Moving Backwards in Time - Why do you play vintage clubs?

[ScooterMcTavish]

I've been gaming vintage irons a bit more regularly lately (especially with the addition of a set of Wilson Staff FG-17s), and I'm starting to come to the conclusion that we all go back either:

- Looking for something which was familiar and comfortable to us when we were young

- Looking for something that we couldn't have when we were young, and now we can

 

And much like many members of this thread still find joy in playing vintage blades and woods, twenty years from now, this forum will be full of people playing "vintage" Burner Bubble drivers, and "vintage" Mizuno T-Zoids.

 

For myself, as I'm getting older (mid 40's feels both young and old at the same time), I seem to be suffering a bit of this nostalgia for my youth; when the golf course was a near holy place where I would go to commune with God, nature, and the spirits of Bobby Jones, and later, Ben Hogan. Not that I don't still have these moments on a course, but you can never capture lightning in a bottle again. To see a course again anew through the eyes of a 14-year old, playing as often as he could afford it (which wasn't very often, even at youth discounted fees) is something I'll never recapture.

 

I so vivdly remember the first time I saw a green. I didn't believe it was grass. I had to go up to it on my hands and knees, and peer at it closely, and pull out a few blades before I would believe it was alive. In my mind, I still hear the sound of my borrowed clubs (Lady Campbell 7 piece set) clanking together in the bag thrown over my shoulder. I still can hear the exact noise the bag made when I dropped it to the ground. And I can still smell the blooming trees, hear the singing birds, and see the hazy sunlight reflecting off the dew on the greens on another humid Manitoba summer morning.

 

And most of all, I remember what being a poor kid on a golf course was like. People who had money could order fries from the enticing smelling restaurant in the clubhouse. People who had money played the same brand of ball every time they went out, and could buy pretty much any pristine new ball they wanted. People with money had 11-piece sets, metal woods, Anser-style putters, and pull carts. People with money played with equipment that I saw in my Uncle's hand-me-down Golf Digest magazines; I would read the ads, with my young heart breaking knowing that I couldn't and would likely never attain any of this beautiful, modern equipment.

 

So I find myself now still looking at vintage equipment, and maybe in my own way, I'm attempting to recapture some of that simplicity of golf in my youth (nostalgia) while owning everything I wanted back then (compensating).

 

Ping Eye 2s, Anser putters, Wilson Staff Irons, anything that said "Ben Hogan" on it. Modern, classy, and all beautiful to a poor kid playing with a small set of hand me down lady clubs.

 

So here I am today. The poor kid is gone, replaced with a successful business professional who provides a good standard of living to his family. And my newest set of irons is about 25 years old. My current gamers are Ping Eye 2s. Usually the Wilson Staff FG-17s get played once every two weeks. I have a set of Ben Hogan Black Cameos coming in the mail. There's also a set of 60's Staff Fluid Feel Turfriders in the garage I simply can't hit. My main putter is a Ping Pal, but I do also have a Slotline Inertial when I need a heavier club. And my bag is an 80's vintage Ping white staff bag.

 

Sure, I may play modern woods, and a modern version of a classic wedge (Eye 2XG LW), but already my woods are starting to creep back too. The 2008 MacGregor MT 3W was replaced by a TM Burner Bubble. I'm thinking of replacing it with a BH 2W I have sitting around. I honestly see nothing in my bag except the driver as being newer than 30 years old within the next few months. And even if my league partner gives me the gears for playing blades (he always does), they may come out for a permanent spin in the bag. Mind you, the Eye 2s sure help out when you're drinking beer at league.

 

And I look down at the blade at address, and I get a little smile on my face, as this is the way a golf club is supposed to look. Even the Eye 2s look right. Not like my Nickent 3DX Hybrid irons I had with the thick toplines, or my Cleveland TA6 irons with the progressively wider soles. Should someone see the sole of their iron at address? I didn't think so. All good clubs, but not for the optical part of my brain.

