were gaming them.

Bag chatter, wear spots and lead tape add character IMHO---- Personally I notice something like that before I notice shiny new sticks. Right now I am gaming my 13 year old set of KZG Tear Drop cavity backs only because they have graphite shafts. Someone at my course noticed Saturday that they were getting a little rust around the CB side. Told me I ought to clean them better. He about had a heart attack when he saw my Santa Fe putter. One of my Dog Fight partners quipped at him "you oughta see what he normally plays with" My team agreed my KZG irons were too clean and neat for me. But hey I gotta hit them for now because my back is still a work in progress

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

16 hours ago, BIG STU said:

Bag chatter, wear spots and lead tape add character IMHO---- Personally I notice something like that before I notice shiny new sticks. Right now I am gaming my 13 year old set of KZG Tear Drop cavity backs only because they have graphite shafts. Someone at my course noticed Saturday that they were getting a little rust around the CB side. Told me I ought to clean them better. He about had a heart attack when he saw my Santa Fe putter. One of my Dog Fight partners quipped at him "you oughta see what he normally plays with" My team agreed my KZG irons were too clean and neat for me. But hey I gotta hit them for now because my back is still a work in progress

 

Great to hear you're playing again, but go easy on the back, please.

[cold_war_era_golfer]

Interesting thread as to I’m new to golf I’m finding used stuff from the 70s-90s to be rather affordable compared to modern stuff.

 

Not sure if I’m over paying but it seems cheap when I buy 4 ping eye 2 woods for 20 bucks.

 

I’m a semi pro guitarist now.   Thing with vintage guitars isn’t only this idea that they were built better but that they are what the pros were using.   In the 60/70s a lot of stars were using guitars built in the 50s so there’s this belief you will play better or sound better on an older guitar.   It’s mostly bs as to a really good guitarist can make a made in Mexico stratocaster sound just like a custom shop.

 

How about nostalgia?   As a child of the 80s/90s I got into collecting older video games at garage sales when I was a poor college student in the early 2000s.

 

Now most of those games have quadrupled in price on eBay.  I paid less for a set of Wilson Staff Goose Neck irons than a copy of Ducktails 2 sells for the NES.

Edited September 9, 2020 by oldpinggolfer