Northwestern Qualifier Pro Master

[RMach]

Hi all, so I bought these Northwestern Qualifier Pro Master 3-9 at a garage sale this weekend. I know and I get that these where sold at Sears, Kmart and whatnot. 

What I am curious about is did Northwestern ever make any quality clubs?

I cannot find any information about these and even eBay shows no sales ever on this model. A magnet does not stick so I assume forged stainless steel heads and the plating is pretty dang good for a Northwestern. That's all that I know. I plan to hit them Friday.

So I am hoping maybe someone had a set back in the day or has any info at all really.

Thanks all!

[RobotDoctor]

Gary Player played Northwestern clubs for a short while.  I have no idea about these irons except they look like a copy of the Ben Hogan Radial irons.

[RMach]

14 minutes ago, RobotDoctor said:

Gary Player played Northwestern clubs for a short while.  I have no idea about these irons except they look like a copy of the Ben Hogan Radial irons.

Thanks, I thought that shape looked like something I had seen before.

 

[Swingingk]

I've seen these with other model names from Northwestern.  Like RobotDoctor suggested, they are basically a copy of Hogan Radials.  I'd think they are probably cast stainless.  

[MrFlipper]

TW 276 (Tom Weiskopf, that is)

 

Very nice

 

Only seen pictures. I'd sure snag a set if they became available 

[bcstones]

6 hours ago, RMach said:

Hi all, so I bought these Northwestern Qualifier Pro Master 3-9 at a garage sale this weekend. I know and I get that these where sold at Sears, Kmart and whatnot. 

What I am curious about is did Northwestern ever make any quality clubs?

I cannot find any information about these and even eBay shows no sales ever on this model. A magnet does not stick so I assume forged stainless steel heads and the plating is pretty dang good for a Northwestern. That's all that I know. I plan to hit them Friday.

So I am hoping maybe someone had a set back in the day or has any info at all really.

Thanks all!

Do you have access to a Maltby's Guide? There is an excellent section on Northwestern Golf Co. Yes, they did make pro-shop quality clubs as well as retail/general quality clubs....but so did Wilson, H&B, & MacGregor.

Maltby's '50 to '93 guide has listings for both "Qualifier" & " Pro Master", however not together. Maltby's only lists the professional lines...but they're still around, well at least as late as 30 years ago 😂

 

play 'em...have fun

 

Edited August 10, 2023 by bcstones

[RMach]

39 minutes ago, MrFlipper said:

TW 276 (Tom Weiskopf, that is)

 

Very nice

 

Only seen pictures. I'd sure snag a set if they became available 

That's a beauty! I really like the extra weight by the toe there. That almost reminds me of the MacGregor original Jack Nichlaus Muirfields in a way.

[raggal62]

16 hours ago, RMach said:

Hi all, so I bought these Northwestern Qualifier Pro Master 3-9 at a garage sale this weekend. I know and I get that these where sold at Sears, Kmart and whatnot. 

What I am curious about is did Northwestern ever make any quality clubs?

I cannot find any information about these and even eBay shows no sales ever on this model. A magnet does not stick so I assume forged stainless steel heads and the plating is pretty dang good for a Northwestern. That's all that I know. I plan to hit them Friday.

So I am hoping maybe someone had a set back in the day or has any info at all really.

Thanks all!

It's very possible the heads are made of zinc. Telltale indications are larger than normal hosel diameters and non magnetic properties.

[Shallowface]

11 hours ago, MrFlipper said:

TW 276 (Tom Weiskopf, that is)

 

Very nice

 

Only seen pictures. I'd sure snag a set if they became available 

There's a version that was sold by Bullet that appears to be the very same clubhead.  I often wondered if Northwestern sold the leftover heads to Bullet after they discontinued the model.

 

But yes, the TW276 was a quality club and was forged stainless.  The Thunderbird blades that my dad played in the 70s were as good as anything available at that time.  Their early metal woods were used on Tour, as they had a line of "Tour Spoons" that came in lofts from 9 to 12 degrees.

 

But of course most of it was store line and most of that wasn't, in my opinion, on the level of the store line offerings of the day from MacGregor, Wilson and Spalding.

[Shallowface]

2 hours ago, raggal62 said:

It's very possible the heads are made of zinc. Telltale indications are larger than normal hosel diameters and non magnetic properties.

I would agree that these are zinc.  They are from the early 90s, and while they appear in my Northwestern catalogs from that time they are only described as "cast" and "triple chrome plated."  They are in the back of the catalog (which means they are the bottom of the line) and the matching "woods" are those aluminum heads with the plastic crown inlay.

