1953 Spalding Top-Flite Synchro-Dyned Irons

[ezgoer]

According to the legend up the page they are medium weight with either S or T (regular) shafts. Is there any letter left on shaft bands? Didn’t realize till just now the 6 iron I offered up is a O so that’s a light weight with ladies flex shaft apparently. Also my ladies clubs have a similar pattern grip but it’s black leather. My 53 Syncro’s have the red wrapped leather grips. I’ve seen Spalding use red leather so perhaps it’s an older style single piece leather? Looks like the collar used on leather grips on the bottom of the grip by the shaft.

Edited November 25, 2023 by ezgoer

[ezgoer]

Stiff or regular shaft that medium weight could be a good thing. Here’s my thinking. 
 

  My 53’s with the dot inside of diamond  (light weight) and True Tempor T (regular) shafts feel good. 

  My 54’s with the green label True Tempor 1 star Rocket shafts (stiff) feel amazing.
  

 They stopped that description stamping after 53. I don’t swing hard enough to overpower a regular shaft so don’t suspect it’s the shaft flex. I wonder if my 54’s are significantly heavier and that’s the difference in feel to me? I will get some weights and swing weight comparisons soon. 

[otw]

2 hours ago, ezgoer said:

According to the legend up the page they are medium weight with either S or T (regular) shafts. Is there any letter left on shaft bands? Didn’t realize till just now the 6 iron I offered up is a O so that’s a light weight with ladies flex shaft apparently. Also my ladies clubs have a similar pattern grip but it’s black leather. My 53 Syncro’s have the red wrapped leather grips. I’ve seen Spalding use red leather so perhaps it’s an older style single piece leather? Looks like the collar used on leather grips on the bottom of the grip by the shaft.

T shaft

[ezgoer]

Just for the sake of it I took some

Lorythmic Swingweights with my old  Kenneth Smith scale. 
 

1.Ladies Tournament 7

15.6 ounces total weight and C8+ LS

2.Lightweight R flex Synchro-Dyned 7

15.8 ounces total & D1+ LS

 

3.TT Rocket S flex Synchro-Dyned 7

16.2 ounces total & dead on D3 LS

4. Bridgestone J’s TT DG300 shaft 7

(Little more modern)

16 ounces total and hair under D2 LS

 

Just my opinion but I think the Rocket shafted 7 feels hands down the best of the 2 I’ve actually played. Matter of fact it feels as good as any club and was shocking to me how a 70 year old club can feel like that. Even with the stupid Lamkin Silhouette grip someone put on it. Most of my irons are S flex but I’m not a super strong swinger. I’d expect to get 145ish yards out of this 7 on a good strike. Absolute perfect blast over 150 but how often does that happen so Im definitely not worried about playing a R shaft iron. Especially 50’s flexes. 

 Could go on forever but reading up on swingweights can make your head spin. Last thing I read is initially swingweight readings where based off 130 gram shafts and 50 gram grips. Nowadays with modern stuff and middle weighted shafts and a million other factors they say the total weight feeling of the club to you is more important than overall swingweight. Just more confusion to me the farther I look. 
 

Oh yeah OTW’s Tournament grip looks similar to this black grip that’s on my Ladies Tournament. Even though mine is very dry I think it’s leather?? It’s not deteriorating like you would think any 70 year old rubber or whatever grip would be doing. Also it appears to have 2 seams about opposite of each other and that collar on the bottom. Those seems could be from a mold but again it’s not the same deterioration as say a 60’s Golf Pride grip. Those get rock hard and cracked and crumbly. 

[Jiggered]

I'm after a little help please regarding a question about non US produced Spalding irons, apologies for the long-winded post.

 

I did a video recently that included some Spalding irons and from the comments a discussion evolved that has me scratching my head a little.

 

The discussion began with some Henry Cotton irons produced around the late 1940s by/for Tom Stewart/Spalding or in partnership, see first picture below and note the two dots, which are coloured blue and red, I'd always assumed that these were to do with the Stewart forge.

 

This lead to a very similar iron head being shown but this time bearing the name Ossie Pickworth (an Australian Professional from the 1940s era) rather than Henry Cotton, a different Spalding stamp, no mention of Tom Stewart, BUT, those same two dots! Again, see picture below.

