Thought I would start a thread here about my current playable sets…
1962 Hogan Power Thrusts
I’ll feature the set I played, how they felt, their unique qualities of both feel and playability, and post pics of them as I get the dialed in and out onto the links. I just finished the long process of re building this classic set of 1962 Hogan Power Thrusts. The original shafts were a bit too loose for me as I accelerate hard into them. Pulled off the heads after working out the pins. Took a set of Dynamic Gold X100 sensicore’s and tipped them 1 to 2 inches! so they are my stiffest set. I did a unique graduation on the stepping on these as the long irons are really stiff, and as they work down the set they are tipped 1 inch. I had to make extenders for some of the shafts out of some old scrap shafts I had laying around. The hosel’s needed to be bored out to 3/8 inch so I could get the tipped X’s into them so it was a lot of hand drilling out the necks. I found this nice black and blue ferrules which best matched the original ones. I spined them all, then epoxied them in and put on some fresh new tour wrap cords grips on… with an extra wrap underneath to just build them up slightly. The set is a 1 iron through 9 iron starting at 44 degrees and running down to a 16 degree two iron. The one iron I added an extra 1/2 inch to the length… and set it at 13 degrees. The lies are 6 degrees flat off standard. When I put then on the scale, they were all over the map… so it took a lot of lead tape to get them dialed into D5 right across the spectrum. Since I like to play all my sets, a little lead tape is not a big concern to me cosmetically, because I like them to be as tuned up for play as they can get…
This is an interesting set because apparently this was the last set that Mr. Hogan himself designed… after 63 Gene Seeley did all the design work, with Hogan’s approval, and created the PT’2, Bounce Soles, and the famous Apex series. It’s nice to think a bit more of Ben’s spirit is in these heads when you look down at them.
These Power Trusts have the weight removed off the toe as much as possible and dispersed more behind the sweet spot. I suspect the golden flush zone will be a bit more in toward the hosel, so it will be fun to take them out for a game this week at The Mare and see how they go!
I picked up this Classic Old School Van L loft and lie machine recently off E Bay… it’s a great old school machine that does the job wonderfully.
Really solid and sturdy, and I can tinker all day and night tweaking my sets to my heart’s delight! It’s great to have one of these at home for
making fine adjustments to the gear, and wedges and really dialing them in. So Arnie, when you get over here… we can dial in your set of 59 Dynas
right in the garage before we head out for another historic game at The Mare
Everything felt really good especially the long irons. The 1 iron when hit correctly is the most flush thing I have ever felt.
My very first shot was with the 9 iron and nearly holed it on the first. The third hole I drilled a 3 iron into the long 3 par straight into a stiff wind and knocked it about 10 feet from about 210 yards. One of the best long iron shots I can remember hitting.
As the day went on, I found myself over accelerating a bit due to the stiffer shafts I put in. This seemed to affect me more
with the short irons and led to a couple of shots hit a hair thin.
The key to stiffer shafts is simply hitting harder at the bottom… so it took me a while for that lightbulb to go off. Once I
could feel the delayed hit… I struck a few more irons much better and closed the round with a 71. They will be a fun set to
add to my iron set rotation.
Thanks for sharing more specifics on your playable Ben Hogan set and the bending machine…The “Van L”…I’ve never heard of one before. Is that the one Old Tom Morris used? The Hogan’s look pretty cool. I still have my PC’s from college and can’t seem to part with them. The Power Thrusts must have been a lot of work to be Mare worthy.
I bent my MC irons 4 degrees flat from my bending machine specs and like the initial changes…Maybe I’ll heat’em up and go for two more degrees flat…
I must say I seem to keep coming back to these wonderful 1959 Dyna-Powered muscle backs. These things are as heavy as Black Sabbath, and weigh in at E3
The overall weigh is also very heavy, about a whole ounce heavier than any other set I own. The really do change your swing, and even Al Barkow the other day commented that my swing looked a bit slower that usual. I took them out last Thursday and had one of the purest ball striking rounds I can remember. I hit 15 greens on a very windy day at Mare, and as those of you know who have played there, the greens are small, and very difficult. I shot 69… and had I made every putt inside 15 feet it would have been 63. I think this is a good way for me to access my ball striking really… how many times do I hit the ball inside 15 feet. There is only one 5 par at Mare, so all birdies must be earned the hard way… there are no chip up and tap in birdies there.
The Dynas have very heavy shafts. I love the old 1950’s stiff shafts, because they are not only stiff, but they are heavy. Much heavier than the X100s I often put in my other sets. I pretty much am only playing X shafts or 50’s stiff shafts… as I am just stressing them too hard to play S300 shafts, and get the kind of control over the ball I enjoy on a good ball striking day.