 

So here I am, moving backward in time in my clubs, and enjoying every minute of it. I'll never replace that feeling of wonder the 14 year old boy had on his first visit to the golf course, with the feeling of anxiety and nervousness he had hitting his first tee shot while people stood and watched. I'll never forget asking my Uncle on the first hole we played, "Should I use my 3 Wood here?" on a 176yd Par 3 (I never had a chance to hit the green). I'll never replace the first par I had at 16, when I got to a Par 5 in 3 and lag putted to 1' away for my par (I could get there in 2 now). I'll never even replace the first eagle I had, a 150yd 7i that hopped into the cup on a par 4 in my mid-20s.

 

I love vintage clubs for their craftsmanship, because they allow me to recapture some of my favourite moments from a less-than-perfect youth, and because they let me know, "Hey! You're not a poor kid anymore." That's pretty good stuff, simply based on swinging a bashed out lump of metal that was then glued to another piece of metal, then given a grip. And I feel like a thief when I see how little I pay for these.

 

So, what do vintage clubs do for you? Why you collect them or play them?

[johnnydman]

"[color=#282828]I so vivdly remember the first time I saw a green. I didn't believe it was grass. I had to go up to it on my hands and knees, and peer at it closely, and pull out a few blades before I would believe it was alive." [/color]

[color=#282828]I took my 5 yr old to a course putting/chipping green for the first time a few weeks ago...first thing he did was reach down and feel it with hand, he loved it![/color]

[color=#282828]I started playing at 5 and I am also mid-40's, I have many memories of being 7-10yrs old playing with another friend, or the best was as a 14/15 yr old playing for free as long as we repaired 3 ball marks on every green.[/color]
[color=#282828]I can't remember my first par, birdie, or eagle though. I do remember a guy with a new Ping Staff bag (white, of course) and he had a new Ping driver ($200!).[/color]

[color=#282828]I now sorta collect Hogan irons, just bought a set of '99 Apex's for $30. I love the quality look/feel. I play an old set 2/3 times per year. [/color]

[oldschoolrocker]

The same reason I like to keep a car or truck around that I can still turn a wrench on. Sense of accomplishment .

I despise plaiting golf seeing someone's ball go straight. Straight right, straight left, straight forward. If golf was meant to play on straight lines then there wouldn't be any doglegs and all pins would be in the middle of the green.

Also, if my old truck won't crank the first thing I reach for isn't my cell phone.

[Shambles]

I like my old clubs.


Shambles

[fluffy265]

I grew up playing with Taylor Made Tour Preferred TD's for over 10 years. I then had a hiatus from golf for another 15 years (discovered women, Guinness & bourbon). An effort to rehabilitate / strengthen my wrists from repetitive work related injuries led me back into golf.

I figured I owed myself new clubs after 25 years with the same set. After being bitterly disappointed looking at the new equipment available to me locally, I ventured down that road of exposing myself to the now classic & vintage forgings that were never easily obtainable back in the day. Now we can find what we're after at the click of keystroke.

I'm now heading down the Persimmon route, currently experimenting with laminated woods until I find some persimmon in playable condition with suitable shafts. I've always had plenty of distance on tap and I find many of the courses I play now, are just not built with frying pans in mind. At times I feel like I'm cheating. I find it much more rewarding and challenging playing traditional woods.

I've found with the older gear the heavy weight setups and flatter lie angles really help sort your swing out.

J

[Johnny Hack]

It is what I grew up playing and for me it is all about the "Feel" of a well struck Persimmon Driver or Classic Forged Iron, it is something that simply can not be explained in words, only experienced through the Hands. While I do enjoy playing with my "Modern" clubs, no matter how pure of a shot I might hit with them, it can not compare to the feel of "Classics"!
Also, I play quite a bit with a group of older gentlemen from the White Tees in a little 25 cent skins game and I feel that the difficulty of hitting my "Classics vs My Modern Clubs" as well as the distance difference between the two puts my game more in line with theirs since we play straight up and my Handicap is somewhat lower then most of theirs (call it an equalizer if you will) and thus we are all on a more even playing field, after all it's only for quarters.

