Hello there.
In response to Newt's 5/18/2016 8:46PM posted picture of his old WILSON BlueRidge Irons.
Newt's irons are approximately 1981 year models and are not circa 1968.
You would be correct in thinking that Newt's WILSON Sam Snead BlueRidge Irons do look nearly like the 1968 (Wilson) HAIG ULTRA irons and the 1968 WILSON Staff Dyna-Power irons. The fact that Newt's circa '81 not from sixty eight, BlueRidges resemble the 1968 HAIG ULTRA irons.
The 1968 Wilson Staff Dyna-Power Irons look almost like the 1968 Haig Ultra irons except that the soles of the Staffs are less wide than their cousins, the Ultras. Newt's BlueRidges from the early 1980's are a return to a classic blade design for Wilson's store-line Sam Snead BlueRidges.
You may note that Newt's BlueRidges do not have the Fluid Feel drill through and rubber plug that were a feature of all Wilson Staff Dynapower irons from 1956 through 1975. Staff irons from 1976 through 1983 did not have the Fluid Feel drill through and plug. That would change in 1984 with the return of the Fluid Feel drill through and plug. In fact, the 1984 Wilson Staff looks very much like the shape of the 1968 and 1967 Wilson Staff Dyna-Power irons. The 1984 through 1989 Staff irons are basically unchanged from 1984 except logo and script location changes.
My point is that "classic" blade designs never fall out of favor! The fact that the Store Line , Snead BlueRidges adopted this great old sixties era top-line Staff/Haig Ultra blade shape before the top line Staffs returned to this great retro blade shape for 1984.
Newt's BlueRidges are seen in his post https://virginiatech.sportswar.com/mid/7673675/board/vtlounge/
My main point with this post is to hopefully let those who might think that one needs to buy NEW golf clubs, that you absolutely do not, except that you do need at a minimum a Metal headed DRIVER preferrably with a graphite shaft from the 1990's or newer. Beyond having something to hit far enough off of the Tee, and preferrably two 1980's era metal head fairway woods with steel shafts or better for fairway wood use,---beyond that--, all one needs is an old quality set of top-line Irons from MacGregor, Wilson, Haig-Ultra,PowerBilt, Spalding, Hogan, First-Flight, Titleist, Ram, Dunlop and several other name brands of the past. Some store-line sets were absolute junk like MacGregor Jack Nicklaus Golden Bear irons of the 1970's and 1980's. The original store line Golden Bear irons of 1964 were good, as were almost all of the store line Nicklaus(MacGregor) irons of the sixties through about 1971. Many Spalding and Wilson store line clubs were junky but some were great. They made so many different ones that some were near copies of classic pro-line designs and others were just what were they thinking, rubbish. Everything from Northwestern is garbage except for putters and wedges. Having said that, even using the junkiest garbage clubs (irons) that you can find from the sixties or seventies, one can play them and break eighty. As long as the clubs are not full of rust and face grooves are there, you only need decent replacement grips for them. It is incredibly simple to replace Grips. Lighter fluid (Ronson) and a roll of grip tape (double sided 1/2" masking tape) is all that is needed to install new Rubber grips. Basically once you cut off the old rubber or leather grips and clean the shaft to bare metal------then you wrap tape like a X-mas candy cane/Barber Pole.........peel the double side part and wet the glue with Ronson lighter fluid, several quick squirts and then you grab the New grip and stick one finger over the Tiny hole in the butt end of the grip and squirt just enough through the mouth end of the grip to Wet the inside good.........keeping the finger covering the tiny hole, you swish the lighter fluid around so that the entire inside is wet.......then you dump the fluid from inside the grip on the already wet grip tape and SLIDE the New grip on to the shaft of the club. You have approximately 90 seconds to complete the full process of sliding the new grip on. Make certain to use enough Lighter Fluid so that it makes it easy to slide the grip on the shaft and into position.
There are many sources for obtaining new grips and many styles/designs to choose from. Perhaps the most economical and inexpensive grip is the Mint Grip produced by Gibbes Rubber Company in California. It is very much like a black colored Tacki-Mac. There is basically only one style Mint grip, but they are high quality and inexpensive. One source for them direct is on Ebay. At approx. $2 per grip when ordering enough to do about two sets, they or any other New replacement grip will make every old decent classic iron very useable. Golf Pride, Lamkin, Tacki-Mac,Winn and others make many styles of quality golf grips. Prices vary widely depending on where you source them but you should be able to find many styles for only about twice the cost of the inexpensive Mint grips.
My Advice to Anyone Considering LEARNING TO PLAY GOLF, or just returning to the game of golf, is to not worry about getting the latest, newest gear, because that won't help you anymore than buying a Fender Eric Clapton model Stratocaster or buying a Martin Bob Dylan model guitar is going to make you more like EC or Dylan.
Though it might not be cool to be the only one in your foursome to be carrying ancient irons, you need not worry. Spend your money and time on golf lessons and learning the fundamentals.
