MacGregor "Custom Limited" - very rare perhaps?

[rmc26]

Hello,

 

I posted this years ago with no luck but I'm back on the hunt for information. 

 

I have a set of MacGregor Diamondbacks the say "Custom Limited". 

 

I've searched the internet and never seen another set or reference. 

 

Can anyone tell me anything about this set?

[Nard_S]

Here's what I can tell you. The serial on mine says "SO" which I read as special order, mine have "89" as next sequence which I take to be year 1989. Then the rest is just a job number. Mine say "Jack Nicklaus" on muscle and stamped "Custom Limited" in corner but they are basically square toed Murifields. Have same diamond stamps on grooves, same chrome finish along with same fonts for stamps as yours.

 

Your set looks to be made as a special order in 1990. The diamond back muscle is a redo of an earlier model. My set is gorgeous but they are not from a vintage production run, my guess is yours is the same situation.

[BIG STU]

Straight out of the custom shop--- Forgings appear to be the same as 57 thru 59 Diamondbacks--- Back in those days you could order and spec out any style head you wanted along with the stampings you wanted. Those faces look like they sit exactly like a VIP at address

Edited November 16, 2021 by BIG STU

[BIG STU]

2 hours ago, Nard_S said:

Here's what I can tell you. The serial on mine says "SO" which I read as special order, mine have "89" as next sequence which I take to be year 1989. Then the rest is just a job number. Mine say "Jack Nicklaus" on muscle and stamped "Custom Limited" in corner but they are basically square toed Murifields. Have same diamond stamps on grooves, same chrome finish along with same fonts for stamps as yours.

 

Your set looks to be made as a special order in 1990. The diamond back muscle is a redo of an earlier model. My set is gorgeous but they are not from a vintage production run, my guess is yours is the same situation.

Nard if I remember correctly you posted yours and they are exactly what you said

 

[xgolfx]

These clubs were custom ordered,but are not rare.

 

CHARLEY PENNA

[strug'-a-ling]

Classic MacGregor, Spalding, and Wilson (the real Wilson from the old days) irons always leave me feeling nostalgic when I see them.

 

Strange to remember that none of them was a straight golf company like Callaway, Ping, TaylorMade, and Titleist are today.

 

They were all general sporting goods manufacturers, and they all sold inexpensive model golf clubs in department stores,

 

but their real pro shop clubs were magnificent.  Their pro advisory staffs were star studded. 

At least I remember them that way.

[aswile]

55 minutes ago, xgolfx said:

These clubs were custom ordered,but are not rare.

 

CHARLEY PENNA

Maybe not rare, but very cool! I love the old Macs

[MizunoMayhem]

56 minutes ago, xgolfx said:

These clubs were custom ordered,but are not rare.

 

CHARLEY PENNA

But beautiful, nonetheless!

 

MizunoMayhem

[aswile]

...and off he goes to search Ebay for old Macs

[Nard_S]

4 hours ago, BIG STU said:

Nard if I remember correctly you posted yours and they are exactly what you said

Yeah, I recall you were the one or one of, who helped answer what they were. 🙂

 

[rmc26]

Thank you all! Really cool to know when they were made. 

 

While I'm not looking for them to be rare. My question remains, why the "Custom Limited" as all the others are "Tourney Custom". 

 

In all the internet images and forums, I've not found another example of these. 

 

Thank you for the insight. 

 

 

[BIG STU]

12 hours ago, strug'-a-ling said:

Classic MacGregor, Spalding, and Wilson (the real Wilson from the old days) irons always leave me feeling nostalgic when I see them.

 

Strange to remember that none of them was a straight golf company like Callaway, Ping, TaylorMade, and Titleist are today.

 

They were all general sporting goods manufacturers, and they all sold inexpensive model golf clubs in department stores,

 

but their real pro shop clubs were magnificent.  Their pro advisory staffs were star studded. 

At least I remember them that way.

And all 3 of those companies had extensive custom departments in those days. You could have built any way you wanted. I think the best I ever saw was a couple of sets of 53 grind Top Flites with 67 Bird on the Ball Stampings. Wilson also had some interesting grinds in those days. I can remember one of the hustlers loved 53 Top Flites. My Old man was mostly a Wilson and Mac dealer but had connections at Spalding as well. He ordered the 53 grinds in fact 2 sets heads only. Soon as they got in they were sent to Harold Dale's shop in Charlotte for installation of you guessed it Hogan Apex Shafts. Now as far as Hogan I do not know anything at all on their custom stuff because for some reason my old man did not like Hogan himself and would not sell Hogan stuff except Apex shafts and he had a outside source for them. When Hogan put out his letter about Apex shafts in non Hogan clubs it did not stop my old man and his Hogan dealer bud one bit. The guys just bought complete sets of Hogan irons and switched shafts. I said it on here one day there is no telling how many Hogan heads unhit were in Harold Dale's shop when he passed away. Those serious hustlers that played golf for a living did not care about spending money. After all it was the tools of their trade

Maybe some of you Hoganistas can share some light on Hogan Custom stuff because I would be interested to know

