Sirchunks blade experiment and restoration

[sirchunksalot 9,547]

So, as many of you saw over in the “What Have You Bought Lately” thread, I went to a thrift store and found an older set of blades. I was originally going to just get a single iron to play with from time to time, but then found a complete set. My weapons of choice? A set of Wilson Staff Fluid Feel irons 2-PW. 

Why would I do this? I’m a huge golf YouTube fan and one of the channels I enjoy is Stacked Golf. It’s a husband and wife team who go around thrift stores and flea markets and hunt old clubs. Also, there’s a lot of debate over traditional lofts vs loft jacking. I thought this might be a fun little experiment to see if a golfer like me could play an older set and still score well. This is in no way a scientific experiment, I just want to have fun and share my experiences with all of you. Plus, I thought it’d be nice to restore an old set to its former beauty. 

Right now I’m cleaning them up and really loving how they look. They started out a bit rusty, but a little Bar Keepers Friend, some steel wool, and a little elbow grease has them looking good. 

I haven’t had a chance to hit them since my driving range took some damage in a tornado back around Easter. I have gotten them out and hit foam balls a few times, but that’s just not the same as the real thing. It’s probably the worst idea ever, but I’m planning on taking them to the course soon just to see how I can make them perform. 

I’m planning on alternating rounds between my current gamers and these. Speaking of which, I’m currently playing with a set that is the polar opposite of these butter knives: Tommy Armour Atomics. These are super jacked, with large heads, and loads of forgiveness. 

This is going to be a long process, but I plan on having fun with it. Hopefully I’ll at least be able to advance the ball toward the hole with the Wilson's. 
 

[LeftyHawk 524]

Interesting experiment, I'll be interested in your results. Mostly how ball flight is affected between the 2 types of irons.

 

Chris

[Shankster 25,725]

Oh... what is this?!

Pretty sure that was the same model as my first set!

Enjoy the zip you’re gonna get with those grooves.

Cool project.

[Kenny B 24,261]

Nice job on making them look good!!  That alone should be with a shot or two.

My fluid feeling is that you will hit a few great shots and a bunch of terrible shots, and believe me, you will know which is which!!  Don't get discouraged.  I would be interested in knowing if you hit your Atomics better after a round or two with the Staffs.

[sirchunksalot 9,547]

9 minutes ago, Shankster said:

Oh... what is this?!

Pretty sure that was the same model as my first set!

Enjoy the zip you’re gonna get with those grooves.

Cool project.

Now that's cool! I'm going to be interested to see how they spin. I'm not a high spin guy, but I have a feeling they might do pretty good.

7 minutes ago, Kenny B said:

Nice job on making them look good!!  That alone should be with a shot or two.

My fluid feeling is that you will hit a few great shots and a bunch of terrible shots, and believe me, you will know which is which!!  Don't get discouraged.  I would be interested in knowing if you hit your Atomics better after a round or two with the Staffs.

I'm wondering about this, too. With just the little bit of foam ball practice I've had I'm noticing it takes a little more focus to not hit one bad. I can get away with it with the Atomics, but I think these might not like me getting sloppy. 

[tommc23 9,716]

You'll enjoy that nice smooth feeling of a well struck shot though it feels amazing. 

[sirchunksalot 9,547]

8 hours ago, LeftyHawk said:

Interesting experiment, I'll be interested in your results. Mostly how ball flight is affected between the 2 types of irons.

 

Chris

I already tend to hit the ball rather high, so I'm hoping to see if I can eventually bring that down a little bit. My course typically is rough on windy days as it seems every shot is in to the wind. Once things stabilize, I would like to get in to a launch monitor and get an idea of things like launch and spin. I'll try to compare my 8i and PW since they're the two clubs that are identical in loft.

 Another issue I'm going to have will be learning how far I can hit each club. I'm debating taking Arccos out of my Atomics and using it for the Wilson's. 

[tommc23 9,716]

So I'm looking at the lofts of my clubs and my lofts are in between your Wilson and a modern set, but closer to the Wilson lofts. This explains why my distances are shorter than most of the guys I play with who use GI clubs or SGI clubs.

[Erik-M 653]

8 hours ago, sirchunksalot said:

Now that's cool! I'm going to be interested to see how they spin. I'm not a high spin guy, but I have a feeling they might do pretty good.

