Old Iron Experiment: '76 Wilson Staff--80s Hogan Apex PC--90s Lynx Parallax--MP20 MMC

[MV8980]

On a whim, I went to the range with the 5-8-PW from four sets of my irons:  My current MP20 MMCs; Lynx Parallax from about 1992; Hogan Apex PC Blades from about 1984; and Wilson Staff Tour Blades from 1976.

 

Hit 5-10 balls with each set, wedge, then 8i, then 5i, in ascending order starting with the Tour Blades.  And, I was pleasantly surprised with the results!

 

Wilson Staff Tour Blades:  Always wanted them, but never had 'em as a kid, so I bought them used from eBay 10+ years ago.  Scored a nearly mint set.  Tiny, skinny heads you'd think would be impossible to hit and very unforgiving.  Much to my surprise, they were butter soft, incredible feel, and pure as could be.  Mishits were punished, mainly with distance, but were not painful.  Ball flight, trajectory, and consistency were excellent--even if distance was 10-20 yards less than my MMCs.  Most surprisingly, these clubs felt by far the best of the bunch that I hit, including my new MMCs.  I can see why so many good players played these back in the day. 

 

Hogan Apex PC Blades:  Played these all through high school and my first 2 years of Div 3 college golf, and it shows.  All of them have worn-out grooves and the distinct bell-shaped wear/rust pattern, so I wasn't expecting consistent ball flights with these.  Hitting them was a surprising disappointment.  They felt very harsh--mishits hurt and even center hits didn't feel soft and solid.  Ball flight was okay--consistently missed these a bit right of target.  Biggest disappointment was the harsh feel--by far the worst feeling of the lot.

 

Lynx Parallax:  Freddie won the 92 Masters with these...Ernie the 94 US Open.  Amazing looking irons with the more-square face and satin finish.  I still think they're one of the best looking irons out there.  These irons are cast--but on center hits, they feel almost as good as old or new forged irons.  Super easy to hit; mishits are only slightly punished.  Very high launching but very consistent.  I played these for about 12 years and can see why--they work, they look great, they feel great.  

 

Mizuno MP20 MMC:  Nothing feels like a Mizuno...and that's absolutely true.  Soft, yet you know where on the face every shot was struck.  Consistent, even on mishits.  Great ball flight.  Mishits go nearly as far as center hits.  Forgiving yet with great feedback.  Much longer than all of the above...yet the same ball flight despite much different lofts.  Much easier to hit than the old clubs, and far more forgiving.  New irons are better...even if the 70s Tour Blades felt that slightly bit better.  The MMCs will be in my bag for a long time.

 

Try this sometime--it was a very fun experiment!

 

 

[Gsea]

my favorite and gammers are Mizuno trues from 99, second favorite 65 Wilson Dynapowers. Both make golf worth playing.

 

[golfinbrad]

Wish I never sold my T Zoid Trues.

[braincramp52]

2 hours ago, MV8980 said:

On a whim, I went to the range with the 5-8-PW from four sets of my irons:  My current MP20 MMCs; Lynx Parallax from about 1992; Hogan Apex PC Blades from about 1984; and Wilson Staff Tour Blades from 1976.

 

Hit 5-10 balls with each set, wedge, then 8i, then 5i, in ascending order starting with the Tour Blades.  And, I was pleasantly surprised with the results!

 

Wilson Staff Tour Blades:  Always wanted them, but never had 'em as a kid, so I bought them used from eBay 10+ years ago.  Scored a nearly mint set.  Tiny, skinny heads you'd think would be impossible to hit and very unforgiving.  Much to my surprise, they were butter soft, incredible feel, and pure as could be.  Mishits were punished, mainly with distance, but were not painful.  Ball flight, trajectory, and consistency were excellent--even if distance was 10-20 yards less than my MMCs.  Most surprisingly, these clubs felt by far the best of the bunch that I hit, including my new MMCs.  I can see why so many good players played these back in the day. 

 

Hogan Apex PC Blades:  Played these all through high school and my first 2 years of Div 3 college golf, and it shows.  All of them have worn-out grooves and the distinct bell-shaped wear/rust pattern, so I wasn't expecting consistent ball flights with these.  Hitting them was a surprising disappointment.  They felt very harsh--mishits hurt and even center hits didn't feel soft and solid.  Ball flight was okay--consistently missed these a bit right of target.  Biggest disappointment was the harsh feel--by far the worst feeling of the lot.

 

Lynx Parallax:  Freddie won the 92 Masters with these...Ernie the 94 US Open.  Amazing looking irons with the more-square face and satin finish.  I still think they're one of the best looking irons out there.  These irons are cast--but on center hits, they feel almost as good as old or new forged irons.  Super easy to hit; mishits are only slightly punished.  Very high launching but very consistent.  I played these for about 12 years and can see why--they work, they look great, they feel great.  

 

Mizuno MP20 MMC:  Nothing feels like a Mizuno...and that's absolutely true.  Soft, yet you know where on the face every shot was struck.  Consistent, even on mishits.  Great ball flight.  Mishits go nearly as far as center hits.  Forgiving yet with great feedback.  Much longer than all of the above...yet the same ball flight despite much different lofts.  Much easier to hit than the old clubs, and far more forgiving.  New irons are better...even if the 70s Tour Blades felt that slightly bit better.  The MMCs will be in my bag for a long time.

 

Try this sometime--it was a very fun experiment!

 

 

The MP20's should be longer. PW is 46 degrees and 7 iron is 32. That's 4 degrees stronger than the Lynx and Wilsons. Iron lengths are more than likely longer also although I didn't look up the specs. Couple that along with the steel shaft improvements and irons of today are a totally different animal.

[MV8980]

On 11/6/2020 at 5:42 PM, braincramp52 said:

The MP20's should be longer. PW is 46 degrees and 7 iron is 32. That's 4 degrees stronger than the Lynx and Wilsons. Iron lengths are more than likely longer also although I didn't look up the specs. Couple that along with the steel shaft improvements and irons of today are a totally different animal.

 

[MV8980]

Agreed.  This was by no means a distance experiment.  I knew my MMC's would be much longer than my old clubs.  This was a fun trip down memory lane to see how my old clubs felt, and to a much lesser extent, how they performed given the specs of each, not in comparison to my new clubs.  

 

On other occasions, I've tried to hit the Palmer Peerless persimmon driver I played from 1986 through 2000, and I could barely get that thing in in the air!  Love how the old clubs look...and in some cases I love how they feel.  But I'm glad new clubs are so much easier to hit and perform so much better.

[GSDriver]

On 11/6/2020 at 4:00 PM, Gsea said:

my favorite and gammers are Mizuno trues from 99, second favorite 65 Wilson Dynapowers. Both make golf worth playing.

 

Nice, I remember my T-Zoids, last set of Mizzy I owned, regret selling them now.