[profsmitty]

Next Column. Being edited - will explain it all. i think. i hope. We"ll see.

[ScooterMcTavish]

[quote name='profsmitty' timestamp='1373595636' post='7436772']
Next Column. Being edited - will explain it all. i think. i hope. We"ll see.
[/quote]

Make sure you link to it in this thread. Looking forward to reading it.

[Ol_Pardner]

I play vintage clubs for most of the reasons stated in earlier posts, plus:

1. I spent most of my working life [figuratively] putting out fires, shovelling sh**, and cleaning up other peoples' messes. I like the control vintage clubs allow, the accurate 'report' and results from a good swing, that nobody can take a good shot away from me. I think that while everybody should aspire to hit the ball long and straight, that there should be a certain amount of skill required. Modern eq is too much like school systems today--anyone who shows up "gets a 6 ft trophy;" anyone who swats at a mutated golfball with a Coors Light can on fishing rod expects a 300 yd drive and crystal. Don't even get me started on prosthetic putters!

2. The Zen of a well-struck shot [as opposed to, what is the sound of 1-hand clapping, Grasshopper?]

[dpark]

For me it was a combination of the feel of persimmon and the fun of working the ball again combined with the boredom of playing modern clubs.

I took more joy in shooting a 78 with classics than a 70 with modern clubs.

[oldschoolrocker]

Not mention there's something great at my age about an early round with that morning wood

[stixman]

All of the above.. except when I'm playing like a dog and then I have difficulty remembering why. But it doesn't last long.

[rhh7]

For my first 7 rounds this year, my average score has been 99. I have been playing a complete set of graphite-shafted, modern clubs, from the woods to the irons. On Monday I am going all steel. Will either play my Wilson Staff FG-51's, or my Mizuno T-Zoid Pro's. I will also use a steel-shafted Callaway Strong 3Wood from the tee, and a 24* Baffy 5Wood from the fairway. I figure I can not possibly shoot any worse, and I may recapture some of the old magic. Only several years ago, I shot 86 on this same course. Hope springs eternal!

[XYB34A]

Why do I play Ben Hogan blades? Well first of all I will be 53 years old a month from today. I started playing golf at a little par 3 in my home town when I was 13 years old. I played baseball at age 13 (Babe Ruth, Jr High that year) I also played basketball, football, knew how to play tennis too. So it was a Saturday, I got dropped off at the city park to play tennis with my best bud from JR High. They were working on the tennis courts, so we walked to the top of the hill and paid 50 cents to play, 50 cents to rent a ball, and 50 cents to rent a club. I am thinking it was a 6 iron. It was a blade. This was my introduction to golf. I held the club like I did a baseball bat, and swung hard. I had a blast.

Fast forward to age 25, I had played on a real golf course about 10 times since age 17 to age 25. I did not own my own set of clubs. The church that I attended, my father was the pastor of. I had expressed some interest in playing golf and talking sports in Sunday School class. (this was not the church I grew up in, or even the state or town that I grew up in) One of the deacons in my church told me he would take me to the driving range and give me some tips, I didn't mention I had played some. So he picked me up after church, and we headed to the driving range. He showed me the Vardon grip, and explained why my true baseball grip was hindering my swing. So I listened and started to hit the ball better. I must say, I was an oddity in that, I was a natural hooker of the golf ball. (I was a slow runner in baseball and had developed this punch and judy swing, that I would hit the ball over the second baseman head and could get a single that way< I am right handed). This was an in to out swing, and I didn't even know it.

At the end of an hour or so, he told me that I could have the clubs, I was using. I found out later, that they were his sons and he had died of leukemia about 3 years before. They were a set of 1970s Ram Blades, a driver, 3 and 5 that were laminated woods, and a fake bullseye putter. Along with a Northwestern sand wedge with a HUGE flange.

