British Open 1969

[tembolo1284]

Anyone know what was in Tony Jacklin's bag then?

I was watching this on youtube and wanted to ask the experts out there...what did Tony Jacklin have in his bag in the 1969 Open Championship?

[Blade Junkie]

[quote name='tembolo1284' timestamp='1324594287' post='3977347']
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIYJbslz6p4&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.c...feature=related[/url]

I was watching this on youtube and wanted to ask the experts out there...what did Tony Jacklin have in his bag in the 1969 Open Championship?
[/quote]

I believe his driver was hand made by Leeds clubmaker Paul Gibson

http://www.mullocksauctions.co.uk/lot-29823-paul_gibson_hand_made_for_tony_jacklin_persimmon.html

Shame there isn't a photo of it. A have a Paul Gibson which I use all the time and it is a beautiful club.

[rich13]

Hi Tembolo,

Jacklin was contracted to Dunlop for most of his career (at least, the successful bit), and I remember seeing adverts in the early 70's stating that Maxfli irons were the top of the range back then, as they were with the Australian Blades a bit later on. After a bit of research, I found this pic of Jacko at the 1970 US Masters......

[attachment=971189:Maxfli4.jpg]


....... and then found this pic......


[attachment=971193:Maxfli2.jpg]


....which seem to fit the bill!

Blade Junkie's comments on a custom-made Paul Gibson driver seem to be spot-on, as most top pro's in those days used custom jobs in the big stick dept....... Harry Busson was another favourite maker too.... hope this helps!

[tembolo1284]

Wow, excellent info there sirs. Thanks very much for the help!

[rex235]

This is a nice photo of Tony Jacklin...

1970 was the year Jacklin won the US Open at Hazeltine..wasn't it?

And Jacklin had won the Open Championship in 1969, beating Bob Charles.

If memory serves me, Jacklin was using a PING putter then.

1970 was also the year Tony Jacklin lost the Andy Williams San Diego Open in a playoff with Pete Brown.

Of course, this was less than six months after the 1969 Ryder Cup between the US and Great Britain ended in a tie, with the final singles match featuring Tony Jacklin and Jack Nicklaus. Nicklaus, after having made a putt on the 18th hole, conceded Jacklin's 3 foot putt for a halve, and a Halved Match.
This gesture nearly sent Ryder Cup Captain Sam "never concede a putt..."Snead into orbit...

And that San Diego Open is one of the very few times Jack Nicklaus missed a short putt on the 72nd hole ....

ask NBC Sports... they covered the final round...and the playoff...Jim Simpson was on the 18th hole tower then.

Strangely enough, Nicklaus and Jacklin were in the final pairing at San Diego...and it was after Jacklin had made an 18 -20 footer to tie Brown, who was the leader in the Clubhouse, and had already finished with a final round 64, before Nicklaus missed his 6 footer.....

Brown won on the first playoff hole.....with a par 4.

No, Pete Brown wasn't invited to this Masters in 1970....where this photo of Tony Jacklin was taken.

And yes, Jacklin would go on to win the US Open...by a bunch......

[i]and the iron set Jacklin used for the US Open victory were most likely the ones he used here..

Great photo!



[/i]

[tembolo1284]

Love the photos.

[rich13]

Tembolo.....glad you enjoyed the pics.... Dunlop made some great clubs in the UK and Australia in the 50's onwards, probably up there with the US finest forged clubs....along with Slazengers, John Letters, George Nicholl, and many others that I can't remember (it's friday evening, nice dinner, nice wine, memory decreasing by the second!).......I started with a half-set of Dunlop Arnold Palmer irons....4,6,8,W.....wish I still had them!

[okesa]

[size="3"]I seem to recall that at one point John Letters actually produced most of the Dunlop irons which was ultimately one of the reasons for their demise when Dunlop withdrew.Sadly I don't have the same fond memories of Dunlop as rich13,in the 70's and 80's I think most of the irons were cast and followed a pretty standard pattern so the Bob Charles irons were very similar to the Peter Thomson only left handed,Jacklin had his own signature set and then the forged Australian Blades appeared.
I had a set of Bob Charles and then in the early 80's bought Titleist Tour Model and then Wilson FG-17's,both of which were far superior to any set of irons manufactured in the UK and most of the serious amateurs and pro's I knew back then played with American clubs,Macgregor,Wilson,Hogan and Ram.
I think it was that superiority that killed the British golf industry and so we lost Nicoll of Leven,Sayers of North Berwick,John Letters all historic names with a great heritage,some of the names still exist but the craftsmen and their skills, have gone for ever.[/size]

[timpritch]

[quote name='tembolo1284' timestamp='1324594287' post='3977347']
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIYJbslz6p4&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.c...feature=related[/url]

I was watching this on youtube and wanted to ask the experts out there...what did Tony Jacklin have in his bag in the 1969 Open Championship?
[/quote]