Hogan 306-i Precision

[Dr. Shankenstein]

club length

While cleaning out the in-laws garage, I rescued a set of Hogans from a trip to the thriftstore. I was taking a few swings with them and noticed that they felt a little short. I set the Hogan 4i next to my adams 6i and they were roughly the same length. My question is, were standard club length shorter back in the 50-60's than they are today? I don't think these clubs were fit for him back then, besides he was rather tall and was a recreational golfer. What do you think?

[teevons]

The standard length for irons in the early days for a 5 iron was 37 inches, then it became 37 1/2 and then in the late 70's it became 38. Hoganss clubs in the late early 70's, +1 were the Apex shaft which was a new and lighter shaft, the +1 meant they were longer than any other club on market.which meant more distance with out the extra weight , Because of improvement in the shafts and making them lighter they were able to make the clubs longer. In the early days you basically had one weight of shaft, heavy. That is why tall golfers had a tough time then because if you made the club longer it became too heavy, its another reason now you see so many taller golfers playing so well, they can get a shaft to fit them no matter what their size and swing.



.[quote name='Dr. Shankenstein' timestamp='1328379223' post='4212703']
While cleaning out the in-laws garage, I rescued a set of Hogans from a trip to the thriftstore. I was taking a few swings with them and noticed that they felt a little short. I set the Hogan 4i next to my adams 6i and they were roughly the same length. My question is, were standard club length shorter back in the 50-60's than they are today? I don't think these clubs were fit for him back then, besides he was rather tall and was a recreational golfer. What do you think?
[/quote]

[jaskanski]

Certainly, there is trend for longer clubs today over those from only a few years ago. Modern irons have gained around an inch over their vintage counterparts. 37" used to be the norm for the average 5-iron of yesteryear, nowadays it's 38" - maybe even longer for some like the later TM offerings.

[Dr. Shankenstein]

Thanks y'all, that makes sense.

[super20dan]

i must have lucked out as my 73 apex irons fit me like a glove. i usually have to extend most of my iron sets . you can buy aluminum shaft extencions that dont add much weight. you might want to look into them for the vintage hogans you have-if you need to extend them