So it took me a year to break 90. I never took a lesson, just kept hitting balls at the driving range. I would chip balls in the yard, and even got so that I would stand on one side of the house and lob them over the house to other side. I would go back to front, and vice versa. I never broke a window. Another year and half goes by, and I can shoot 80, but cant break 80. SO I decide to get a lesson, it makes it worse. I go to the other pro, at the course I played on, and he gave me a lesson I could understand. I was shooting no better, but hitting the ball much better.

After the 3rd year. I bought a new set of Ben Hogan irons, because I watched golf on TV and a lot of players played Hogan irons. Plus they talked about him on TV golf, quite a bit. Circa 1985 to 1988. I bought 1 iron thru E wedge.(they were 350 dollars) I spent a ton of time on the driving range with these clubs. I actually wore a rust spot they size of a half dollar on every face on those clubs. I hit so many balls, to learn that I was having to change grips every 6 weeks. Lol cord grips were like less than 3 bucks each back then.

So, its 2013. By the age of 30, I had a fairly important managerial job at Lowe's, and made a considerable amount of money working for them. It equates to over 100K a year in todays money. So I went thru Wilson Staff Progressive, Ping Zing2, Ping ISI, Ping ISI BECU, Ping Eye2+, Mizuno Grad, Titleist tour model, 660,680, ZM, plus at least 2 other sets of Titleist. I kept some Hogans around. Finally in 2009, I decided that I should sell trade or giveaway this huge menagerie of clubs. So I did, I kept some sets of Hogan and that was it. I have a few odd clubs. Well 30 or 40 of them. But for the most part just have stuck to a set of 1988 Redlines.

For the last 20 years or so. My average score has been about 74. Sure I have had some scores in the 60's. One score of 66, two at 67, and a lot of 68 or 69. My best week ever was shooting 70 five days in a row. And have shot in the 80s too.

My son says, that I should switch to AP2 or some other type of game improvement, to stop that hook that comes out on occasion. I tell him why bother, I can chip and putt pretty well that takes care of the bad shots.

I can hit a little fade, a little draw, or hit it straight. I can hit big slices or big hooks on purpose. I don't play under par golf all the time, I don't play in tournaments, I don't even play in men's league anymore. I play blades, because I can and because I want too. I don't need to play some ugly game improvement iron.

I just happen to like Ben Hogan irons made in the 1980's. They don't have big sweet spots, but they don't have big super long hosel and look ancient either.

I spent a good ten years hitting balls on lunch, or after work, and playing. I would get up at 6 in the morning when the sun just came up. And go hit a hundred wedge shots at flags I had at 67, and 89 yards in my side yard. So many so, I don't forget how to do it, I just have to get a rhythm and timing thing going to hit balls well again when I don't play a lot.

[Froth]

The very first time I ever hit one of these FG-17's pure almost 15 years ago now I was hooked for life. Before them I had hit Ping Eye's, Eye 2's, Hogan Directors, Original Cavity-Back Big-Bertha Irons(I was like 12 or 13) Nothing, I repeat nothing has felt better to me since then. The way the club looks at address inspires confidence in my swing, from the extremely Thin top-line, much thinner than all of Titleist's Blade offerings by almost 1/2! My distances do not suffer even though the Lofts are 2-3° weaker than STD clubs, Have always been a long hitter so I never worried about the lofts. There's just something about the Forgings that work for me, everything about them is exactly what I want, the look, the weight, the feel, the sound, Everything. I have almost replaced them with FG-59's on two occasions but I slapped myself back into reality and shined up my FG-17's and smiled to myself as I put the bag down again. I shot my best round ever(70) Using these blades and a Titleist Tour Balata 100, I really miss that ball.

I have hit most modern Blade irons and still revert back to the FG-17's. Because I know they will work, time and time again. They'll likely be in the bag another 15 years. I have yet to hit another blade that feels as good TO ME.

