2021: the year for nonconforming grooves from 2003 and a pleather bag

[pretzelbag]

After a few years of searching, I acquired some nearly new Tommy Armour 845m irons late in 2020 and have put them in play.  Who needs current technology when you can have nonconforming grooves on a set of blades?  These suckers shave the cover off a ball like a waiter serving you freshly-grated parmesan at a nice Italian restaurant.

 

Aside from that, they are fantastic to play as well as to look at.  Designed by Ralph Maltby in 2003, they may be one of the most forgiving blades of the last 20 years.  I put NS Pro Modus 3 shafts in them which give a nice launch vector and are shiny enough to match the chrome heads.

 

I will leave it to you to calculate how many artificial cows had to give their hides to make the Tommy Armour bag, which, like any bag worth owning, is 100% pleather.  (The bag is from the late 80s/early 90s I think.)  They don't make 'em like that any more--and by "like that" I mean with crappy zippers, multiple inaccessible pockets when on any kind of cart, no drink/pencil/glove holder, a thick single strap that is as flexible as a broomstick, fur-lined dividers, etc.

 

As a good luck talisman, I have put a 15th club in the bag: a rusted PGA Tommy Armour Reg. 709 Silver Scot putter that was used by my father-in-law's father after he retired from his job as a PGA Tour / club pro in the mid 80s.  I don't use it for play but hope to ward off the 3 of Jacks (w/limited success so far).

[BIG STU]

Love it man those are great irons--- And who gives two rips about what the USGA says or does. And yes those old bags were built proper and tough--- I use a 30 year old Burton myself that is non marked. Due to a bad injury a year ago I had to switch from my beloved Mac VIPs with Hogan shafts to the graphite shafted forged CBs I am gaming now. Of course by WRX standards they are antique because they are 15 years old. But yep those irons you have hit as smooth and pure as anything else out there now in capable hands. Glad you posted

[JungleJimbo]

On 3/17/2021 at 6:45 AM, pretzelbag said:

After a few years of searching, I acquired some nearly new Tommy Armour 845m irons late in 2020 and have put them in play.  Who needs current technology when you can have nonconforming grooves on a set of blades?  These suckers shave the cover off a ball like a waiter serving you freshly-grated parmesan at a nice Italian restaurant.

 

Aside from that, they are fantastic to play as well as to look at.  Designed by Ralph Maltby in 2003, they may be one of the most forgiving blades of the last 20 years.  I put NS Pro Modus 3 shafts in them which give a nice launch vector and are shiny enough to match the chrome heads.

 

I will leave it to you to calculate how many artificial cows had to give their hides to make the Tommy Armour bag, which, like any bag worth owning, is 100% pleather.  (The bag is from the late 80s/early 90s I think.)  They don't make 'em like that any more--and by "like that" I mean with crappy zippers, multiple inaccessible pockets when on any kind of cart, no drink/pencil/glove holder, a thick single strap that is as flexible as a broomstick, fur-lined dividers, etc.

 

As a good luck talisman, I have put a 15th club in the bag: a rusted PGA Tommy Armour Reg. 709 Silver Scot putter that was used by my father-in-law's father after he retired from his job as a PGA Tour / club pro in the mid 80s.  I don't use it for play but hope to ward off the 3 of Jacks (w/limited success so far).

@pretzelbag:

There’s also a gorgeous Bridgestone wedge hiding there (in plain sight)... please share details on the other clubs in your WITB? Thanks! 🙏 (am guessing there’s a Fly-Z or Z+ in there too?)

[pretzelbag]

On 3/17/2021 at 6:16 PM, JungleJimbo said:

@pretzelbag:

There’s also a gorgeous Bridgestone wedge hiding there (in plain sight)... please share details on the other clubs in your WITB? Thanks! 🙏 (am guessing there’s a Fly-Z or Z+ in there too?)

Since there is little chance of finding the matching Tommy Armour wedges in like new shape, I brought the Bridgestone wedges (50/54/60) over from the prior non-pleather bag. The quality of those wedges is top notch as would be expected from them.

 

The long stuff is indeed Cobra-centric...one 4i utility, two Fly-Z hybrids, and a Fly-Z+ driver. The hybrids are red and blue, and the driver is red.

 

It’s too bad Cobra doesn’t offer bright colors on their hybrids and drivers any more. Back when I bought those clubs they offered green, orange, black, white, red, and blue. Made for a nice break from the common black clubheads (e.g., on my Bridgestone J715 driver).

[pretzelbag]

On 3/17/2021 at 5:42 PM, BIG STU said:

Love it man those are great irons--- And who gives two rips about what the USGA says or does. And yes those old bags were built proper and tough--- I use a 30 year old Burton myself that is non marked. Due to a bad injury a year ago I had to switch from my beloved Mac VIPs with Hogan shafts to the graphite shafted forged CBs I am gaming now. Of course by WRX standards they are antique because they are 15 years old. But yep those irons you have hit as smooth and pure as anything else out there now in capable hands. Glad you posted

Heh heh...I don’t really care about the USGA and their crazy groove rules either but when researching the club specs (I play 1” over and 2 degrees up so needed to know where they started from), I noticed that the 845m irons did not conform and figured I’d tell my friends that if I start beating them 10 and 9 that it’s because of my illegal grooves. 
 

I played Spanish Bay the other day in light rain and can affirm that this is possibly the greatest rain golf bag ever, so long as you cover the top. (The bag has no rain cover of its own, which adds to its charm.) Water beaded on the pleather like drops on a newly-waxed show car.  One quick wipe and kaboom, it was ready for its close-up.

 

Ain’t no way any amount of water is going to penetrate this bag...it will be in some landfill decomposing at the same rate as a styrofoam cup 50,000 years from now.

[CoachCraigie]

I love those irons you have. They look modern but classic at the same time!

[Brattina1221]

Aged in design but still look like they came off the presses. Strike them well

[pretzelbag]

12 hours ago, Brattina1221 said:

Aged in design but still look like they came off the presses. Strike them well

When they arrived they looked like they had been used for less than 10 rounds in 15+ years! I’ve put four on them myself.

 

I do like the look...they could be from almost any era since 1970. I will check my Kaplan MacGregor book; I suspect there are a few similar designs in there from years ago.