 

Several other Northwestern irons from years just prior to these were described as "high pressure injection casting," which is how those zinc alloy heads were manufactured.  The reason the hosels are thicker than normal is to prevent their tendency to break.  I was really surprised when these began to appear in the marketplace as I would think they might have caused liability issues for manufacturers, as a golf club breaking through use is a potentially dangerous item.  Northwestern wasn't the only company to offer them.  

 

In an effort to be helpful to those who are new to the classic club hobby, there are a couple of things that are important to remember.  Blades and cavity backs are club designs and can be made by forging or casting.  Forging and casting are manufacturing processes and can be used to make blades or cavity backs.  Just because a club is a chrome plated blade doesn't mean it's forged or of high quality.  Some of them are not even worth thrift store prices, and that really goes for anything made of zinc.  As with anything you buy, do everything you can to be an educated consumer so you don't waste your money.    

[RMach]

12 hours ago, bcstones said:

Do you have access to a Maltby's Guide? There is an excellent section on Northwestern Golf Co. Yes, they did make pro-shop quality clubs as well as retail/general quality clubs....but so did Wilson, H&B, & MacGregor.

Maltby's '50 to '93 guide has listings for both "Qualifier" & " Pro Master", however not together. Maltby's only lists the professional lines...but they're still around, well at least as late as 30 years ago 😂

 

play 'em...have fun

 

Hi, I am a very new collector. I will certainly buy the Maltby's guide. Are there any other reference books that you might suggest?

Thanks for the information!

[RMach]

20 minutes ago, Shallowface said:

I would agree that these are zinc.  They are from the early 90s, and while they appear in my Northwestern catalogs from that time they are only described as "cast" and "triple chrome plated."  They are in the back of the catalog (which means they are the bottom of the line) and the matching "woods" are those aluminum heads with the plastic crown inlay.

 

Several other Northwestern irons from years just prior to these were described as "high pressure injection casting," which is how those zinc alloy heads were manufactured.  The reason the hosels are thicker than normal is to prevent their tendency to break.  I was really surprised when these began to appear in the marketplace as I would think they might have caused liability issues for manufacturers, as a golf club breaking through use is a potentially dangerous item.  Northwestern wasn't the only company to offer them.  

 

In an effort to be helpful to those who are new to the classic club hobby, there are a couple of things that are important to remember.  Blades and cavity backs are club designs and can be made by forging or casting.  Forging and casting are manufacturing processes and can be used to make blades or cavity backs.  Just because a club is a chrome plated blade doesn't mean it's forged or of high quality.  Some of them are not even worth thrift store prices, and that really goes for anything made of zinc.  As with anything you buy, do everything you can to be an educated consumer so you don't waste your money.    

Thanks for the reply. Like you say, I am very new at this. I paid $18 for them and I just want to play a round or two with them. I really appreciate the education. 

[AdamMH]

We've established here that Northwestern had a few pro models, they're fairly uncommon as that wasn't really their focus. These were likely store line clubs.

[bcstones]

1 hour ago, RMach said:

Hi, I am a very new collector. I will certainly buy the Maltby's guide. Are there any other reference books that you might suggest?

Thanks for the information!

Kaplan edited guides of catalogs for Wilson, MacGregor, & Hillerich & Bradsby. The editions I have were published in 1983, someone here on another thread said they have a later edition. I hope to find them, I'm still searching.
Maltby has 4 editions each beginning in 1950 & ending in different years, #3 (that I have) ends in 1993. Ed 4 goes to '98, as it's finally dropped in price from a couple of hundred into the '$30+ range - I'll get ahold of one. Somewhere in this forum I was told there isn't a 5th edition.
I would say these are the basics....probably more out there that other members, w/more expertise, will share.

[Shallowface]

14 hours ago, bcstones said:

Do you have access to a Maltby's Guide? There is an excellent section on Northwestern Golf Co. Yes, they did make pro-shop quality clubs as well as retail/general quality clubs....but so did Wilson, H&B, & MacGregor.

Maltby's '50 to '93 guide has listings for both "Qualifier" & " Pro Master", however not together. Maltby's only lists the professional lines...but they're still around, well at least as late as 30 years ago 😂

 

play 'em...have fun

 

The vast majority of that which is in the Maltby guide in general is pro line, but I don't believe any of the Northwestern product from 1990-93 would be considered pro line.  Even looking at prior years there is a lot of store line Northwestern product in the Maltby listings.

 

By the early 90s, Northwestern had started a second company called Pro Select that sold the company's pro line offerings.