I'm wondering about this, too. With just the little bit of foam ball practice I've had I'm noticing it takes a little more focus to not hit one bad. I can get away with it with the Atomics, but I think these might not like me getting sloppy. 

I think it's gonna make you dial in strike.  I compare it to playing baseball with wood bats for training.  In spring if your missing the barrel you will know it, kinda feels like you have holes in your fingers when you hit it off the end of the bat or the handle, And it will happen. Then the more you use it and hone in where you wanna make contact all of a sudden your smashing sweetspots and swinging harder and crushing the ball.!

[sirchunksalot 9,547]

11 hours ago, Erik-M said:

I think it's gonna make you dial in strike.  I compare it to playing baseball with wood bats for training.  In spring if your missing the barrel you will know it, kinda feels like you have holes in your fingers when you hit it off the end of the bat or the handle, And it will happen. Then the more you use it and hone in where you wanna make contact all of a sudden your smashing sweetspots and swinging harder and crushing the ball.!

That's what I'm hoping for, I tend to spray it all over the face and I really hope these force me into better habits. I get a little quick with my tempo and swing too wildly with the Atomics and maybe these will smooth that out. It's going to take a lot of concentration on my part, but in the end I think it'll make me better. 

I appreciate the encouragement!

[sirchunksalot 9,547]

I took the wife out to the course and played my first round with the Wilson's. I only played nine holes due to having other places to go afterward, plus I was expecting a complete and total disaster of a round going from SGI irons to a more traditional set. I shot a 47 and the driver was the worst part of my game. I hit almost everything low and left off the tee. I had originally not planned on taking anything but the irons and chickened out at the last moment.

On to the irons. Oh...my...god. They are so sweet. I was basically throwing darts with these. Nobody ever told me that they made Game improvement blades. They launched high and went where I wanted them to. My only issue was the loss of distance with them, but I scored good with them and I'm not complaining. Honestly, I think I was presenting too much loft at impact possibly due to lack of shaft lean.

I also noticed these still performed on off center hits fairly decent. I had shots both of the toe and heel that still got airborne. 

I hit the 2 iron off the turf twice. The first shot I chunked about 90 yards and the second went 170 with just a bit of fade. These things are almost stupid easy to hit. I hope I didn't just jinx myself. 

I'm extremely pleased with how the round went, considering this is the first time I've hit actual balls. My range has been closed for the last couple of months due to storm damage. 

Of course, I show up today and they've finally been able to repair it. 

Almost forgot, my shot of the day was an 8 iron on 3 that ended up 2 feet from the hole. Darts. These clubs throw darts.

I'm planning on hitting up the range tomorrow and getting some more quality time with them. 

[Erik-M 653]

On 6/4/2020 at 8:28 PM, sirchunksalot said:

Now that's cool! I'm going to be interested to see how they spin. I'm not a high spin guy, but I have a feeling they might do pretty good.

I'm wondering about this, too. With just the little bit of foam ball practice I've had I'm noticing it takes a little more focus to not hit one bad. I can get away with it with the Atomics, but I think these might not like me getting sloppy. 

That's awesome! You make me very excited to get those icons in the mail and in my bag! Maybe your next round you'll pull the trigger and go only irons?

[LeftyHawk 524]

That's awesome, Sometimes we get caught up in all the hype out there about equipment, and the need for "new" toys....other than a loss of yards due to loft, which I'll bet if you matched loft to your current irons they would be about the same distance wise. Your experiment sure has me thinking I need to get my Beryllium copper irons dusted off and give them a try... 

 

Chris

[LeftyHawk 524]

So, I'm curious, I'm guessing that the 7 iron is about 38 degrees, pretty much a 9 iron today, how does the distance compare between the Wilson 7 and your current 9?

 

So, reading back thru the posts I see you have posted the lofts. So this post is kinds pointless....at any rate, I'm looking forward to your results between the 8i and PW..

 

Chris

Edited June 7, 2020 by LeftyHawk

[tommc23 9,716]

3 hours ago, sirchunksalot said:

I took the wife out to the course and played my first round with the Wilson's. I only played nine holes due to having other places to go afterward, plus I was expecting a complete and total disaster of a round going from SGI irons to a more traditional set. I shot a 47 and the driver was the worst part of my game. I hit almost everything low and left off the tee. I had originally not planned on taking anything but the irons and chickened out at the last moment.

