These were great clubs. The Early Years Starting in 1900, Spalding opened clubmaking factories in London and in Fife, Scotland, producing forged iron heads for Spalding clubs sold both in the U.K. and U.S. Itd take a week to prepare for.. Met a friend in Costa Mesa at Mile Square Golf Club back in the early 1970s and he was with Duke Duclos., a friend from their McDonald-Douglas days. I have a set of Ben Hogan AHS Hybrids and the SW is even a hybrid! At the turn of the 20th Century, golf had stirred mild interest in the United States, and A.G. Spalding & Brothers sporting goods saw an opportunity. "sameAs": [ Mr. Adams had just formed Taylor Made Golf in late 1978 and this was their first showing in the market. Anyone ever hear of anything like that? A set of wedges were introduced several years ago claiming to be New and the best thing since sliced bread, but they looked strangely similar to the Golden Touch irons. 1 Iron Spalding Executive MV2 bird over ball . The 1968 arrival of the Executive MV2 Bird Over Ball clubs are among some of Spaldings most easily recognizable clubs. what is spanish colonial music? Spalding, however, never dominated the pro game as Wilson and MacGregor did. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. Great list of wild clubs. I have a Simmons Great White Shark putter with a 7 blade. * Note: These irons were designed by Duke Duclos. Still have the clubs in my basement. Seemed like big headed design with half the head chopped off to produce a bigger face!!! In the mid-80s, Spalding introduced the solid core Tour Edition, and in 1996 it came out with Strata, a true game-changer for Spalding and the first multi-layer solid core ball used on Tour. Haha my dad had a set of these and I ended up bagging the 3 and 4 irons as I hated the hybrids that came with my new set. Keep up the great work. Wish the 5 iron would have been there. Love them oldies. Especially in America. In the mid to late 80s, my father had Spalding make him a set of custom irons. Pat Simmons of Tiger Shark fame (and others) is the most underrated club designer of all time! The likes of Callaway, TaylorMade, and PING all enjoyed good commercial success in the late nineties, and Spalding couldnt match the same feats achieved by the biggest brands. The reason why Spalding clubs arent particularly valuable is that they have been widely available for so many years. Heres a set of Slotline irons currently for sale on EBay, http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330561978331&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT, some years ago-I bought a trial 7 iron thru golg digest-some years later a friend of mine bought a used set at a second hand storeany way I think it was made by simmons or slotline?? (ENTER TO WIN) Super cool contest we have for you fellow GolfSpies today! Great collection I remember many of them in the past 30 years often thought of buying some of them, but luckily, I didnt, Ive purchased dozens of iron sets in the last few years (Big Bertha,FTI, Taylor Made, Cobra, Nike V series) NOne of these work as well as my Ping Zings, Hey, what about Shakespeare and fiberglass. Currently play AP2s coming out of the bag for a few rounds and if the linear dynamics keep performing like they did in Vegas the AP2s will be taking a long rest. I was interested in golf until around 2001 and soon discovered spoiling was on anachronism at that point. My high school graduation present from my parents back in 1973 was a set of Executive clubs (back when the irons were forged before they were cast). The set I found is 2-9, but the 5 iron is gone. Those were first made around the end of the 19th century during the hickory era. "url": "https://swingyard.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-1.svg" Under Chapter 363, it bid $125 million for Top-Flite. These were actually a pretty good iron for the time and I think Trevino had something to do with this designbut not sure. Copyright 2023. I speak with Nat Rosassco, former owner, of NorthWestern golf at least every 7 to 10 days and he holds Pat Simmons as one of the best club designers of all time as well. Your previous content has been restored. I dont know how people could justify any of the others. i knew a guy who was a 4 handicap, and he used the spalding executives. Golf bags bulged with 20 to 25 clubs, and the USGA, fearing too many specialty clubs had watered down the skill required in golf, took action. The Start Of Spalding Golf Clubs In 1905, a sporting goods company saw that golf was starting to become quite popular in the United States. Executives were my first real set of golf clubs. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. and had a driving range there for many years. I have a left handed set that I got from a guy on the senior tour, Bob Carson, who also owned a golf course in Titusville FLA. I recently tried an old Jack Nicklaus 7 iron made by MacGregor many years ago. He also had a head for business and knew a good opportunity when he saw one. 1-949-642-6484 . Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. Sold them to a guy 30 years younger who also loved them. Peter F. Stevens is an award-winning author and journalist whose 10 books include "The Voyage of the Catalpa." Shank no more, draw, fade, straight, you name it, my Filas do it. Great list! You might remember the popular Stan Thompson woods with the unique sole design. Our mission is #ConsumerFirst. when were spalding executive golf clubs made Look at many of todays hybrids. Non-Tapered Golf Grips: 8 Facts to Know Before You Buy! 2 Iron (21) Spalding EXECUTIVE XE . Dreadful golf balls! My Uncle had the Executives and my Dad had the XL-4s. Players would switch balls during a round as conditions warranted. The woods were the strangest looking things. This stuff is really interesting.. The pro-shop who had them could not find a buyer. Typically about 2 of the three would be OK, but if you hit one thin, you just threw it away on the next tee. Our friends[], Amazing Ryder Cup Contest! I cannot find any information on this club, maybe they were a golfsmith thing from early 2000s?? What a mess that design was! So, while Spalding is nowhere near as prevalent as it once was in the world of golf, you can still pick up a set of Molitor clubs for a very reasonable price online. Just saw a full set of them again today. It was a popular cavity back iron and Spalding decided to sell it through general sporting goods stores, eschewing the golf pro. Money put a few of these clubs on touralthough that does not mean they were worth a penny. Not to belittle them because KKR is incredibly successful, but they didnt know the golf business the way we did, says White. Iomic Golf Grips: 8 Key Facts Before You Buy. In one sense, Spalding suffered the same fate irrelevance as did fellow legacy golf brands Wilson Staff and MacGregor. The top of the club head is horisontal and is easy to set up perpendical to the target. However, the name of their popular brand Top Flite was sold to Callaway, and is used for discount clubs and balls. Got the 3 PW for 3.99 a club, bought the 5- PW first, played two rounds and went back and bought the 3 & 4. And add on Sweet Spot Golf Drivers and the Mac/Burrows Driver. As a former professional player, Spalding recognized the need of enlisting the assistance of experts to promote both the game and his merchandise. Since the Ryder Cup is shortly upon us MyGolfSpy & GolfCircuit.com thought it[]. We will miss Jim and his innovation ! He would hold up the club so they could see the 7 on the bottom and with a big grin say I hit a 7 iron. I traded in some Titleist Acushnet blades for themI had only paid $99.00 for the set of Acushnets (used)they gave me $139.00 in trade value, and wanted another $100 for the UniquesThey were some of the easiest to hit irons I have ever ownedout of the 40 50 different sets I have had. The nineties saw the release of the Top Flite Tour Ti irons, which were among the last clubs that the long-standing brand would manufacture. "@type": "ImageObject", The biggest of them all, however, may well have been the aforementioned Bobby Jones. I still have them and as a matter of fact I still use a copper Zing2 sand wedge 54. Colgate-Palmolive bought RAM and Penfold in the mid-70s to sell more toothpaste but gave up after only five years. The shelves are full of the latest and greatest technology (hybrids, woods the size of a frying pan, dozens of shaft offerings), in 20+ years people will be laughing at those funky sticks as well. