Anyone hear of Wilson Classic Blades?

[geoffaw]

Was browsing the golf clubs at the local thrift store and came across a set of Wilson Classic irons. They are muscle-back blades, but I can't find any info on them. Wanted to know if anyone out there knew anything about this set before I pull the trigger on them.

 

Thanks

[geoffaw]

Added some pics in the following thread: http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/348031-wilson-classic/

[MoaningM]

I can't say I've eer seen those before, great looking irons though, did Wilson ever do a custom range like Macgregor did? Did you buy them after?

[geoffaw]

Yep, ended up buying them, they look really great. No shaft bands, so not sure what the flex is in them. Hopefully will get to take em out and hit them soon.

[olegolfer]

Clean looking set but suspect it is like one poster said a club made for a retail store such as Sport Mart etc.
I live in Chicago area where Wilson is based and have seen similar type clubs that do not carry the "Wilson Staff"
stamping. Generally the Wilson irons that could be considered "classic" are the Wilson Dynapower irons of
the 1960s' and maybe early 70s' especially the " Bullitt Backs" of 1969-70 . Usually you can get some clue as
to the type shaft installed. Normally you wont find True Temper Dynamic Golds in the clubs made for the
retail store market but some type of wilson brand shaft. Of course this is not written in stone but has been
my observation over the years. In any event the playability of this type club is the main issue. They may not
play all that differently from the pro-line staff models

[Shallowface]

I remember back in the mid 1980s Wilson sold a retail line set of irons called "Andy Bean Classic" that had the same clubhead as the 84-85 Fluid Feel Staff Tour Blades, except the Beans didn't have the drill thru hosel with the red plug.

I've often wondered what the differences were in the workmanship between the pro lines and the retail lines of that time. Did they use a different, less expensive chroming process? Was it just a matter of the specs being held to less stringent tolerances? It is interesting to me how long the forged blade managed to survive at the retail level (well into the 1980s)even though the casting process would seem to have been much cheaper. There sure were a lot of those forged blades back in the day, and a lot of them survive today, often in remarkably good condition.

[geoffaw]

Assuming it is a retail version of a Staff iron, I'm now wondering which one it is based off of. The closest I can find is the original Staff Tour irons, but there are some differences.

[olegolfer]

Its a little difficult to tell from the pictures but it looks similar to the Wilson X-31 which had
a slight muscle back with a flanged sole. I had 2 sets of X-31s many years ago and they
were a pretty solid playing club. Originally they were designated with the "X" for experimental.
They were introduced in the late 60's to complement the dynapower line. Have seen them
with stock Wilson aluminum shafts. It seems to me that the major difference between them and
the dynapower line was more meat in the sole. In the playing position the head shapes were
pretty similar to the dynapower line. There is a good picture of a X-31 3 iron for sale on e-bay

[geoffaw]

Cool, I'll have to check them out!!

[geoffaw]

Happend to find an X31 2-iron, noticed that there is a notch / channel in the back and the sole is def. radiused (not to the extent of the Hogan radials). Maybe there is a diff. version. Did notice that there might be some similarity with the original staff tours. I also noticed on these classics there are no rings around the top of the hosel like the staff irons

[geoffaw]

No dice on Wilson customer support :-(. They have apparently archived everything over 10yrs old.