 

I recently picked up a 1954 Spalding catalogue produced for the UK market which included the Top-Flite model, I'd always assumed that these were shipped across from the US, either in component form or just the heads, for assembly in the UK, but studying them more closely there are some differences, the obvious one being those two dots again, which I've not seen on any of the irons posted previously in this thread. Pictures below of the catalogue page and an iron head currently on ebay UK.

 

So I ask the question; are Spalding clubs produced in or for overseas markets distinguished by having the two dots?

 

[bcstones]

2 hours ago, Jiggered said:

note the two dots, which are coloured blue and red,

Enjoyed the video….I too wondered about the 2 dots.

Sure hoping there’s a Spalding expert out there…

Keep up the great work w/your videos

[ElliottEats]

Hey guys, I have been trying to go through this thread and figure out what sets come from which eras, but I just want to confirm.

 

I recently got addicted to persimmons, my cousin is now getting into them, and apparently there is quite the collection amongst some of our family members. I am hoping to get some info on some a Spalding set my uncle just gave to my cousin.

From what I have read in this thread, the 5 iron is from the earlier models (53-55)


and the rusted out 10 iron is from the later models (56-58)?

 

He also has the 1-5w. Any info on those would be awesome too!

[ezgoer]

1 hour ago, ElliottEats said:

Hey guys, I have been trying to go through this thread and figure out what sets come from which eras, but I just want to confirm.

 

I recently got addicted to persimmons, my cousin is now getting into them, and apparently there is quite the collection amongst some of our family members. I am hoping to get some info on some a Spalding set my uncle just gave to my cousin.

From what I have read in this thread, the 5 iron is from the earlier models (53-55)


and the rusted out 10 iron is from the later models (56-58)?

 

He also has the 1-5w. Any info on those would be awesome too!

I’m far from a Spalding expert but from what I’ve picked up from having 1.5 sets. Your Tournament model #5 is 54 or later. 53 and earlier had the fancier brown marbled ferrules and stamp markings on the back for weight and shafts. Circles, triangles, diamonds etc. The 10 iron looks similar to the early 60’s models with that built up line/muscle back so guessing late 50’s. I have no idea on the persimmon cuz I have yet to own an old Spalding one. 

[SnowbirdTom]

The rust in that 10 iron will clean up easy.  WD-40 and a soft wire bristle brush will have it off in no time with no damage to the chrome.  Done a bunch that way and they stay nice with a little maintenance once

cleaned up.

[ElliottEats]

10 hours ago, ezgoer said:

I’m far from a Spalding expert but from what I’ve picked up from having 1.5 sets. Your Tournament model #5 is 54 or later. 53 and earlier had the fancier brown marbled ferrules and stamp markings on the back for weight and shafts. Circles, triangles, diamonds etc. The 10 iron looks similar to the early 60’s models with that built up line/muscle back so guessing late 50’s. I have no idea on the persimmon cuz I have yet to own an old Spalding one. 

Ahh, I was wondering about those. Those 1953's are sexy with the brown ferrule. I am going to have to keep my eye out for a set of those. Thank you for clarifying, re-reading this thread, I think you are right about the date ranges!

 

 

4 hours ago, SnowbirdTom said:

The rust in that 10 iron will clean up easy.  WD-40 and a soft wire bristle brush will have it off in no time with no damage to the chrome.  Done a bunch that way and they stay nice with a little maintenance once

cleaned up.

Awesome to here. My cousins is going to use these as a learning set for restoration, but we will likely send the persimmons out to someone with more experience. I will let him know about the WD40.

[bcstones]

3 hours ago, ElliottEats said:

I will let him know about the WD40.

Just to offer an alternative....WD40 is a great product. I used it until over 20 years ago when I was introduced to JB Blaster...it out performed, as I used it, to the WD40. Both are good products. I use PB on restoring/refurbishing vintage fishing reels.
btw...I spray the area & brush w/that brass welding brush, wipe & then go over w/a OOOO steel wool saturated w/PB Blaster & wipe again....I don't know the cost difference, if there is one, I've just been using the PB for what seems like a long time.

Hope your cousin has fun....

 

[cold_war_era_golfer]

@ElliottEatsThe 5 iron is from 1955.  10i is 1956 or 57.  Need to see more of the wood to get a better idea on the year.