Crazy that I've been using a set of 30+ year old Blades I bought at Goodwill for $80. Honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. Modern cavity back Iron sets are just BLECH to me, unless it's Zero offset or close to it I won't even address a ball with the club.

Driver - 2002
3 wood - 1999
5 wood is my newest club - 2007. My putter is as old as my 18-hole golfing game, Used it on the first 18 holes I ever played and It's still in the bag today. I don't like changing things that work.

[Wriggles]

Playing vintage clubs and driving a vintage car is about as close to a time machine as one can get. I'm not going to say I'm a wealthy professional, I'd be lying if I did, but a plebian old car and old clubs are within my means. Neither break the bank.

When I drive my 76 Dodge (told you it was barely collectible) and play with 1969 Haig Ultras, I'm in my twenties again, at least until I wake up stiff as a board the next morning after hoofing 18.

Play well!

[superhighoutput]

Take a look at the most popular forged irons of today and you will see the most popular forged irons of yesterday.

This means two things to me:

There's nothing to be gained from "new" technology.

Old clubs are 1/10th the cost of new ones.

[dpark]

[quote name='superhighoutput' timestamp='1373810201' post='7451532']
Take a look at the most popular forged irons of today and you will see the most popular forged irons of yesterday.

This means two things to me:

There's nothing to be gained from "new" technology.

Old clubs are 1/10th the cost of new ones.
[/quote]

I agree on your "cost" point but have to disagree on the "technology" one.

I have played forged irons my entire golfing life and IMO, the technology in newer irons is significantly greater than older irons (pre 1990). It isn't so much the general shape of the head itself but what is possible with the entire clubhead (including the hosel and sole).

For example, some of my older irons (Byron Nelson 259 from 1950) has a very long hosel and as a result, the sweetspot is closer to the hosel than a modern iron, which means that you are closer to a possible shank on every well struck iron shot than a modern iron.

Secondly is the sole design. Older irons had very little bounce and a very sharp leading edge, so if you did not have a near-perfect angle-of-attack into the ball you could take a serious beaver pelt. Playing vintage irons in Portland, OR in the winter can be very problematic with the soft ground if you are not swinging well.

Regardless, it is great that you play vintage irons!

[Kirasdad]

Simplicity, I believe, is certainly part of it. I started my vintage bag a couple of years ago with Mac 985s I found for 20 bucks then bought my Hogan Precisions at a Goodwill for 15 dollars. It was a partial set so I had to fill in the gaps through eBay. Still the whole set was assembled for 91 dollars. Ninety one dollars for a set of one of the finest irons ever made makes spending 500 or 600 on some Rocketballz (OMG that name is stupid) seem absurd.

Nostalgia is a factor as well. Scooter said it beautifully in his original post. I started playing golf regularly as a kid in the late sixties with my Northwestern ladies clubs, no classics there, just a set of blades like everybody used then. The playing field was pretty level. My clubs cost my mom a pittance, but I didn't think I was at a particular disadvantage to someone using Wilson Staffs, or MacGregors, fine clubs certainly, but it was harder to buy a game then, clubs were all sort of the same. You earned your good shots. So playing vintage takes me back to those "not a care in the world" days. In the summer my mom would drop me off at the clubhouse of our local course first thing in the am. I had wangled a little job with the pro who I think took a shine to me for I had no dad, he died when I was three months old, so this guy let me sweep up the shop, do a little stocking of balls and tees, make sure the clubs on the racks were in order and so on. Took me an hour or two to do whatever he wanted me to do, and the rest of the time I played golf FOR FREE plus he threw in balls and gloves when I needed them. Met some great people playing golf everyday at that place, a few jerks, but mostly really neat people who would let a 12 year old play with them, gave me tips, more importantly showed me how to play the game properly. Respect for the game and it's history and traditions. Playing vintage irons and especially persimmons, takes me back to all that.

