Macgregor...How can you tell if they're tour issue?

[vandercharks]

Apart from DW stamps for Don White grinds, how can you tell if a set of irons are indeed tour issue? I see a few irons for sale on ebay: PCB's, M675's that are called "tour issue." Remember reading somewhere that tour M675's are forged from one-piece and retail from two-piece...some pics do not really show this clearly? Tour and Retail look the same to me.

[The Dane]

I know this topic is crazy old, but I'd like to know the answer if anyone knows.

[TW1973]

I know the items you are refering to that have recently shown up on the Bay claiming "Tour Issue". I have several tour issue MacGregor items and i question the authenticity of these sets. They are possibly custom sets assembled in the tech van but they are the retail heads.

I held in my hand the "Tour Only" 675 that Badds played for a while that were 1pc solid and they were one of the best looking sets I have ever seen in person. They had the tripple wave on the muscle through the entire set which resembled the retail version but without the bulky, hollow cavity in the mid and long irons. I have only seen one other set of these on ebay and they were made for a non-MacGregor staffer who was in a contract year.
I also got to hold and hit his V-FOIL 8 iron at a sales meeting in Phoenix one year. They were also cosmetically similar but very different then retail.
I was lucky enough to have a tour through the Tour Dpt. in Albany a few years ago and was shocked at some of the names on boxes of irons that Don White had made sets for. When looking through them, they were almost all unique with some cosmetic similarities to the retail versions but were clearly "tour issue"
Hand stamped numbers, unique grinds, different finishes and buff marks seem to be present on any true "Tour Issue" Mac product i have seen.

I would proceed with caution.

[fiberman]

[quote name='TW1973' timestamp='1300694029' post='3073575']
I know the items you are refering to that have recently shown up on the Bay claiming "Tour Issue". I have several tour issue MacGregor items and i question the authenticity of these sets. They are possibly custom sets assembled in the tech van but they are the retail heads.

I held in my hand the "Tour Only" 675 that Badds played for a while that were 1pc solid and they were one of the best looking sets I have ever seen in person. They had the tripple wave on the muscle through the entire set which resembled the retail version but without the bulky, hollow cavity in the mid and long irons. I have only seen one other set of these on ebay and they were made for a non-MacGregor staffer who was in a contract year.
I also got to hold and hit his V-FOIL 8 iron at a sales meeting in Phoenix one year. They were also cosmetically similar but very different then retail.
I was lucky enough to have a tour through the Tour Dpt. in Albany a few years ago and was shocked at some of the names on boxes of irons that Don White had made sets for. When looking through them, they were almost all unique with some cosmetic similarities to the retail versions but were clearly "tour issue"
Hand stamped numbers, unique grinds, different finishes and buff marks seem to be present on any true "Tour Issue" Mac product i have seen.

I would proceed with caution.
[/quote]
I have a set of tour issued Macgregor irons made for Norman stamped 675 and are all one piece DW grinds. No stamps with the exception of 675 and the initials GN S. Had it confirmed that these are indeed what I was told they were when I bought them when I sent pictures of the set to DW for authentication which he confirmed.This set has a satin finish,flat soles rolled leading edges on 2-7 and camber and a little rocker on the 8-pw. Awesome set of irons with a very clean look.