[weakputt]

2 hours ago, BIG STU said:

And all 3 of those companies had extensive custom departments in those days. You could have built any way you wanted. I think the best I ever saw was a couple of sets of 53 grind Top Flites with 67 Bird on the Ball Stampings. Wilson also had some interesting grinds in those days. I can remember one of the hustlers loved 53 Top Flites. My Old man was mostly a Wilson and Mac dealer but had connections at Spalding as well. He ordered the 53 grinds in fact 2 sets heads only. Soon as they got in they were sent to Harold Dale's shop in Charlotte for installation of you guessed it Hogan Apex Shafts. Now as far as Hogan I do not know anything at all on their custom stuff because for some reason my old man did not like Hogan himself and would not sell Hogan stuff except Apex shafts and he had a outside source for them. When Hogan put out his letter about Apex shafts in non Hogan clubs it did not stop my old man and his Hogan dealer bud one bit. The guys just bought complete sets of Hogan irons and switched shafts. I said it on here one day there is no telling how many Hogan heads unhit were in Harold Dale's shop when he passed away. Those serious hustlers that played golf for a living did not care about spending money. After all it was the tools of their trade

Maybe some of you Hoganistas can share some light on Hogan Custom stuff because I would be interested to know

Big Stu, you always have awesomely shared knowledge of clubs from almost a Circa's.

Question: Not so far back as 1990, did MacGregor really have an emphases on custom ordered clubs? I want to think they were really struggling back then to stay in business after Jack pulled out. I think "Limited Custom" ordered clubs would be pretty rare in "mint" condition.

Makes me want to go down to my basement and look at my PT2 CF4000, Tommy Armour REG 985 and  DX sets that have similar Diamondbacks.

[BIG STU]

32 minutes ago, weakputt said:

Big Stu, you always have awesomely shared knowledge of clubs from almost a Circa's.

Question: Not so far back as 1990, did MacGregor really have an emphases on custom ordered clubs? I want to think they were really struggling back then to stay in business after Jack pulled out. I think "Limited Custom" ordered clubs would be pretty rare in "mint" condition.

Makes me want to go down to my basement and look at my PT2 CF4000, Tommy Armour REG 985 and  DX sets that have similar Diamondbacks.

I think in that era Macgregor was in a decline product wise and yes was struggling. They tried to go the cavity back way and made some CBs but also made some horrid ones. Also they did not promote like the upstart companies like TM and Callaway. In that time frame the big box golf stores were florishing and were getting deals and promotions from the new companies. I think the demise of Macgregor Spalding and Wilson was due to local club pros not being able to be competive from a price standpoint. I can remember the first big box golf store in our area around 80 or so. I remember my old man saw the writing on the wall as far as equipment sales. He told a friend of his it was time to retire of course he was about 67 at the time. I think and this is just IMHO that if someone had bought Macgregor and really loved the line and had done some advertising and promoting it would have survived--- Look at Wilson today they have risen from the ashes so to speak--- When Golfsmith first bought them they had some quality forged irons but did not promote them as much as outside brands like TM and Callaway which I found puzzling. Then the quality slipped and they became a cheap brand. Even their Chinese made golf bags frankly sucked. As of 90 I think all of the big 3 the custom departments were virtually gone Wilson may have struggled on a little longer. It was the start of investors not caring about tradition and quality just a quick buck

[strug'-a-ling]

4 hours ago, BIG STU said:

And all 3 of those companies had extensive custom departments in those days. You could have built any way you wanted. I think the best I ever saw was a couple of sets of 53 grind Top Flites with 67 Bird on the Ball Stampings. Wilson also had some interesting grinds in those days. I can remember one of the hustlers loved 53 Top Flites. My Old man was mostly a Wilson and Mac dealer but had connections at Spalding as well. He ordered the 53 grinds in fact 2 sets heads only. Soon as they got in they were sent to Harold Dale's shop in Charlotte for installation of you guessed it Hogan Apex Shafts. Now as far as Hogan I do not know anything at all on their custom stuff because for some reason my old man did not like Hogan himself and would not sell Hogan stuff except Apex shafts and he had a outside source for them. When Hogan put out his letter about Apex shafts in non Hogan clubs it did not stop my old man and his Hogan dealer bud one bit. The guys just bought complete sets of Hogan irons and switched shafts. I said it on here one day there is no telling how many Hogan heads unhit were in Harold Dale's shop when he passed away. Those serious hustlers that played golf for a living did not care about spending money. After all it was the tools of their trade

Maybe some of you Hoganistas can share some light on Hogan Custom stuff because I would be interested to know

Very interesting stuff, Stu.  The 1953 Top Flite grind was even ostensibly re-introduced as a cast club called the Top Flite Legacy.  Those familiar with the real thing said that they weren't at all the same.

 

[BIG STU]

3 hours ago, strug'-a-ling said:

Very interesting stuff, Stu.  The 1953 Top Flite grind was even ostensibly re-introduced as a cast club called the Top Flite Legacy.  Those familiar with the real thing said that they weren't at all the same.