Now I'm not enveloped in some romantic haze about all this. Playing vintage is harder, no doubt about it. I'm a fairly decent player, played small college golf, but I'm in my mid fifties and 240 yards is as much as I can coax out of my persimmon driver and I have to nail it to get that. My Hogan 5 iron 160. So when I play in a tournament the vintage bag disappears and my titanium pumpkin and Ping Eye irons come out (come to think of it, they are vintage too! Vintage in a Karsten sort of way which is not really vintage, they were way ahead of their time. Say what you want, the man could really design a functional golf club) faster than you can say Jack Robinson. When all the strokes count I want to give myself the best chance I can and that is using the clubs that give me the best odds at the lowest score.

Still when all is said and done, my favorite golf moments are using the vintage gear by myself, or with my daughter playing at twilight and not even keeping score. The ball seems to stay on the face a little longer, I feel the shot in my hands up my arms and into my soul.
"Nice shot daddy" the girl says. "Yeah, I really got that one."

As good as it gets.

[Froth]

Good post, Hit the nail on the head. I definitely feel a massive difference from hitting my Wilson Strata-Bloc 4300 Driver and my 975J when it comes to clubface/ball contact. That ball feels glued there! It's about 50yds shorter though, so it stays in the classic "spares" bag in the bedroom(the wife loves that...) unless I'm playing for complete fun. Classic bagged golf is hilarious amounts of fun, I have built my 80's bag and working on a 70's! . I can't wait till I can play five different decades of clubs in a week.

I've been lucky at good will recently and I now have a 3,4,5,9,PW of some 1964 Sam Snead signature irons. Time to hit eBay!

[memphishorn]

For me it's something I only play occasionally but I keep my vintage bag of MacGregrors in my office and look at them all of the time. To me it represents a more simple time in my life that I didn't fully appreciate at the time. I suspect most don't because we all get caught up in to today.

It also gives me good memories of my father who left us way to early. Some of the best times we had together were on a golf course with these very clubs.

And in a practical way when i do play them it makes me focus on each shot just a little more because I know there is little margin for error

[oldschoolrocker]

Going to get one last round in before my surgery today or tomorrow depending upon when both sons can play. Will be OOC for a while after so have been debating over which clubs to take.
Memphis will take your post as a sign and play the old Macs.

[memphishorn]

OSR..good luck with the surgery, hopefully not to serious. Glad to help if I did.

[RRFireblade]

Nostalgia.

Cause it's so much fun.

[dbuck47]

My late father bought my Wilson Staffs for me when I was in college. 1-3-4-5 woods and 2-pw irons. I lost the woods in a move, but had stopped using them because a couple of them were cracked-they were the laminated Tour Block black laquer and red inserts. The irons are still in great shape. I added a sand wedge, an FG-17 1 iron, (my 2-pw are Tour Blades, immediate predecessor of the FG-17) and a JP Custom Grind Pitching wedge. I have a couple of persimmon 3-woods, a persimmon 5- wood, and 3 persimmon drivers. The ones I play most are the Joe Powell DSP J1 driver and 3 wood I found in a pawn shop.

So for me there is some sentimental attachment to these irons, but also general nostalgia, and of course the sound and feel of a well struck shot. I am a 15 handicap, but the blind hog does occasionally find an acorn, LOL! In the movie "Trouble with the Curve", Clint's character told his daughter to listen to the sound the ball made. The other day I was playing with my vintage stuff and at the end of the round I told one of my buddies I was playing with my old school stuff and he said " I know--I heard it" I did not play particulary well that day, but this old hog did find a couple of acorns, one of which was a nice little 250 yard fade to the center of the fairway accompanied by that sound that only comes from persimmon hit "on the screws".

[superhighoutput]

[quote name='dpark' timestamp='1373819962' post='7452122']
[quote name='superhighoutput' timestamp='1373810201' post='7451532']
Take a look at the most popular forged irons of today and you will see the most popular forged irons of yesterday.

