What are the hardest clubs to hit ever?

[Upgrayedd]

Old northwestern blades. The was no sweet spot. Let me repeat: These clubs came SANS SWEET SPOT.

[NevinW]

[quote name='rgk5' timestamp='1140090642' post='120767']
Two come to mind. The 1971 Power Bilt Scotch Blade and the 1983 Hogan Apex PC
[/quote]

I tried to switch from a set of Hogan Apexes to the Scotch Blade and it was shocking how much more difficult it was to hit the Powerbilts. I gave up and went back to the Hogans.

[GooseHook]

My first set, purchased from a yard sale..

Macgregor MT step-soled musclebacks.

[stage1350]

[quote name='autisticlove' timestamp='1134436915' post='77710']
My vote goes to the Snake Eyes Smith and Wesson forged MB 1. It was such a pain to hit, granted, I was young when they came out, but I was already hitting MP 14s. I have a few Hogan blades from the early and mid-eighties that are pretty miserable as well. As far as woods go, I'd have to vote for the Pittsburg Persimmon and the bore thru PT 13.
[/quote]

The Smith & Wesson MB-1 blades were definitely not forgiving. Too much offset, short heel/toe, and not a great sole grind. I loved the EV Snake Eyes wedges. The irons, not so much. These were up there with MacGregor Muirfields.

[Mitchell]

Have to agree with Zach, Reid Lockhart blades were very punishing if miss was toward toe, great sole grind though especially in short irons and wedges.

[bladehunter]

was raised on a small set of titleist blades , so anything with offset and wide sole is hard for me to hit well... hows that for irony?

[lumberman2462]

I don't know about the 1971 Powerbilt Scotch Blade but I got my hands on a set of mid 80s Scotch Blades that were made for Kenny Perry with tree trunks for shafts and they were unkind. Kind of ironic considering how much I've grown to like Scotch.

92-93 Hogan Apex Grind. Sweet spot in the heel on those babies. Presumably because that's where The Hawk liked to hit the ball.

Slazenger Crown Royal Blade. I don't think there was a sweet spot....intentionally.

Miura Baby Blades were very small. Pure in the center....but very small.

[Armypilot84]

Any 1 iron. In the rare event I can manage to get the ball more than 5 feet off the ground, the shot shape would be that of a banana.

[dornstar]

[quote name='Mitchell' timestamp='1396642178' post='9021771']
Have to agree with Zach, Reid Lockhart blades were very punishing if miss was toward toe, great sole grind though especially in short irons and wedges.
[/quote]
This.

I played them for a while and loved the higher ball flight and wedges, but man they were just brutal on off center hits.

[Jeckert07]

Big 'ol GI irons with lightweight shafts...I'm all over the place with those things!

[RRFireblade]

Any OS iron with a thick topline and a little bit of offset, said every wrx'er ever.

[highergr0und]

I had a set of Yamaha Hal Sutton grind blades. I don't think the majority of the irons even had a sweet spot.

[JRS]

king cobra oversize norman grinds. I can hit a fair ball and have several sets of blades that I have no problem hitting. but those things, I just can't flush them save for the occasional fluke. shame because I really like their look and the ping like indestructible finish.

[drg613]

Back in the day when I was pretty new to the game, I remember acquiring this Yamaha blade 2-iron. Not really knowing much about clubs (and this was way before I started hanging around here with you hoodlums), I figured, "hey, it looks cool, sure I can hit it". Well, we all know how that worked out. I mean, you could shave with this thing...

[super20dan]

wilson staff fg17 for me. i have many other blades i hit just fine. the fg17,s are wolfsbane

[Jeremy Thee]

[quote name='Upgrayedd' timestamp='1396632419' post='9020339']
Old northwestern blades. The was no sweet spot. Let me repeat: These clubs came SANS SWEET SPOT.
[/quote]
I had those same clubs. I don't think the All Mighty could find the sweet spot on those clubs because they were created to not have a sweet spot. Painful clubs.

[MyShortGameSucks]

Not in quite the same league as the older blades but I had a combo set of Mizuno MP30/MP37. They were just the most miserable, unforgiving set of irons have ever played. I played Hogan blades through college and MP14s after that and I was fine with those. Thankfully Mizuno brought out the MP32 soon after and normal service resumed...