The great thing about the heavy shafts is they simply add more weight to the club, and it really gives the pivot and hands something to pressure against. Tremendous feel which helps you control the golf club. Irons are for accuracy, not distance. It makes no sense to set up irons to go farther, because you could just always take an extra club. The shortest distance between you and the flagpole is the lowest trajectory shot you can find appropriate. This is the short cut, the ball simply doesn’t have to travel as far, and less energy expended to do so… A high shot not only has to travel farther, it is more affected by wind.
This is my actual sand wedge, the one I actually only use out of the sand… I don’t hit this off the fairway. I have this bent to 66 degrees lie angle… so it is very upright at first glance… however, when you open the face on a golf club, you are changing the lie angle of the club, so what happens is that this then becomes a 56 degree lie angle, so I can now play my bunker shots from the same swing plane as the rest of my wedges and irons. It’s a neat little trick.
This is my favorite wedge, not a club that is made anymore. The MacGregor Split Sole is an amazing club. I can play it off hard pan or concrete if needed, yet is has the back part of the sole that stops the club from digging too much on softer surfaces. You can open up the face without worrying about skulling the ball off a tight lie. I added a bunch of lead tape to the back to get the mass and swing weight up, and have a very stiff shaft in it.
I have it sitting at 56 degree lie angle and 50 degree loft. It’s my main wedge for shots inside 120 yards.
This is my fairway wedge… it is both 56 lie and 56 loft. I ground down most of the bounce, just leaving a little. This is what I use from a max of about 80 yards. Hits a nice high shot to a tight pin, or good for chipping around the greens. I never play this from the sand, as opening the face would put my hands too low. It is six degrees flat off standard lies already… so it’s set up like the rest of my set. Three great wedges, and I can produce any shot I need with this arsenal.
This shows the difference between the two wedges in their lie angle… Both sand wedges… one upright, the other flat…
one for sand one for fairway only. This set up as described in the previous post allows for sand shots to be played from your normal swing plane path.
It’s a great trick.
This took about 4 days to completely rebuild this club. Pulled the old shaft, filled then re drilled the neck, tossed in a tipped X100.
Took a black head sanded down to the grain, did it in a deep walnut. Worked on the face… added extra weight into the back of the club…
Lots of clear coating, new whipping and a cord grip. Came out at 14.5 ounces, so it’s a heavy straight shooter now. D-7 I have the whole set of them
2, 3, and 4 woods to re do next. Should have the gear to re do the logo in original colors this week. This baby is CUSTOM!
Nice one Lag, That came out great. Can really see the grain sloping across the head on an angle also.
There’s another lost art in itself. Someone who can fix,restain, repair,rewhip persimmon woods. Try get all that done at your local golf store these days. Too cool.
After the modules are finished for me, I want you to teach me how to do all that !
That’s club making as we know it- not just a 5 minute araldite and some tape
Am I lucky or what?
My buddy, Hank Bocchini Is a master craftsmen on these items—I found some pretty good deals for him, and in exchange, he will be handcrafting a persimmon driver for me…
More importantly, I insisted that I be around when the building takes place—It may be a 5 year project, I dont care…
Of course, he owns the golf course I call home, so we can’t get rid of each other if we tried!
Did your original split sole wedge look like this CF Mac G and you ground down the trailing edge
of the split? Or did the spilt sole look more like your picture is now? and I’ve got something different?
This club has some decent bounce on it.Maybe too much. Any harm in trying to make it look like yours other than maybe some invested labor?
I have that same set of split-sole Macs and they come with the significantly lower trailing edge already in place. I would guess there’s about a .20 inch difference in height between the leading edge and the trailing edge. Very unique.
I’ve seen other Mac wedges that have what appears to be a “slot” running down the length of the sole which is what the above pic looks like it has.
I have a whole set of the irons in fact, I used that set when I shot my record 65 at Mare two years ago… but I think actually I was making putts for a
change! The best ball striking round I’ve had there I think was with my 59 Dynas… which are by far the heaviest set of irons I own.
I’ll probably leave it alone then. Even though it has a lot of bounce, it seems to be doing fairly well off tight-damp-muddy clayee-dormant bermuda around the “greens”. I bent it to 58 degrees but think I might need a stiffer shaft because this head is pretty heavy or I might bend it back slightly.
The Hogan’s look pretty cool. I still have my PC’s from college and can’t seem to part with them. The Power Thrusts must have been a lot of work to be Mare worthy.