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.You can also visit my Am. The solid core Strata now had competition from the Titleist ProV1. Never get tired of reading these types of articles. I bought a set of blue-backed Uniques back in the early 80s. The Roaring 20s gave us Babe Ruth, Knute Rockne, Jack Dempsey, and Red Grange. New entries such as Nike and Adams were turning heads as well. You can post now and register later. http://www.geekgolf.com. Almost , http://www.intheholegolf.com/store/f2is.html. That year Albert and his brothers opened the A.G. Spalding & Brothers sporting goods company and started making baseballs. I wonder what Jack thought of them. The early Top-Flites were juast the opposite; you couldnt cut one of them with an axe. Man, some of my favorites on this list. pend. beneath. And Spalding predated Mizuno by at least 60 years with a copper undercoating for its forged blades in the mid-50s. Incidentally, Vulcan (Chicago suburb club makers who made some of the earliest hybrids) made a full set of hybrids 3-SW. You have not lived until you hit good hybrid wedges! The 500s have less offset than the 440s. The success of Spalding golf clubs had compelled the USGA to act, but this success was not destined to last forever. lol..!! All are memory refreshing .. have been in golf clubhead design , manufacturing 25 years , familiar with the designs ! I wonder how much influence he had on those? *chuckles* Maybe its a good thing I took a 30 year golf hiatus. An excellent article well researched In the meantime, this should hold you over, https://mygolfspy.com/why-does-the-ben-hogan-equipment-company-still-matter/. I played a lot of Spaulding equipment as a kid in all kinds of sports. They say you learn from your mistakes. i used to work in a golf shop in ohio and we had the worst set i ever saw. Now I need some crazy Loudmouth pants and a pink ball. Theres even premium urethane cover options (Pro V1 and X styles) for ~$15 a dozen. My Nike Slingshots is the best set I have ever used. Irons made during that time are distinguished by an anvil cleek mark. But just because it was wacky did not mean it was not a hellova seller. What a great list! So, if youre buying or selling Spalding clubs that are in reasonably good shape, you can set your expectations around $100 to begin with. Yes. we closed and then were just screwing around with some of the rental clubs. a beginner could really benifit from the Nike slingshot, they are easy to hit. Would the F2 wedges still be legal if the crank were a few inches further up but still keeping the same angle please. Among Jones innovations: the first matched set of steel-shafted irons, the first set of irons with the sweet spot in the center of each club (denoted by a circle of dots on the clubface), and an iron set where the scoring irons were one length, the mid irons were one length, and the long irons were one length. I owned a set of Nocklaus N1 irons (the pro versions of the bear irons?). Purespin (diamond face)? This putter is a remake of the model Bobby Jones used in the 1930s and features a head made from nickel plating over copper plating over forged carbon steel. Spalding stopped producing golf clubs in 2022, focusing on other sports in the years since. ENTER NOW! "https://www.linkedin.com/in/swingyard/", You might be wondering how the hell did a Ping iron make the listbut look againthis one definitely deserves to be on the list for Wackiest Irons. . Ive seen several of those uglies up close over the years so this was fun to view. It is called a hollow wedge, but you can putt with it as well. If youre looking to buy or sell vintage Spalding clubs, the best place to do so is on eBay or Craigslist, where you can list the clubs in the condition that they are currently in. Known for launching the ball from a nice crisp fairway lie but it jumped the shark when it came to hitting it from any kind of fluff. Protactic Golf in Chicago. My golf team partner talked me into getting new technology Ping G-20s a couple years ago, & I can not hit them nearly as well. Why are Spalding golf balls called Top Flite? He re-gripped them and beats the Taylormade hand-me-downs of his friends. I think this is the web site for me . 1983 Yet again, the same fate as MacGregor had. Great insight! " [We] decided that . I remember a set called Canon I think, possibly a Spalding brand. Spalding used to own Top Flite before selling the subsidiary to Callaway. Well these irons which were designed out in LA by Stan Thompson were made to capitalize on that same concept. my 5w distance matches my friends new drivers in distance off tee,,they are amazed. The company also announced an alliance with Bob Bettinardi to create a line of high-end Hogan putters. Im sure Scott White would love to contribute. #PowerToThePlayer. Bought a used set of 3-SW with a sticker decal some 35 years ago and added a 2-iron with stamped lettering later on a trip to Chicago. "author": "Ned Howard", I also have a set of Browning TR600s. made it even more interesting and valuable. The BIG BOYS missed on this one. History of Spalding Golf Clubs | Golflink.com These irons actually performed quite well and had many copy cats of it down the road to prove itincluding another iron that made the list at #12 Slotline Lowpro iron and the Titleist Super Slim irons. Did KKR overpay? I have one of those! Instead, well hit the highlights. 