 

Nope no where near it I hit some and they felt horrible

[Pepperturbo]

I have a 2 2-irons and 3-LW set of pretty Custom MacGregor MBs, with trademark diamonds on the face and their special ferrules.  They look similar to the Ops, but no signature. 

 

That set was custom-made and fitted to me, back at 2k, when MacGregor was still doing real custom fitting and club building.  What a detailed and involved process and wasn't cheap.  I haven't seen anything comparable since.

[Bigarch]

I screenshot these pictures off of another post somewhere here on WRX because I thought they were cool and I wanted some friends to see them that don't frequent this website.  The pictures are not mine.  But it gives some insight.  For custom stuff... you could pretty much tell Mac, Spalding, and others to stamp any darned thing you wanted to on your clubs.  Check out these custom orders for Weiskopf, Norman and Price.

 

My favorite story in this regard involves a friend of mine who had custom woods made by Spalding with his name stamped on the soleplates.  A friend of his hit them and wanted a set just like them.  So he wrote down the serial number and sent it to Spalding and said make me a set of woods just like these.  Eventually his new clubs arrived.... with my buddy's name stamped on the sole plates. 😆

[weakputt]

6 hours ago, Bigarch said:

I screenshot these pictures off of another post somewhere here on WRX because I thought they were cool and I wanted some friends to see them that don't frequent this website.  The pictures are not mine.  But it gives some insight.  For custom stuff... you could pretty much tell Mac, Spalding, and others to stamp any darned thing you wanted to on your clubs.  Check out these custom orders for Weiskopf, Norman and Price.

 

My favorite story in this regard involves a friend of mine who had custom woods made by Spalding with his name stamped on the soleplates.  A friend of his hit them and wanted a set just like them.  So he wrote down the serial number and sent it to Spalding and said make me a set of woods just like these.  Eventually his new clubs arrived.... with my buddy's name stamped on the sole plates. 😆

Those order forms are pretty cool.

[SteveNZ]

On 11/19/2021 at 5:07 PM, Bigarch said:

I screenshot these pictures off of another post somewhere here on WRX because I thought they were cool and I wanted some friends to see them that don't frequent this website.  The pictures are not mine.  But it gives some insight.  For custom stuff... you could pretty much tell Mac, Spalding, and others to stamp any darned thing you wanted to on your clubs.  Check out these custom orders for Weiskopf, Norman and Price.

 

My favorite story in this regard involves a friend of mine who had custom woods made by Spalding with his name stamped on the soleplates.  A friend of his hit them and wanted a set just like them.  So he wrote down the serial number and sent it to Spalding and said make me a set of woods just like these.  Eventually his new clubs arrived.... with my buddy's name stamped on the sole plates. 😆

These are fantastic. I think we all have an idea about what average swingweight might be, or what a particular pro might go for, but look. Norman with all his power and athleticism was a pretty average D2. Price, with the exception of Watson, maybe the best quick tempo swinger there's ever been is a relatively light D0. And Weiskopf, whose swing everyone wanted back in the day is E2 - and don't you dare put the grips on! So many different ways to swing 'em.

Edited November 24, 2021 by SteveNZ

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

2 hours ago, SteveNZ said:

These are fantastic. I think we all have an idea about what average swingweight might be, or what a particular pro might go for, but look. Norman with all his power and athleticism was a pretty average D2. Price, with the exception of Watson, maybe the best quick tempo swinger there's ever been is a relatively light D0. And Weiskopf, whose swing everyone wanted back in the day is E2 - and don't you dare put the grips on! So many different ways to swing 'em.

 

Thing I found interesting with Norman's specs was that even though he was pretty tall (6'), it looks like he's playing a 35" PW. Weiskopf, at 6'3", has his PW at 35.75" (without grip). In fact, looking at his specs, I could play Weiskopf's set readily. I like the small progression between the short irons.

 

So, Tom, if you're reading this, feel free to post 'em to me...🤣

[NRJyzr]

4 hours ago, SteveNZ said:

These are fantastic. I think we all have an idea about what average swingweight might be, or what a particular pro might go for, but look. Norman with all his power and athleticism was a pretty average D2. Price, with the exception of Watson, maybe the best quick tempo swinger there's ever been is a relatively light D0. And Weiskopf, whose swing everyone wanted back in the day is E2 - and don't you dare put the grips on! So many different ways to swing 'em.

 

That E2 for Weiskopf is without the grips on.  Adding grips will bring that down to more pedestrian levels.  🙂

 

Possibly even a little light...   <shrug>

 

Edited November 24, 2021 by NRJyzr

[SteveNZ]

On 11/25/2021 at 3:15 AM, NRJyzr said:

 

That E2 for Weiskopf is without the grips on.  Adding grips will bring that down to more pedestrian levels.  🙂

 

Possibly even a little light...   <shrug>

 

Doh, of course 🤦‍♂️

[NRJyzr]

45 minutes ago, SteveNZ said:

Doh, of course 🤦‍♂️

 

Elkington is known for using clubs around that, so at first I didn't think much of it.  <shrug>