20-yr Old Tech Clubs

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CUSTOM-Ladies-Spalding-Executive-XE-FULL-HYBRID-Iron-Set-3-PW-L-Flex-Steel/381079780956?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131017132637%26meid%3De60aca16262f46e1b6c3028440b46afc%26pid%3D100033%26prg%3D20131017132637%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D311002902541

Guys/Girls/AC-DC

When I started this stupid sport, I was afraid (and still is) of irons so I bought this Spalding Executive SE (Men model, the difference was probably shaft length and flex)... EVERYONE laughed at me because they all "look like" W ... little that I knew I played a set of gaybrid irons back then. Last week , I took them out and regripped the 6-i for a test drive at the local range vs. my current Cobra S2 6-i.... Off the T, it's as good.. off the mat it's for sure better, I hit it purer and cleaner, not sure why , perhaps heavier club head... I am glad I have not got rid of them - my set is 3W-SW - , so I am going to regrip them and prepare for the next round (whenever). Will let you guys/girls/AC-DC know later

Them some ugly sticks. I remember losing a bit of Skins money to one of the regulars in our standing Sunday morning 8 a.m. Skins game at the club. He was a short guy, a corporate lawyer, who couldn't hit driver more than 200 yards unless the fairway was baked hard, it was 95* and there was a 30 mph tailwind. He played a set of Spaulding irons that looked like that but were probably an earlier model. He would stay in the game while two of us other three would have the long holes with pars or birdies and then sneak in a 160 yard 3 iron with a 30 yard banana slice that would land two feet from the hole on a par 3 and take ten skins. Man, I hated to see him with one of those irons in his hands on a par 3.

I still have my 1977 Spalding Executives down in the basement, and the lofts are not what the under sixty set might expect.

2I...20°
3I...23°
4I...26°
5I...30°
6I...34°
7I...38°
8I...42°
9I...46°
PW...50°
SW...58º

I usually left the 3-iron out of the bag (2-iron served as a driving iron only) and used a different sand wedge, but I could probably play with these clubs right now if I re-gripped them. I played four odd woods with these irons: MacGregor Tommy Armour Eye-O-Matic 2-wood, Walter Hagen Ultra 4-wood, PowerBilt Citation 5-wood, and a Stan Thompson Ginty. These are pretty dried out and would probably crack if I hit them, although only the MacGregor is persimmon. The rest are laminated maple.

trombettista_vecchio wrote:I still have my 1977 Spalding Executives down in the basement, and the lofts are not what the under sixty set might expect.

2I...20°
3I...23°
4I...26°
5I...30°
6I...34°
7I...38°
8I...42°
9I...46°
PW...50°
SW...58º

I usually left the 3-iron out of the bag (2-iron served as a driving iron only) and used a different sand wedge, but I could probably play with these clubs right now if I re-gripped them.  I played four odd woods with these irons: MacGregor Tommy Armour Eye-O-Matic 2-wood, Walter Hagen Ultra 4-wood, PowerBilt Citation 5-wood, and a Stan Thompson Ginty.  These are pretty dried out and would probably crack if I hit them, although only the MacGregor is persimmon.  The rest are laminated maple.

I regripped my gaybrid iron set and get them ready for the season ,  since I carry only 7i-SW I know I don't lose any distance, if I could win accuracy then that would be a plus for my game... only one potential problem is that they are steel shafted and my arms could be tired at the turn....

Little more than 20 years, right?!? Haahah

The old irons are by far the best, currently I am playing Wilson Staff tour blades circa 1976. Bought them brand new about a year ago with original grips and plastic still on the heads. I reshafted them, bent them two degrees flat and threw some NDMCs on them and they were good to go.

I'm still playing my 25 yr old Tommy Armour 845s down here. Only reshafted last year with R300's.

Not looking to go back up north to play my new Mizzy's, I hear its ccccold and snowy. Today I matched the weather......84.

jmtbkr wrote:I'm still playing my 25 yr old Tommy Armour 845s down here. Only reshafted last year with R300's.

Not looking to go back up north to play my new Mizzy's, I hear its ccccold and snowy.  Today I matched the weather......84.

