Hah, Macgregor? Seriously?......59 majors....Seriously. - Page 2

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Originally Posted by handlez42 

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Originally Posted by x129 

Most pro guys hit more  putts than iron shots so clearly the putter is the club that should get the credit The point I was making is that those clubs (hell any club) has just about zero do to with winning a major. Jack won because he was Jack not because he picked one brand over another.

If a club for some reason isn't built to max a players ability then he'll end up hitting, pitching, and chipping more than putting. A player doesn't 2 putt a par five unless he hits long iron on-in-two. Players who cant hit the long iron on hit hybrids..and one particular company makes the best long iron replacing hybrids in the game...adams..i dont even hit Adams hybrids but they are a reason players are able to green in two and not need to struggle with an long iron. So unless you have a putter that can hit multiple distances and multiple shots in the bag than the putter ISN'T that important...i know i could get away with using my 19* hybrid as a putter as long as i got used to it. Which leads into.....

 

Putting is a natural thing..or at least should be. And jack is a perfect example of that. Looks at jacks overall common putting stance posture and hands and compare it to today's golfers. hunched over slightly open head sitting almost behind the ball. Thats natural...but that's a different discussion.

 

Lastly, Wilson paid players to use their equipment. I think ram may have also paid Watson when they made his wedges or putter. MacGregor didnt pay staff players. Not one. So why would jack nicklaus, a man who could've probably gone to Wilson or ram or any company of the time and get paid money to do so, play a companys for free? The biggest thing was cause hes jack. He did it to win. He had the passion. But if MacGregor even made hickory stick shafts with clubs the size of a dime he couldn't have won. Thats saying alot for MacGregor. Jack stuck with MacGregor for a reason.   
he knew how to golf. He probably knew what stuff was worth using too.

 

MacGregor never paid anyone to play their equipment? I'm gonna need some more evidence before I accept that as fact. Why would any player ever have carried a MacGregor bag without compensation? Strong belief in the product? Does that sound like a Nicklaus, Norman, or Ballesteros thing to do - allow people to use their name for their gain without compensation?

It might be a minor point, but you sure say a lot of weird stuff like you were somehow there or have inside knowledge, then you go on to compare a 2009 MacGregor product to something forged and ground during their heyday. MacGregor made some great tour level stuff (possibly the best persimmon woods of all time), but even their best staff player while in his prime was rumoured to be less than happy with the quality of MacGregor products available to the average consumer. They sold entry level stuff that Ben Hogan would have had melted down. Stuff that Wilson Staff never would have put their stamp on. Sure MacGregor rocks, but nobody ever carried a MaGregor bag without getting paid for it.

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Originally Posted by handlez42 

My original source of that information, who I cant remember but was on this site, was obviously flawwed. I just read an article on the "demise" of MacGregor and how Byron nelson was signed to MacGregor for nearly $1,500. Amazing that amount doesn't compare to today. The article also said quite a few players played MacGregor especially one particular masters where of the final two groupings, two of the players being jack and Watson, all four were playing the Kelly green and white bag.

 

My mistake...either way they made great persimmon drivers...even greater irons..which is just an example of why I'm convinced the irons are the most important "club" in the bag

 

 

I threw you a red herring - (it was Ollie who played MacGregor, not Seve - at least not to my limited knowledge). Anyway, sure sounds like you have access to the Google. Those old press releases about the relaunch of MacGregor sure are awe inspiring. I can see the wave of kelly green bags comin' up 18 at August National right now.

I purchased the m455 when they first came out.  Loved the clubs but I occasionally pull them due to the offset.  Found a set of the m675 (MB blades) and really like these clubs but I tend to lose about 10 yards or so with the longer irons.  But when you put a good swing on these babies they are deadly accurate.   Decided to try out the m565 which between the m455 and the m675.  Love these clubs.  Less offset than the m455 and they came with rifle flighted shaft, longer irons get a nice high launch and easy to hit.   I am all over the map with hybrids and the long irons in the m455 and m565 are, in my opinion, easier to hit than hybrids and more accurate.  I may add the m675 scoring irons to my bag and stay with the m565 in the mid to long irons.  I know Mac used to sell a combo set with the m455 in the mid to long and the m565 in the scoring irons.  You can find Mac really cheap on ebay.  

To me, these claims of most majors won by companies like W/S and Macgregor is like the Monteral Canadiens trying to say they are the greatest hockey team in the world because they have won the most Stanley Cups.  Theyre living on their past and say things like that because in recent history, they have done NOTHING.

A few years ago I gamed a set of Wilson Di7s and they were very nice.  Irons are about all that Wilson has though.  In the case of Macgregor, have they done ANYTHING new lately?  The only time Ive ever seen Macgregor clubs is on the clearance rack at Golfsmith.

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Originally Posted by GaijinGolfer 

To me, these claims of most majors won by companies like W/S and Macgregor is like the Monteral Canadiens trying to say they are the greatest hockey team in the world because they have won the most Stanley Cups.  Theyre living on their past and say things like that because in recent history, they have done NOTHING.

A few years ago I gamed a set of Wilson Di7s and they were very nice.  Irons are about all that Wilson has though.  In the case of Macgregor, have they done ANYTHING new lately?  The only time Ive ever seen Macgregor clubs is on the clearance rack at Golfsmith.