On to the irons. Oh...my...god. They are so sweet. I was basically throwing darts with these. Nobody ever told me that they made Game improvement blades. They launched high and went where I wanted them to. My only issue was the loss of distance with them, but I scored good with them and I'm not complaining. Honestly, I think I was presenting too much loft at impact possibly due to lack of shaft lean.

I also noticed these still performed on off center hits fairly decent. I had shots both of the toe and heel that still got airborne. 

I hit the 2 iron off the turf twice. The first shot I chunked about 90 yards and the second went 170 with just a bit of fade. These things are almost stupid easy to hit. I hope I didn't just jinx myself. 

I'm extremely pleased with how the round went, considering this is the first time I've hit actual balls. My range has been closed for the last couple of months due to storm damage. 

Of course, I show up today and they've finally been able to repair it. 

Almost forgot, my shot of the day was an 8 iron on 3 that ended up 2 feet from the hole. Darts. These clubs throw darts.

I'm planning on hitting up the range tomorrow and getting some more quality time with them. 

The feeling of a nice struck blade feels good don't it? I agree with Lefty the loss of distance was due to the loft changes over the years.

[sirchunksalot 9,547]

On 6/6/2020 at 7:04 PM, Erik-M said:

That's awesome! You make me very excited to get those icons in the mail and in my bag! Maybe your next round you'll pull the trigger and go only irons?

I think I'll do that, the way my driver was working today I don't believe the differentiation in distance will be a factor. More fairways couldn't be anything but a benefit. 

I can't wait to see you hitting those Hogan's. They are absolutely gorgeous.

23 hours ago, LeftyHawk said:

So, I'm curious, I'm guessing that the 7 iron is about 38 degrees, pretty much a 9 iron today, how does the distance compare between the Wilson 7 and your current 9?

From what I saw, the distances are the same from irons of similar loft. My 8 iron and PW are both 41 degrees and they seemed to be flying the same distance. 

[sirchunksalot 9,547]

54 minutes ago, tommc23 said:

The feeling of a nice struck blade feels good don't it? I agree with Lefty the loss of distance was due to the loft changes over the years.

I actually hit a few more on the center of the face them I thought I would. It was an amazing feeling. I can usually get an idea with my normal gamers where I hit on the face, but these have better feedback. 

[fixyurdivot 9,598]

Great find and cool project.  It's great seeing vintage equipment getting a makeover and more play time .

[sirchunksalot 9,547]

I took the Wilson's to the range and the results were night and day from the round I played yesterday. I guess I might have jinxed myself saying these were game improvement blades. It was not pretty...at all. My swing was a bit in flux and I don't think it helped that the grass on the range looked like it had been attacked by a large, angry cheese grater. I couldn't find a nice piece of grass anywhere. I wish people would learn how to properly manage their divots on the range. 

 

I think I got in a bit of a rush and need to develop a better routine on the data I go to the range. I tend to get in a hurry and hit ball after ball after ball. It didn't help that the temperature was low 90's and humid. I've got to remember that one o'clock range sessions this time of year are not smart. 

 

Still, I had fun with them today. I'm seriously considering an iron only round next before going back to the Atomics for two weekends from now when I play against my normal golf buddy. 

 

[sirchunksalot 9,547]

On 6/6/2020 at 7:24 PM, LeftyHawk said:

So, I'm curious, I'm guessing that the 7 iron is about 38 degrees, pretty much a 9 iron today, how does the distance compare between the Wilson 7 and your current 9?

 

So, reading back thru the posts I see you have posted the lofts. So this post is kinds pointless....at any rate, I'm looking forward to your results between the 8i and PW..

 

Chris

It's no problem, Chris. I like the question and it really makes me think about paying attention to both the distance and flight when I go to the range. From what I could tell, they both flew around the same distance in relation to the marker on the range and if anything, the 8 might have had a slightly lower trajectory. It would be hard to tell without getting on a launch monitor if there's any difference. They looked similar to me.

 

The biggest difference in the setup of the clubs is the shaft. The Atomics are a True Temper XP85 in regular flex and the Wilson's sport a True Temper by Wilson in stiff. I actually don't know anything about this shaft, except it was specially made for this club with the rubber insert that is in the hosel used to move CG toward the toe. I need to see if it's similar to the S300 shaft, which I got along extremely well with when I got fit for my F8's.