 

 

[bcstones]

47 minutes ago, AdamMH said:

We've established here that Northwestern had a few pro models, they're fairly uncommon as that wasn't really their focus. These were likely store line clubs.

ahhh....a few more than "...a few pro models". Maltby's, at least as bewteen '50 &'93, devotes almost 50 pages of professional club lines...Maltby's only lists professional lines, no store/retail/general lines. For grins, I checked in the 1960 years (I figured that NW made the infamous Arnold Palmer line for Sears), while the '60 contained lines for Byron Nelson, Jackie Pung, Betty Jamison, Johnny Revolt, and others - no mention of Palmer.
Maltby's history of each manufacturer is pretty intensive....up to 1993.

[bcstones]

20 minutes ago, Shallowface said:

The vast majority of that which is in the Maltby guide in general is pro line, but I don't believe any of the Northwestern product from 1990-93 would be considered pro line.  Even looking at prior years there is a lot of store line Northwestern product in the Maltby listings.

 

By the early 90s, Northwestern had started a second company called Pro Select that sold the company's pro line offerings.

 

 

I understand what you're saying, however I'm wondering if the stigma attached of also making clubs for the retail end, like the stigma of Palmer clubs (after his signing his "name" to Sears) might be showing. I do remember being told that NM clubs were cheap knockoffs only for retail/general/store line. I wouldn't be amazed to find out that's the reason for changing to "Pro Select" line...

Edited August 10, 2023 by bcstones

[Foozle]

Missed out on a set of Northwestern Tom Weiscoff irons last night. They were stamped forged and looked like a nice (if worn) set with an interesting sole profile. Kicking myself for missing them.

My only recollection of Northwestern back in the day were their "Powerkick" shafts which featured a severe step down perhaps 30 cm above the hosel. They were considered cutting edge at the time and, as I recall, quite upmarket / expensive.

As a brand, Northwestern are pretty rare on this side of the pond.

[AdamMH]

1 hour ago, bcstones said:

ahhh....a few more than "...a few pro models". Maltby's, at least as bewteen '50 &'93, devotes almost 50 pages of professional club lines...Maltby's only lists professional lines, no store/retail/general lines. For grins, I checked in the 1960 years (I figured that NW made the infamous Arnold Palmer line for Sears), while the '60 contained lines for Byron Nelson, Jackie Pung, Betty Jamison, Johnny Revolt, and others - no mention of Palmer.
Maltby's history of each manufacturer is pretty intensive....up to 1993.

Starting to think I should really get a copy of one of those guides...

[Shallowface]

18 hours ago, AdamMH said:

Starting to think I should really get a copy of one of those guides...

There are four versions of it, the last one covering through 1998.  They are out of print, but do show up on Ebay from time to time.

 

19 hours ago, bcstones said:

ahhh....a few more than "...a few pro models". Maltby's, at least as bewteen '50 &'93, devotes almost 50 pages of professional club lines...Maltby's only lists professional lines, no store/retail/general lines. For grins, I checked in the 1960 years (I figured that NW made the infamous Arnold Palmer line for Sears), while the '60 contained lines for Byron Nelson, Jackie Pung, Betty Jamison, Johnny Revolt, and others - no mention of Palmer.
Maltby's history of each manufacturer is pretty intensive....up to 1993.

Sears clubs prior to the Palmer models had Stan Leonard's name on them, and I believe there are threads on here that say those were made by Golfcraft.  The Palmer clubs had a similar look to the Leonards so I would guess they came from Golfcraft as well.

 

Golfcraft was acquired by Acushnet in 1968 and the first Titleist clubs soon followed.  I believe that was around the same time the Sears product transitioned from Palmer's name to "Advisory Staff."  I don't know who made those clubs, but I thought it might be Ram as those irons had a very square toe similar to a Ram product of the time called the Fastback.

 

There were Palmer store line clubs throughout the 70s, but I believe those came from First Flight.  It seems there was a break in that during the 80s when Palmer's name was on The Standard and Peerless lines, but during the 90s there were some surprisingly poor offerings with Palmer's name on them.  When he signed his deal with Callaway (leading to the infamous Golf Channel interview with Peter Kessler) all of that came to an end.  

 

I don't believe Northwestern had anything to do with the Sears Palmer clubs.  

[Shallowface]

19 hours ago, Foozle said:

Missed out on a set of Northwestern Tom Weiscoff irons last night. They were stamped forged and looked like a nice (if worn) set with an interesting sole profile. Kicking myself for missing them.

My only recollection of Northwestern back in the day were their "Powerkick" shafts which featured a severe step down perhaps 30 cm above the hosel. They were considered cutting edge at the time and, as I recall, quite upmarket / expensive.

