The "old" Ralph Maltby GolfWorks

[NiftyNiblick]

At least through the eighties, Ralph Maltby's GolfWorks made beautiful, made-to-order persimmon and laminated maple woods....

 

everybody remembers persimmon but nobody mentions laminated maple any more--

 

that were cosmetically prettier than many of the major OEM offerings.  And here' the thing...

 

the customer could order the loft, face, and lie angles that he or she wanted--FOR NO EXTRA UPCHARGE.  That's what they could do working with real wood as opposed to castings or forgings.

 

All of which brings up the question:

 

How much technology makes it worth it to give up perfect fit?

 

Those mechanical hosel gadgets and such DO NOT have the capability of offering desired loft, lie, and face angle adjustments all at the same time.

 

And real wooden woods could be matched for swingweight at any custom lengths as well.

 

Sometimes I wish that I didn't remember this stuff. It might be more useful to remember what happened earlier this morning.

[HardcoreLooper]

Niblick, you're making me nostalgic for days gone bye...

 

But I hit the ball farther at 47 with technology than I did at 17 with craftsmanship.  So there's that.

[PlaidJacket]

Nifty.... here's a video by Tom Wishon I think you'll enjoy. It's about 20 minutes but most fascinating as I think you'll see. And... Unlike other golf videos or sites he gets right to the point and doesn't blather on. Refreshing.

 

Adjustable Driver Hosel Explained by Tom Wishon - 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj5KOk2oXU0

 

[BIG STU]

Nifty-- I can remember back in the day some of the old club shops would order turnings in other words square block heads with the hosel lathed in. The clubmaker did the bore and like you said the face angle by hand with rasp file and sander. Shaped the head etc, There were two such shops in my area growing up. Those 2 shops also had their own custom sole plates made too. then you had the big boys like the Izett company in Ardmore PA. So much hand done craftsmanship in those days. One of the reasons I try to save every wood club that comes into our scrapyard. I will admit some of the woods I can not hit no more than I can fly the space shuttle but I love to look at the shapes and grains of the wood. 

[RobinArthur]

Hey Nick -

Great post methinks...  Heck I started my learning in golf at GolfSmith w/ doing everything you mentioned on persimmon and laminated head w/ those epoxy inserts.  Then I met Elmore Just at a PCS Show and obviously Louisville Golf was a leader in that field....still is I guess.  It was kule, here I was coming from General Dynamics and helping design and manufacture composite parts for little things like the Space Shuttle, Atlas Centaur rockets, F15s...  Then I got a "schooling" in golf and its history, nostalgia, equipment, clubmaker/fitters/OEMs... and esp. the state of the industry's current at that time real technology stat across the board - wow....fertile ground for massive improvements...  But let's face it.  GWs has become a grip company under their Dicks decree - head and tooling designs although still a passion for especially Pete Calloway and to a lesser degree Britt Lindsey , they still manage to put out some pretty kule, decent designs given their constraints.

 

BUT...all that being said....thanks for taking me down memory lane...

 

And tyo Big Stu - thx for the Watson vid.  Def. going to check that out in a bit.  I have a few stories about that Gentleman when I met him in a lounge waiting for a plane to Augusta.  Wow....!
 

.

[azstu324]

Nifty.... here's a video by Tom Wishon I think you'll enjoy. It's about 20 minutes but most fascinating as I think you'll see. And... Unlike other golf videos or sites he gets right to the point and doesn't blather on. Refreshing.

 

Adjustable Driver Hosel Explained by Tom Wishon -

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj5KOk2oXU0

Fun fact.. Tom Wishon got his feet wet by working FOR Ralph Maltby.

 

Sent from my VS985 4G using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[PlaidJacket]

Fun fact.. Tom Wishon got his feet wet by working FOR Ralph Maltby.

 

Sent from my VS985 4G using MyGolfSpy mobile app

didn't know that. Tom told me he also worked for Golf Smith too at one time.

[azstu324]

If you poke around the interweb you can find more stories about their friendship/relationship. Obviously Wishon has his reputation and credibility cemented now and has no need to name drop but when he was fresh out of college and trying to make a name for himself, Maltby took him under his wing for a brief moment.

 

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/innovators_wishon

 

 

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[AH1980MN]

You mean kinda like these? Custom made for my Dad back in '83 or so.

[deejaid]

I'm also dipping my toes into the classic wood woods with the help of our resident classic club guru Big Stu. My interest in persimmons is growing and the fact I like traditional hand tool woodworking makes repairing and building old woods even more interesting to me.

 

A few years ago I purchased a lot of old golf books on eBay and one was a vintage Ralph Maltby club repair book. I didn't know of I'd ever use it but now I'm thinking maybe a new hobby might be refinishing persimmon and laminate woods.

 

How about chapter 10, changing the like angle of a wood. All you need is a hole cut into a piece of hardwood lined with scrap leather.

 

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[NiftyNiblick]

Niblick, you're making me nostalgic for days gone bye...

 

But I hit the ball farther at 47 with technology than I did at 17 with craftsmanship.  So there's that.

The technology is great, but the choice on simple fit metrics is atrocious.

 

If you can't choose loft, lie, face angle, swing weight, and loft increment between clubs, the clubs are not custom fit.

Shafts and grips are not customization. 

Your local driving range pro can take care of that for you if you can't do it yourself..

Getting the club head that you want is customization. Stamping included.

 

Who's offering it? Nobody that I can see

I honestly think that today's recreational players are much too easy on the OEMs.

It may come from buying clubs on Ebay instead of from the pro at your club or favorite course.

It also comes from clubs being too high tech to be made truly to order.

 

Anyway, if somebody were making 1978 style clubs exactly to my my specs,

 

the way, say, Kenneth Smith used to do,

 

I'd buy them and pass on the tech.

I'd buy them on general principles, even knowing that I'm probably never going to play again.

I'd buy them to lean against my bookshelves where I could look at them wistfully.

 

I'd just skip a vacation trip to make up the difference in my modest estate.

 

And as for not playing again, who knows?  My 86 year old uncle, the youngest and only surviving member of his generation in my family, came to my place for dinner tonight. He lives in Florida and is back to playing nine three or four times a week--after a recent hip replacement.  That generation always had a way of making me feel like an ******* in comparison.

[deejaid]

Nifty, maybe this is what you need.

 

http://www.nationalcustomworks.com/

 

You said before your next set might very well be your last, so why not have a fully custom set made by Don White, the same guy that hand ground Jack's at Macgregor.

 

I'd love to have a fully custom set, just like you said, not just length and lie but every aspect from sole grind, topline thickness, muscleback shape, etc.

 

 

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[NiftyNiblick]

Nifty, maybe this is what you need.

 

http://www.nationalcustomworks.com/

 

You said before your next set might very well be your last, so why not have a fully custom set made by Don White, the same guy that hand ground Jack's at Macgregor.

 

I'd love to have a fully custom set, just like you said, not just length and lie but every aspect from sole grind, topline thickness, muscleback shape, etc.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Wow!

Stay anonymous, deejaid.

My wife might be on your trail with bad intentions, soon.

[deejaid]

Yikes! Then definitely don't let her see these...

 

https://www.p53irons.com/

 

 

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[JOHN A DAIGLE]

Could I get a copy of the old Ralph Maltby Golf Works charts that showed the heel-to-first-step measurements for irons and woods?

My Membership Number is 688523