Old Iron Specs

zripp3 · December 7, 2008

Macgregor/TA Silver Scot 915

found a set of these and can only find limited info - it looks like 1949-1952 model, but I can't find the specs (loft/lie). anyone know where to find it? anyone have these? Thanks.

olegolfer · December 7, 2008

There are 2 versions of the 915. One made in the time period you stated and another was made in the middle 1960's. The sixties version had a

little more modern head shape ( I owned and played the sixties version for a while) and also have a set of 985's (1952) in excellent all original shape

There were 2 versions of the model you have. The 915 and 915T which were identical except the "T" meant it came with a leather grip instead of

the standard cord grip. The 915 head was identical to the famous 985 of that era except the 915 was made out of stainless steel. The other

difference was in the shaft flex. The 915 had a little softer shaft than the 985 which had more shaft options as it was their top of the line pro model.

As was common of that era the standard length of the 2 iron was 38 1/2 and incremented down to 34 for the 10 iron (wedge), Have never seen lie

and loft specs but 32 to 34 degrees loft for the 5 iron was fairly common for that era. Even a copy of the original Macgregor catalog did not give

lie/loft but did give length and swingweight which was D to D5. They sold for the outrageous price of $85.00 for a set of 8

If I remember correctly I believe the 915 (probably the sixties version) was played by Johnny Miller for a good portion of his career. I think there

was an article in golf digest or golf magazine where Carole Mann kind of "coerced" Johnny to donate them to one of the golf history museums.

Hope this somewhat answers your inquiry..

Wildwing55 · December 8, 2008

There are 2 versions of the 915. One made in the time period you stated and another was made in the middle 1960's. The sixties version had a
little more modern head shape ( I owned and played the sixties version for a while) and also have a set of 985's (1952) in excellent all original shape

There were 2 versions of the model you have. The 915 and 915T which were identical except the "T" meant it came with a leather grip instead of
the standard cord grip. The 915 head was identical to the famous 985 of that era except the 915 was made out of stainless steel. The other
difference was in the shaft flex. The 915 had a little softer shaft than the 985 which had more shaft options as it was their top of the line pro model.

As was common of that era the standard length of the 2 iron was 38 1/2 and incremented down to 34 for the 10 iron (wedge), Have never seen lie
and loft specs but 32 to 34 degrees loft for the 5 iron was fairly common for that era. Even a copy of the original Macgregor catalog did not give
lie/loft but did give length and swingweight which was D to D5. They sold for the outrageous price of $85.00 for a set of 8

If I remember correctly I believe the 915 (probably the sixties version) was played by Johnny Miller for a good portion of his career. I think there
was an article in golf digest or golf magazine where Carole Mann kind of "coerced" Johnny to donate them to one of the golf history museums.

Hope this somewhat answers your inquiry..

Agree with all the above, and I'll add a couple tidbits. I acquired a similar set of the old MacGregor 945 irons of the mid 50s, about 1954 or 1955, I forget which. They did start with a 38 1/2 inch 2 iron, and went progressively down from there. Also, the lofts were very evenly spaced, about four degrees between each. I adjusted the lies before having them reshafted and refinished, so cannot comment there. Point is, they probably had very similar specs as the 915, 985, etc.

As for Johnny Miller's irons, I believe they were the 925 stainless steel version, similar to 915 and 985, and they indeed were donated to the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine FL, and have been on display there since about 1998. They were modified somewhat. The hosels are significantly shorter due to the fact that Miller had them cut down to accommodate longer shafts and keep reasonable swingweights. His old MacGregor woods are there too, along with some pretty colorful golf shoes.

olegolfer · December 8, 2008

Interesting. You may be correct on the 925's. The only thing that seemed to jog my memory of the article was the fact that I had the same set as

was mentioned in the article. One thing for sure, Johnny had a lot of hosel length to play with as these clubs (and many of that era had

very long hosels. Probably why the sweet spot was much closer to the hosel. Thanks to some of the later Wilson dynapowers the hosel length

seemed to be much shorter moving the sweetspot a little closer to the center of the face.

Found an interesting article at http://www.golfdigest.com/magazine/2009/01/millerrules where johnny was talking about them in

in his 10 rules to sticking your irons where he mentions them in rule 02 but no mention of model....

zripp3 · December 8, 2008

Wow, thanks for the help guys. Expecting them in tomorrow but not sure whether the original grip would still be on them. I did forget to mention they are Silver Scot Tourneys, if that makes a difference. I've attached a pic. Can't wait to clean them up and see how they feel!

olegolfer · December 9, 2008

To me, that appears to be the mid 60's remake version. It looks like a crome forging not stainless steel. I've been a collector for about 30 years

and one of my first books on collecting was by Joe Clement (excellent book with many pictures). In his book he has a picture of the 915 late 40's

early fifties. Right under the Tommy Armour script was "silver scot" . Where yours says silver scot tourney the early version just says Tourney in script

Finally where rec no 915 is located on these the early version says rec no. 915 stainless. I had a set like yours and played them for a few years.

great feeling club but as to be expected not very forgiving. Have fun with them.

Wildwing55 · December 9, 2008

Nice club. Definitely the mid-60s version, due to the markings olegolfer mentioned, and also the mid-60s versions had a slightly less rounded toe than the 50s clubs, which is evident here. Also, I believe most of the Rec # on the mid-50s clubs were painted red, rather than black.

I believe the mid-60s clubs had pretty much the old standard specs mentioned above, i.e., 38 1/2 inch two iron, and down from there. Lofts were generally weaker than today's irons through most of the set.

A nice forging of an era from the past. Love those old MacGregor irons.

zripp3 · December 9, 2008

that's great help. got them today and, to my surprise, they had the original grips still on them. Red/black with TOURNEY written down the "thumb line". Need to be replaced, but the clubs themselves are in superb condition. Hit the 9 a little and it's definitely an adjustment. The heads seem SO small in comparison. Thanks again.