As a brand, Northwestern are pretty rare on this side of the pond.

The Powerkick shafts were made by Accles and Pollock, the company which eventually became Apollo.  Those shafts were rebar level stiff as I recall.  I had a very deep faced Northwestern laminated driver with one of those shafts that was sold as the Jim Dent model.  I was strong enough to make it work back then but if I tried it now the club would probably bounce off the ball on contact with the ball remaining on the tee.

 

Apollo eventually made a shaft called the "Hump" which certainly owes its design to the Powerkick.  Jim Furyk used those on Tour.

[bcstones]

1 hour ago, Shallowface said:

 

 

There were Palmer store line clubs throughout the 70s, but I believe those came from First Flight.  It seems there was a break in that during the 80s when Palmer's name was on The Standard and Peerless lines, but during the 90s there were some surprisingly poor offerings with Palmer's name on them.  When he signed his deal with Callaway (leading to the infamous Golf Channel interview with Peter Kessler) all of that came to an end.  

 

I don't believe Northwestern had anything to do with the Sears Palmer clubs.  

Maltby's has an excellent history of the Palmer Golf Co.....First Flight had nothing to do w/making Sears "Palmer" clubs....at that time, First Flight & Palmer Golf shared the same address - it gets complicated, if you can, get ahold of a Maltby's & read....too long to put in here. 

btw - Palmer only sold his name to Sears, his company or First Flight or Pro Group (or any of the other companies inbetween) none had anything to do with Sears...

Edited August 11, 2023 by bcstones

[Shallowface]

1 hour ago, bcstones said:

Maltby's has an excellent history of the Palmer Golf Co.....First Flight had nothing to do w/making Sears "Palmer" clubs....at that time, First Flight & Palmer Golf shared the same address - it gets complicated, if you can, get ahold of a Maltby's & read....too long to put in here. 

btw - Palmer only sold his name to Sears, his company or First Flight or Pro Group (or any of the other companies inbetween) none had anything to do with Sears...

Please re-read what I wrote.  I never said First Flight made the Sears clubs.  The 70s era store line clubs to which I referred weren't sold at Sears.  As I wrote, by that time Sears clubs had "Advisory Staff" on the heads and "Ted Williams" (the baseball legend) on the shaft labels.  

 

I have the Maltby book, and I am very clear on the history.  I was "there" for much of it as I have been playing since 1973.    

 

Sorry if this comes across as a bit frustrated.  I take a lot of pride in what I write and thought my post was clear as to the dates.  If I am not absolutely sure about something I am careful to state that.  I don't want to be one of those "experts" who really doesn't know what he's talking about.  There are way too many of them and not just regarding golf equipment.     

[bcstones]

38 minutes ago, Shallowface said:

Please re-read what I wrote.  I never said First Flight made the Sears clubs.  The 70s era store line clubs to which I referred weren't sold at Sears.  As I wrote, by that time Sears clubs had "Advisory Staff" on the heads and "Ted Williams" (the baseball legend) on the shaft labels.  

 

I have the Maltby book, and I am very clear on the history.  I was "there" for much of it as I have been playing since 1973.    

 

Sorry if this comes across as a bit frustrated.  I take a lot of pride in what I write and thought my post was clear as to the dates.  If I am not absolutely sure about something I am careful to state that.  I don't want to be one of those "experts" who really doesn't know what he's talking about.  There are way too many of them and not just regarding golf equipment.     

I apologize if I frustrated you, I meant no disrespect...the info you wrote just didn't "jive" w/what I'd come across in various searches over the years - so I didn't feel any complusion not to seek clarification and information. Thank you for your response...cuz I went looking for Golfcraft history & found this link here on this forum  http://www.bcgolfhouse.com/golfcraft-the-ted-woolley-story ...very informative. Seems Mr. Woolley moved back to Chicago to build golf club division for a Chicago based company in 1932. In 1945 he applied for trademark patent for "Golfcraft". About 9 years later, he contracted w/Sears to supply a line of golf clubs. In '55, a Canadian concern bought the Canadian franchise rights to manufacture Golfcraft equipment. Stan Leonard was a great Canadian golfer.

Now here's some fun....in '54 Golfcraft designed & made fiberglass rods. I just checked the bay thingie & there is a set of Sears Stan Leonard fiberglass shafted clubs (seller claims the set is from the '70s...so who really knows, since  Acushnet bought Golfcraft in '68. Now I wonder if Acushent continued the Sears contract or did Sears just continue to sell off old stock?