This means two things to me:

There's nothing to be gained from "new" technology.

Old clubs are 1/10th the cost of new ones.
[/quote]

I agree on your "cost" point but have to disagree on the "technology" one.

I have played forged irons my entire golfing life and IMO, the technology in newer irons is significantly greater than older irons (pre 1990). It isn't so much the general shape of the head itself but what is possible with the entire clubhead (including the hosel and sole).

For example, some of my older irons (Byron Nelson 259 from 1950) has a very long hosel and as a result, the sweetspot is closer to the hosel than a modern iron, which means that you are closer to a possible shank on every well struck iron shot than a modern iron.

Secondly is the sole design. Older irons had very little bounce and a very sharp leading edge, so if you did not have a near-perfect angle-of-attack into the ball you could take a serious beaver pelt. Playing vintage irons in Portland, OR in the winter can be very problematic with the soft ground if you are not swinging well.

Regardless, it is great that you play vintage irons!
[/quote]

While I certainly agree with the use of the mass in the hosel, and the sweet spot being a little closer to the hosel with "goosenecks", I'd like to point out that a non-offset iron has MUCH more room near the hosel before you shank it. I'd also like to mention that a gooseneck WAS a technological advancement for a players iron...at the time they didn't have the ability or knowhow to build a shaft that would keep the flight of the ball nice and low, so they built a bunch of weight HIGH in the head...in the hosel. This extra mass in the hosel kept the ball low. We've learned since then that the correct way to do that is with a nice heavy, high kickpoint shaft...Enter the Tru-Temper Dynamic iron shaft. If you have old irons with "goosenecks", they were probably made before the Dynamic and Dynamic Gold irons shafts came to market (unless they're Wilson Staff Goosenecks...."shudder").

Regarding the sole grind, I'll agree with you there, too. Since Nicklaus left the tour, soles on players' clubs have gotten a LOT better. It took until the JNP was released in about 93' before there was ANY bounce on the leading edge of any of his irons. So many players had MacGregor Nicklaus irons with a custom sole that the entire industry began to make their clubs with those sole grinds when Macgregor started REALLY sinking in the early 90s.

Curtis strange went to Maruman (find a set of Maruman CS1 for complete and total awesomeness)

Ben Crenshaw went back to Hagen and won the 95 Masters

Norman went to Cobra but he actually liked the Nicklaus knife edged irons and the Norman blades might as well be Muirfields or VIP tours.

I can't think of any more right now, but all those MacGregor Staffers went to other companies in the early 90s and taught them how to make a MacGregor iron with a more "playable" sole.

The point I'm trying to make is that you can thank Nicklaus for retiring when he did. In effect, his retirement from the game ushered in a new era of quality players' irons.

So, in closing, When I think of "vintage", I think of two timeframes: Pre-Nicklaus and Post-Nicklaus. Obviously the "Post-Nicklaus" timeframe is quite short but if you can find some of the irons that the MacGregor Staffers used after they left MacGregor, you'll have some of the best irons made...ever.

[Asiz]

I never knew hogs were into acorns?

[oldschoolrocker]

Agree with the post Jack revolution wrt the club head soles. Certainly makes a big difference in playability between the two eras. I have sets from 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and early 2000s. All blades, all in good playable shape. The biggest changes I see are in the hostel and leading edge.
Have been playing most of the time with the Macs from the 50s. Played with my 690.mbs yesterday and couldn't hit the mid irons worth 2 cents. Long irons great, short irons not bad,but shanked every other mid iron. Haven't done that in ages. Took 2 of the older sets out to the range this morning and no issues at all.

[dbuck47]

[quote name='Asiz' timestamp='1373976420' post='7463708']
I never knew hogs were into acorns?
[/quote]

Haha--hogs, especially blind ones, are into whatever smells like food. I could have said squirrels, but I look more the hog type, LOL.

[oldschoolrocker]

It's those found acorns that keep us keep us coming back.