[dunn]

[quote name='Marc' timestamp='1139867831' post='118172']
I had a set of Hogan Apex blades back around 1980.. I was carrying about a 3 handicap at the time and thought I could hit them.. NOPE..
[/quote]had a set of hogan apex from 90's that were tough bit so sweet if you nutted em....same ones leonard and sutton gamed in their prime

[Architect]

[quote name='hacker4ever' timestamp='1140111461' post='121005'][quote name='Marc' post='118172' date='Feb 13 2006, 03:57 PM']
I had a set of Hogan Apex blades back around 1980.. I was carrying about a 3 handicap at the time and thought I could hit them.. NOPE..
[/quote]


I won a set of those at a tournament and gave them a try. I couldn't ask for a better feeling iron that one time out of a thousand that I hit the sweet spot. A slight mishit rewarded you with a shot that finished a little over halfway to the hole. I just shuddered thinking about some of the clanky shots I hit with those. I like my X-18s because I can make a pretty decent shot with them out on the toe that would have been a whiff with the Apex irons. I don't miss the "good old days" at all.[/quote]

I grew up playing a set of Apex IIs. The punishing sting that came from not hitting the sweet spot will never be forgotten. I describe it as an electrical shock up ones arms. Such, such trauma...

[richard t]

Used to get my uncles Hogans every couple years or so. Learned to play with them. Boy was I good (lol). Along comes Ping Eye2s. Hmmmmmmm, goofy looking things. There are three great sets of Hogans hanging on my rec room wall. Yes, they were sweet, I loved them. Every time I think about taking them out I just ask myself- Why? Hogan Apex vs I20s at this point. Yeah, fool, why?

[Scratchtastic]

There's not a ton of forgiveness in my hickory shafted gamers. COG is super high heel.

The heads are also substantially lighter than a modern set and the shafts are much heavier.

Makes it even more satisfying when you pure it and shoot a decent round (<75) with that gear.

[CallMeStitch]

[quote name='super20dan' timestamp='1396658529' post='9023271']
wilson staff fg17 for me. i have many other blades i hit just fine. the fg17,s are wolfsbane
[/quote]

Hey SuperDan, your avatar photo looks to be exactly the set of '78 Hogans I just inherited! They were all rust-pocked and looked fairly sorry...but m'Pappy's old Coca-Cola rust-removal trick worked like a charm w/a standard metal-bristle brush = back to chrome finish and I've been playing the set for about 2 weeks now. Love them.

...and as it pertains to this thread, they are becoming easier to hit, though yes they are unforgiving on any mishit (thin, toe, etc.)...however the pure butter feel of a good strike is peerless.

I now think I must chime in that, although maybe not the MOST DIFFICULT to hit, the HARDEST to hit clubs I've held are some old Powerbuilt TPS CB Irons (they have Black metal heads w/Red iron-numbering). They look cool but even "clean" hits just feel AWFUL. Like cueball-striking-8ball-clicky kind of awful...

[Scratchtastic]

I'm pretty sure those PowerBuilts (along with some older Cleveland 588 irons) were finished in melonite (ferritic nitrocarburizing) which is a ridiculously hard coating.....kind of like Carbonite.

[sdandrea]

I'm 62 years old and I have my late father-in-law's 1939 hickory shafted rusted steel headed irons with tape wrap grips. I have never tried to hit them, but I am fairly certain they rank right up there with anything else that's labeled as hard to hit. The scary thing is that Bobby Jones and Harry Vardon (and those other legends) used to flush those things high and straight. YIKES!

[Scratchtastic]

I think Peter Alliss said it best when he stated the best players were the guys playing in the 1920s when you look at the equipment they were using and the numbers they were shooting.

[square]

A club with too stiff a shaft for the swing.

[GoStars]

The Hogan Junior blades (3,5,7,9) set that was my first clubs in the mid 80s. Club face wasn't much bigger than he ball, and they STUNG to mishit. I can shoot mid 80s today, and shot 120 then.. But I still couldn't hit those.

[setter02]

Hardest newer iron that I've failed at gaming was a set of CG1 black pearls. Nike blades and TM TP MBs were a dream. Tried to smack a set of blades from the 80s last year and didn't make it past the hitting net beside the first tee...

[Guia]

Hickory shafted irons with their small thin heads.

[DavePelz4]

I have a difficult time hitting a backhanded, turned down 1 iron. If I can get 250 out of it I'm lucky.

BTW, if this doesn't end up in the "line you knew when you were on GolfWRX" thread, fully quoted, I'll be miffed.