I have not touched my clubs in real course for 2+ months... I would be happy to shoot 94 now

I have not been on a course since last October. Since then, I have a new used set of Adams forged CB2's with KBS 90 stiff shafts and two new used drivers. An Adams Fast 10 for $11 from 3balls and a Ping G15 that cost three times as much from the same purveyor. Of course everything is covered with ice so I haven't been able to hit either one yet but I have cut down their shaft butts and installed new grips. I also got both eyes de-cataracted and now have the best vision of my life. I can't wait to actually see the flights of my shots. I think it will be much easier to dial in the shots if I can see how they fly instead of relying on feel and instinct. If I decide to bag the Adams Fast 10 driver, I will have that brand from GW to driver with only Vokeys for wedges and the Ping putter. If the Ping G15 takes the driver slot, then Ping shall be my Alpha and Omega. So be it. Let it be. Let it bleed.

Mongrel wrote:I have not been on a course since last October. Since then, I have a new used set of Adams forged CB2's with KBS 90 stiff shafts and two new used drivers. An Adams Fast 10 for $11 from 3balls and a Ping G15 that cost three times as much from the same purveyor. Of course everything is covered with ice so I haven't been able to hit either one yet but I have cut down their shaft butts and installed new grips. I also got both eyes de-cataracted and now have the best vision of my life. I can't wait to actually see the flights of my shots. I think it will be much easier to dial in the shots if I can see how they fly instead of relying on feel and instinct. If I decide to bag the Adams Fast 10 driver, I will have that brand from GW to driver with only Vokeys for wedges and the Ping putter. If the Ping G15 takes the driver slot, then Ping shall be my Alpha and Omega. So be it. Let it be. Let it bleed.

I am ready to go and play the Pilgrim's oak then bring that darn course down to its knees .... hahahaha

pingman360 wrote:Little more than 20 years, right?!? Haahah

The old irons are by far the best, currently I am playing Wilson Staff tour blades circa 1976. Bought them brand new about a year ago with original grips and plastic still on the heads. I reshafted them, bent them two degrees flat and threw some NDMCs on them and they were good to go.

About 8 years ago I purchased a set of Wilson Staff FG-17 irons from Golfmart for around $29 with Dynamic Regular steel shafts. Best forged iron I have ever hit. Granted, I need a full 7 iron to his the ball 140-150 yards but after making the adjustment I had one of my best rounds, shooting a 69. I would love for them to come out with that exact same iron mold with modern lofts. Those heads were extremely small.

I like the old fashioned weak lofts, FD. I grew up with them. Long irons were actually hittable, and one didn't need a bag full of wedges.

Loft isn't the only factor. Most of the old irons with the old school lofts had vertical centers of gravity a good distance above the club's sole so that you had to have those lofts to get your shots in the air. And their horizontal centers of gravity were located just outside the hosel so that toe hits would typically lose considerable distance and tend to slice like bananas. If you wanted to hit a pure iron shot, you had to flirt with a hosel rocket. Now modern irons have been designed with lower vertical centers of gravity and with horizontal centers of gravity more in the center of the club face making them easier to get airborne and more forgiving on hits towards the toe.

Another factor is the shaft technology improvements. In the old days, you mainly had the choice of regular or stiff flex with your iron shafts. Those shafts were all going to weigh 120-130 grams each. Nowadays, lighter weight steel shafts come in the 75-110 gram range and produce higher clubhead speeds for many players. The center of gravity changes meant that it was much easier to get the iron in the air with lower lofts. In fact, lofts were lowered because shots would be too high with the old lofts.

At the end of last year, I bought a used set of Adams forged cavity backs with those modern lower lofts. The PW is 45*, the 6 iron 29*, 4 iron 23*. Although I have not played with them yet, I have hit them off mats and a few off field turf and I found that I can hit the 4* as high as I hit my Mizuno MX 20 and 25 6 irons. Of course the 90 gram KBS stiff shafts help with the height and distance.

Not to disagree with any of the above, Mongrel, but the old Spalding Executives of which I was speaking had weak lofts, lightweight steel shafts with a low flex point, and substantially greater sole-weighting than any currently popular iron. The Browning 440 had closer to modern lofts back then, but the Executives decidedly did not. The balancing factor was the old, original, high compression, 336 dimple Top Flite ball with which the Executives were designed to play. It was a line drive ball that the Execs put up in the air. Balata covered wound balls played short with the Execs, but nobody playing the Spalding club was using them.

I remember playing those Top Flites and it was OK because back in those days the fairways weren't as well groomed and fast as they are today and the greens were usually much slower so you could hold running approach shots.