2023 Genesis Invitational - Monday #3. And Spaldings ace in the hole Strata was old news by the time the Pro V1 and Nike Tour Accuracy hit the scene. Used them for about 10-15 years before I switch to 845s. The Titleist were a bit longer lasting but I (a poor college student) could afford the Spaulding balls. It was in A Disordly Compendium of Golf I cant find my copy (actually havent seen it in a few months) but I know it was in there. It was the mold makers attempt to make at a hollow head, wooden shape club. We have been making them since 1992ship them all over the worldto soldiers, traveling execs, private pilots, cyclists, retirees that want to walk but cant lug a full set, and many other categories. Was a fan of the TopFlite XL. Jeff Sheets had been Director of R&D for Top-Flite since 1995, and his first club for Hogan became a legend. What the hey. They are nearly in perfect condition. He actually manufactured a set of irons whose heads were literally upside down take an iron, turn in upside down, your top edge now hits the turf, the sole having a hosel. Oh I didnt forget about thosethey almost made the list. Jones immediately put his Georgia Tech engineering degree to good use. (Cavity back blades???) Callaway had been making balls but never turned a profit. GolfWRX_Spotted posted a topic in Tour and Pre-Release Equipment, February 13. Are these considered weird? Swing Yard is a participant in the Amazon.com Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, amazon.ca, amazon.co.uk and any other websites that may be affiliated with Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. * Note: These irons were designed in Belgium by the Belgium-Browning company. To maintain the limit of 14 clubs in the bag, I change off now and then. Spalding Irons By Year - Swing Yard Thanks for the article. I had some Staff FG-17 and my friends dad had the Executives. Inside cavity: blue/back button; EXECUTIVE x EZ. Make Request. Model Summary Color chart indicates best . In 1880, Spaldings League Ball became the official baseball of the National League (and later of the American League), a position it held until 1976. The History of Spalding Golf Clubs - Hickory Golfers What you supposed to do, cut your head off!!! Thanks. and they placed it in the show. The 1953 Top-Flite Synchro-Dyned irons were particularly innovative, featuring a matched shaft flex and head weight for each iron in the set. Spalding introduced many variations of hickory-shafted clubs to bring distance and control to the professional and duffer alike. What you like is what you like. Irons made during that time are distinguished by an anvil cleek mark. worst time to visit costa rica; apartments for rent in fort pierce with utilities included; sunshine plaza opening hours sunday; photosynthesis and cellular respiration kahoot Jim passed away recentlyhe was a great innovator do you remember the Basakwerd Putter By 1970, the ownership group morphed into the Questor Corporation, and Pyramid Rubber was rechristened Evenflo. Spalding club-makers paid as much scrutiny to shafts as heads. Thanks for you4 diligence and reporting. Still, if youre looking for more information about Spalding golf clubs, youve come to the right place. Sign In. Placing the hosel behind the face eliminates the occasional `shank, creating forward-face progression. I didnt know until I read this article that evidently FILA was the designer of the original face forward iron design; speaking of which, I wouldve thought the F2 Face Forward Irons wouldve made the list (http://www.intheholegolf.com/store/f2is.html). *We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Spalding stopped making golf clubs in 2002, and their last clubs were branded as Top Flite Oversized irons. I tried to hit it oncenot a good idea! Thanks. Steve Almo higher loft is really your best bet for getting out of these difficult