 

Interesting that Golfcraft was also based in Chicago.I know you didn't say First Flight made Sears clubs (don't believe I ever wrote that), I wondered if NW (Northwestern) made Sears clubs cuz they were both Chicago based....& now it seems that Golfcraft was also based in Chicago when they made their deal.

 

 

While I'm sorry I frustrated you....however I gotta thank you for more history of Golf. THANK YOU

 

[Shallowface]

1 hour ago, bcstones said:

I apologize if I frustrated you, I meant no disrespect...the info you wrote just didn't "jive" w/what I'd come across in various searches over the years - so I didn't feel any complusion not to seek clarification and information. Thank you for your response...cuz I went looking for Golfcraft history & found this link here on this forum  http://www.bcgolfhouse.com/golfcraft-the-ted-woolley-story ...very informative. Seems Mr. Woolley moved back to Chicago to build golf club division for a Chicago based company in 1932. In 1945 he applied for trademark patent for "Golfcraft". About 9 years later, he contracted w/Sears to supply a line of golf clubs. In '55, a Canadian concern bought the Canadian franchise rights to manufacture Golfcraft equipment. Stan Leonard was a great Canadian golfer.

Now here's some fun....in '54 Golfcraft designed & made fiberglass rods. I just checked the bay thingie & there is a set of Sears Stan Leonard fiberglass shafted clubs (seller claims the set is from the '70s...so who really knows, since  Acushnet bought Golfcraft in '68. Now I wonder if Acushent continued the Sears contract or did Sears just continue to sell off old stock?

 

Interesting that Golfcraft was also based in Chicago.I know you didn't say First Flight made Sears clubs (don't believe I ever wrote that), I wondered if NW (Northwestern) made Sears clubs cuz they were both Chicago based....& now it seems that Golfcraft was also based in Chicago when they made their deal.

 

 

While I'm sorry I frustrated you....however I gotta thank you for more history of Golf. THANK YOU

 

I went back to the Maltby book and re-read the history.  The dates didn't match what I thought was correct based on other discussions that I have had and read, but I have no reason to doubt them.  

 

When I saved the attached picture I didn't save the date of the catalog.  I wish I had.  The irons don't look much different from the Stan Leonard models, if at all, and the woods look virtually identical to the first Titleist woods that were produced by Acushnet, so these were likely from Golfcraft.  However, I remember my dad had a left handed Sears Palmer Sand Wedge (that he bought somewhere other than Sears) that looked more like the Advisory Staff clubs I mentioned.  So it is possible that, as brief as the Sears/Palmer association was, perhaps more than one manufacturer was involved.  Ram was another company based in Illinois, so it could have been them.  The Sears products were store line, but they were nicer than anything comparable being produced by Northwestern at that time. 

 

I think the Leonard fiberglass clubs would definitely be from the mid 1960s.  Golfcraft sold a lot of fiberglass shafted putters during that time.  I believe Bill Rogers used one to win the 1981 Open Championship.  That was from the era when pros found their weapons in barrels and attics, not from tour vans.  Much like those of us on this site are still doing. 

 

Still frustrated, but with myself, not you.   

[bcstones]

@Shallowface thanks for the update....that bay offering shows similar iron & wood designs...interesting. And the ad page is from Boston Mass not Chicago....hmmm 

Wonder if Bill Rogers felt the same way that Gary Player felt about the Shakespeare fiberglass shafted clubs he "played" when sponsored by Shakespeare...😂

[@_the_crook]

Wonder if anyone is familiar with this NW model., ProForged.

Magnet sticks to the blades, though I have no idea of their composition. 

Deciding to keep or donate. 

Thx.

 

Edited August 13, 2023 by @_the_crook
d

[bcstones]

1 hour ago, @_the_crook said:

Wonder if anyone is familiar with this NW model., ProForged.

Magnet sticks to the blades, though I have no idea of their composition. 

Deciding to keep or donate. 

Thx.

 

nice....looked up in Maltby's 3rd edition - the name "Tournament" shows up in 1976 thru '78, they were listed as 'F C/S' (what does the sole have on it?). Pro-Action Plus shaft seems to be a common shaft throughtout the pro line. "Pro-forged" doesn't show up at all, could be a retail line based on the Pro line...
btw...what iron is it, from a set or a single club?

[@_the_crook]

Tournament ProForged, full set , 2i-PW.

soles have Reg no 8500.

no other identifiers.

decent shape, all shaft labels intact.

a previous owner added the old style Silhouette grips.

 

wonder if C/S meant cast steel. .......or Chrome steel.

of course, the F could be for forged.

Edited August 13, 2023 by @_the_crook
data

[MrFlipper]

I believe F C/S is shorthand for forged, carbon steel.