I recommend TOM WATSON's 1992 book called "GETTING BACK TO BASICS" and Nick Faldo's golf book. Other required Golf Instruction books, look no further than those by SAM SNEAD, and JACK NICKLAUS. Those books are the easiest to comprehend. There are thousands of others but most are difficult to comprehend and grasp those new to the game.
Another great book in addition to those above for newcomers to golf is "Swing easy, Hit Hard" by Julius Boros. The great Ben Hogan has two great books but those are dry reading and difficult and dull to golf beginners and unless you are already somewhat knowledgeable in terms/concepts of the basics, you'll simply be left more confused than helped.
One important thing to remember is that without decent fundamentals, and swing that is sound, you'll always stink at golf, no matter how much you spend on golf technology!
Remember also that except for the TEE SHOT, you need not hit the ball a mile or more.....
You hit other shots the distance needed to reach your targeted area, either in the fairway or on the green.
Don't worry about the fact that your buddy hits his 9 IRON 190 yards and you hit your 5 iron 190 yards or whatever the case might be. There has never been any standardization of iron club lofts, only a general similarity across brands during eras/decades. Don't worry about trying to change the LOFT of old clubs so that they match modern clubs' LOFT specs. What has happened is that some time ago (1980's) it became fashionable to claim that their brand's new clubs hit the ball farther so some manufacturers began essentially re-numbering clubs by reducing LOFT, such that their PW was now the loft of a 9 iron, and this stupidity kept going because gullible idiot golf consumers bought into this marketing scheme to sell clubs. Today's PW has the loft of a 7iron or 8iron from 45 years ago. This is why that you have a things like Gap wedge, Game wedge, 51 degree wedge in addition to the PW. It is also the reason that new sets begin with a four iron or five iron and not a 2 iron like 1975. If you compare LOFTs, they are close even though one is labeled a five iron and the other is a 2 iron.
It is true that you need better fundamentals to easily hit blade style irons, especially the long irons, but you will develop better fundamentals by starting with blade irons because you have to in order to hit the ball solidly into the air with long irons.........you also will learn what constitutes a good hit versus a mishit as you get immediate feedback.......also known as stinging shock in the hands/arms on a poor mishit or sculled or terrible fat shot.
Once you develop fundamentals and a repeating swing, you will find that traditional blade irons will be more accurate in distance range and the ability to judge the distance, and the ability to work the ball(contour the shot low or high, fade or draw as you desire...)
Don't fall into the moronic trap of technology matters as that is BS excepting a driver that works for you. You still have to swing the club and do that well. Stop worrying about SHAFTS and special swingweights and perfection as to shaft response based on Computer Analysis of your swing. If you have a horrible hacker swing without sound fundamentals, there isn't any computer matching that will help anything other than to drain your wallet when you buy a new equipment solution month after month. You will still stink. Yes thousands of dollars of new clubs will make you feel good because it will surely impress your buddies, but beyond that, your game will still be awful. If you cannot already break eighty, playing the ball down from the back tees, putting out all putts, playing by the rules, IF YOU CAN'T BREAK EIGHTY then IT AIN'T THE FAULT OF THE GOLF CLUBS THAT YOU ARE PLAYING WITH! (assuming that you're not 7 foot 2 inches and trying to play with extra short Ladies clubs or something...)
Get out there and learn to Play.
Goodwill, Ebay, free clubs from your Uncles' basement or your neighbors garage are more than adequate to get you to a single digit handicap. Find a graphite shafted Metal headed DRIVER that you can hit, even if you have to collect three $6 Goodwill finds until you do. Go to Wal-Mart and buy NEW balls........Even the very inexpensive NITRO balls will be more than Okay for someone that cannot break 85. There are many ball brands and balls to choose from at Wal-Mart. Try a bunch of them......play with nearly new balls that you'll find in the woods while trying to find your own ball. Don't go crazy buying the most expensive balls. Do not buy used balls and do not try to play with balls that are more than a two years old or so. Trying to play with a 1985 Titleist or 1983 Prostaff is just stupid even if the ball has never been used. Don't be the moron that thinks that classic clubs need ancient classic balls! Like food, balls age such that you'd not want to eat that food or hit such a golf ball.
Just saying, enjoy Golf, get out there and play it. You don't need to spend a fortune.
You can even teach yourself if you want to.
Wear loud plaid pants like Caddyshack if you want, play with old irons if you want. Wood headed woods (persimmon & laminated) are OBSOLETE, but even a 5 wood WOOD would be okay if you want to carry something vintage in the wooden wood head department. Metal woods are the way to go for DRIVER, and THREE WOOD.
Hey if you don't want to carry your bag and you prefer to WALK, just find a old Bag-Boy, Ajay, Roll King, or whatever brand two wheeled Pull Cart or trolley. You can also buy new pull carts at Wal-Mart for about $29. You can find them online too. You can find new three wheel and four wheeled models but they are not any better and weigh more and take up greater trunk (car boot) space. Get exercise by WALKING instead of riding. There are already too many out of shape golfers that can't do without their EZ-GO or CLUB CAR....some can barely walk to the green and to the Tee box from the Club Car or EZ-GO.