fairway lies, Top 10 Best Cheap Drivers (Updated 2021 Buying Guide), 5 Advantages of A Strong Golf Grip (Everything To Know), What Is An Overrun Golf Ball? Copyright 2023. I am on my 2nd set.I used to lovem and had friends that bought as they loved the ball flight and were also a great set of chippers. Scott Stallings - WITB - 2023 Genesis Invitational. Its a great story that needs to be told. ], Albert Spalding was a superstar. These gentlemen used them to win large amounts of money on the course from unsuspecting victims. Reach and the Wright and Ditson sporting goods companies. Spalding stopped making clubs in 2002. I think a list of the craziest irons made should definitely include the Jerry Barber Golden Touch irons made over 40 years ago. Lots of wackiness. That was a great history lesson!!!!! I think Browning was leaving the golf business then and they were discounted last set in the store. Design the future of bad golf! I just found a set of Slingers at the thrift store for $10. Terrific article as usual Mr. Barra. #14 - Spalding Executive Irons These were actually a pretty good iron for the time and I think Trevino had something to do with this designbut not sure. Learn how your comment data is processed. Did you forget about Zevo Golf? "@context": "http://schema.org/", What about Giant Irons, I remember seeing those on an infomercial a few times. Had 3-PW plus 1, 3, & 5 woods. It wasnt very sophisticated back then, and they wanted to add layers of sophistication that they had in their other businesses. Remember when pros like Norman and Stadler and others with that bright red Spaulding Tour Bag. History's Mysteries: Spalding Golf's Final Countdown What about Goldwin?? The latter is notable as the Wright of Wright and Ditson is one George Wright, a Hall of Fame shortstop for the Boston Red Stockings and a major mover and shaker of turn-of-the-century golf. Executives were my first set as wellI thought they were a great starter set. The Executives were the bomb back in the day. and I firmly believe the demise of Spalding was because a number of CEOs with little or no knowledge of the golf industry were appointed Brings back great memories! In 1895, Spalding started manufacturing golf balls. If you are a beginner and are looking for a . I collect odd golf items. Another great history piece. What about Pax (Paul Goydos promoted them)? The Zing2s were the first set I bought when I started playing golf. Driver to 15 wood. For more than 25 years, he has contributed to a wide array of publications including "American Heritage," "American History," "Yankee," "VFW," "Golf," and "Golf News." Europe was a bit ahead of the United States when it came to golf, and the sport had only just started to explode in the United States. Display as a link instead, There is nothing crazy about the Slinger! This new construction was a major technological advancement in golf balls. #15 - Stan Thompson Ginty Irons You might remember the popular Stan Thompson woods with the unique sole design. Spalding sponsored Vardons 1900 tour of America, culminating in Vardon winning the U.S. Open in Chicago. FS - Fiberbuilt Flight Deck / GripMaster Roo pulls, New Vokey SM8 52 & 56 wedge set / New Titleist Caps (for bigger heads) / New Cobra RadSpeed 10.5* Driver, Peacoat, with premium, upgraded shaft, TSR3 ub-6x, cobra radspeed, TEE pro 721 driver and 3w, Ventus Black TR Folds of Honor 6x w/ TM Adapter, Ventus Red TR 6x w/ TM Adapter, Adidas Tour 360 22 Size 13, MyStealth2 Driver Headcover. Love to see them. One day, I was caddying for him and he crushed a drive, but about 100 yards out, it just fell out of the sky. It wasnt the shank that bothered me, it was waiting for it to happen that was the problem. Great looking blade and the low COG really lets one hit it high. Windtree Golf is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. That means providing you with equipment reviews you can trust, They got so popular at the time that it scared club makers badly (Every set was pretty much custom built then), and Golfing associations banned the club from play. In April, KKR sold the Spalding name and all of Spaldings non-golf businesses to Russell Athletic for just $65 million. In the 1960s, Spalding introduced the Spalding Executive line of clubs and balls and the Top-Flite Elite Professional irons with the Bird on Ball logo. It had a good locking mechanism, and was made for poorer people who could not afford a whole set.