Everybody has their advertising angle. If you were MacGregor or Wilson what would you do... considering they do have the number of majors they do, it's not a bad place to start in my opinion.

Like Mr. Desmond had said earlier in the thread, MacGregor is only really MacGregor in name only now as they are owned by Golfsmith. That being said, they do offer a pretty nice set of forged irons (the VIPs), which come stock with KBS Tour shafts... A couple years ago they were on the list of three models or so I was considering to replace the clubs I had stolen, and at $399 they are one of the best deals available for new, quality irons. Their game improvement stuff doesn't look quite as nice, but it's reasonably priced and a good place to start for beginners who don't want to spend a lot but don't want Wal-Mart or clone clubs. Ditto that for their woods and hybrids. Their wedges seem pretty good to me and I played them for a while until I got the Mizunos that are in the bag now.

I also like the VIP ball that they produced the last few years, which has unfortunately been discontinued. It was a nice, 3 piece urethane covered ball that was actually made by Srixon from the little bit of research I did. I still have a couple dozen left as I bought up everything they had when they went on clearance for $6/dozen.

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Originally Posted by tristanhilton85 

Everybody has their advertising angle. If you were MacGregor or Wilson what would you do... considering they do have the number of majors they do, it's not a bad place to start in my opinion.

 

Like Mr. Desmond had said earlier in the thread, MacGregor is only really MacGregor in name only now as they are owned by Golfsmith. That being said, they do offer a pretty nice set of forged irons (the VIPs), which come stock with KBS Tour shafts... A couple years ago they were on the list of three models or so I was considering to replace the clubs I had stolen, and at $399 they are one of the best deals available for new, quality irons. Their game improvement stuff doesn't look quite as nice, but it's reasonably priced and a good place to start for beginners who don't want to spend a lot but don't want Wal-Mart or clone clubs. Ditto that for their woods and hybrids. Their wedges seem pretty good to me and I played them for a while until I got the Mizunos that are in the bag now.

 

I also like the VIP ball that they produced the last few years, which has unfortunately been discontinued. It was a nice, 3 piece urethane covered ball that was actually made by Srixon from the little bit of research I did. I still have a couple dozen left as I bought up everything they had when they went on clearance for $6/dozen.

I agree with you 100% on that one.  If I were the head of the marketing dept for either company, Id pump the major wins angle all day long.  Its really all youve got.

MacGregor, Titleist, and Wilson MADE golf before most of you upstarts (not to mention Nike, Taylormade, Calloway) were a gleam in your father's eye.

I played a set of the old-style MacG MT irons (#1 Stiff steel shafts) from 1974-1994. Worked well when I had a lots of time to play, but hard to handle in years when I only played twice a month.

In the 1970s, the MT and related VIP line were pro-line clubs. MacGregor "lost its way" during 1980s, and when bought out in late 1990s it had nearly 40 models of clubs - from pro line to discount store models. Low-end lines hurt McG's image. Someone bought them out and cut number of models to five. Eventually got bought by Golfsmith a couple of years ago.

Do a search, and you can find past ST discussions of MacG with specifics of company history. 

Dispite the detractions of our local Mizzuno drone, I say thank goodness for the quality 'under the radar' companies. As a club hoe, and one who has to also feed clubs to his wife, son, and daughter, I could not even come close to affording top shelf big name brands. So personally I hope that everone keeps drinking the big name kool-aid, and these other companies stay 'under the radar'. I will keep kicking my buddies' asses using my irrelevant W/S irons against their 'Super-hydro Speed Slot Dynamic Velocity Face' TMs or whatever.

My past 4 iron sets:

Ram FX Tour

MacG VIP V-foil

MacG MT Pro M (currently in my son's bag)

W/S Tour Blades (currently in my bag)

For all four of those 3-PW sets combined, I probably paid a couple 100 $$ over ONE new set of Mizzys or Titleists. So, keep drinking the kool-aid. Cheers!

Just picked up a 4-PW set of MacGregor Tourney PCB Tour irons. Look great, feel great, are more difficult to hit consistently than my 845s. Hope to hit the range a few times before the weekend so I can put them in the bag.

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Originally Posted by golflaw 

When I was a kid MacGregor was based in Cincinnati. They had craftsman there making golf clubs, baseball gloves the whole thing. You could buy 2nds for about 20% and the best stuff at great discounts. There are still people with basements filled with MT clubs never hit. Sadly, they got bought out by Brunswick, closed down in Cincinnati and moved to Chicago. Quality went way down and never came back. Brand has been peddled too many times to count.
Just like Wilson, Spalding, Ram and many others. Meaningless brands today with no connection to their roots or quality.

No. Not Wilson. Go hit some FG62s and tell me they are low quality.

Glad to hear Wilson is now making good clubs. I have in my basement a set of 1975 forged Wilson Staff blades (1-SW) during the time Pepsi Cola owned them. I know Jerry Pate played Wilson and won the Open in 1976, but these things are just not good clubs. I call them junk. I'm too much of a pack rat to throw them in the trash and too smart to try and hit them at age 62,

Indeed, almost everything today is made in China and at best assembled in the US, so tough to throw bricks at any clubs just because they are made there.