Wilson Staff Gooseneck

[glenntwo]

  BigRedMachine said:

The Goose neck was Wilson's entry into the forgiving forged iron arena back in the early 1990's. It was considered the oddball in that field because it was a "channel back" design in a field of newly introduced forged cavity backs. Its competitors were the Ram Laser, the Macgregor JNP, Hogan Edge, and Mizuno Grad (not a true cavity either). Evidently, Wilson thought the forged cavity back design was a passing fad.....Wrong!

Hey Big Red,

You are 100% correct. These irons are wonderful, as good as any of the modern stuff out right now. I have a wuestion about them that maybe you can answer. All of the WS irons have this cursive font for the iron number, but my GNs have this blocky, more modern font. I have not been able to find another example like mine anywhere, and I'm wondering why. Have you ever seen any with a different font?

[BigRedMachine]

Have you got a pic of the font?

[glenntwo]

Having trouble uploading photos, so I put the 5 iron as my avatar. You should be able to see what I mean.

[oogiesfaded]

  glenntwo said:

Having trouble uploading photos, so I put the 5 iron as my avatar. You should be able to see what I mean.

That is kind of weird.. mine aren't like that at all.

[glenntwo]

  oogiesfaded said:

That is kind of weird.. mine aren't like that at all.

I know. I can't find any that match them either, and I have looked everywhere. I figure they are either a prototype, or they are a fake. I can't believe they would be fake though. Counterfitting was not a problem back in those days, at least as I remember. It's Monday morning and I'm still waiting for an answer from Wilson. If these were built by them, then they would have something logged somewhere.

[cmost]

I think this post is a bit old, but in doing a bit of research on these clubs I could not resist replying inasmuch as my Dad gave me a set yesterday to sell. Never used, and explained how they came to be produced. They were made for about 2 years, one of the years being 1989. Trivia: My dad worked for Wilson's and made clubs for pros for years, and Stan Makita was working with Wilson. As far as my retired Dad remembers, this set was originally made back in the 1930's and Stan liked it and wanted it to come back, so he and my Dad redesigned them into this new line ... my Dad designed a lot of the clubs but of course being simply an employee, no one knew of him or existence (except a lot of the Pros that he worked with!)

I have a copy of the 1989 Wilson Professional Golf Equipment catalog which lists the specs on the set - if anyone wants a copy, email me and I'll scan and send to you!!

[glenntwo]

Happy New Year!

Actually it's current. I am the guy looking to find out more about my Goose Necks. I found these in A resale shop and they are in mint condition, so I re-gripped and I am using them. If you have read through the thread, you can see that mine are different than what most other people have. I haven't been able to locate another set like mine and I'm trying to find out why. I know that Goose Necks without the FG designation were made from 1988-1990, but for whatever reason the font on mine is different from any other I have looked at. I'll send you a PM with my email address and if you want I can send you photos of mine to show to your father. Also, that catalog would be great! Thanks for responding.

[glenntwo]

  oogiesfaded said:

That is kind of weird.. mine aren't like that at all.

OK mine are 1990 models according to the Wilson people, so yours are either 88 or 89s, unless they are FG-53s, in which case they are 91 or newer. They can't provide any other info because they say that they don't have access to the archives?!?

[Bogey317]

Ok here is a few pics of my 5 Iron. They have all be used heavily by my dad up to 1997-1998. Since then after his death, I probably used them maybe a total of 10 times. Im gonna clean them up over the winter and re-grip them. I have an incomplete set 1 thru 9 iron and a sand wedge. I think I lost the PW a long time ago. If anyone else has any more info on them that would be great.

[oogiesfaded]

i figured i'd post some images of mine to show u guys what i have. I also used a 5. i have a pw-4 but i only use 9-4. i lost the 3 but have the pw and the sw also. These are from a second hand store and didnt cost very much but i am in love with this club.

these clubs are in amazing shape.. the grips were still tacky too somehow but i had to regrip them because the grips had those vertical yellow lines and i would tear my hands up with them.

[glenntwo]

They are either 88 or 89 models. Do the shafts still have their lables? There is a serial number you can use when you contact wilsonstaff.com customer service and they can tell you what year in particular.

[Bogey317]

I have the original shafts. Ill have to look to see if I can make out any numbers. The stickers are pretty torn up.

[oogiesfaded]

do they only tell you the year of the club? i love my clubs, i went and hit a bucket yesterday. i seem to be trapping the ball under the big face of these clubs, so i am going to have a fun season fixing that hahah. new Lamkin grips are coming in, ill take pictures when their gripped up.

[glenntwo]

Apparently they don't much care to tell you anything unless you bug them about it. All I could get out of them was the model year and that the archives were out of their reach. When I messaged back about talking to someone that had access to the archives, I got no answer.

What do you mean you are trapping the ball? That's what you want, unless you're hitting a smothered (duck) hook.

[oogiesfaded]

  glenntwo said:

What do you mean you are trapping the ball? That's what you want, unless you're hitting a smothered (duck) hook.

Not a duck, but I'm trapping it with the top of the club. Like I'm trying to lead with my hands more, so I think I might be lighning up with my hands a little far forward. I swing pretty fast from what some of the golfers out here say so I don't think I'm muscleing the club enough with my wrist action or something. Ah what a joyful game I decided to learn. None of my friends golf, my brother does but he's a lot more experienced and honestly we have no lessons or anything so I might just have to drop a few dollars on getting someone to come out, examine my swing and help me figure out what I'm not doing right. I think my full problem is trying to use tips from mags an some tv stuff and not knowing what I'm doing in the first place is just makeing little problems into big ones.. but at this point I'm stuck on this sport. Hell, I went to the range the other day and it said 15 degrees on the car and was cold wind an I still worked up a sweat.

[mel]

hi guys, i've read your gooseneck stories with great interest and i'm glad to see other nuts like myself with love for vintage irons. i got the bug when i picked up a 1989 golf digest mag and looked at all the gleaming blades, macgregor, the standard, spalding etc but the major beauts were wilson staff blades. then on the next page the goosenecks! i found a mint 4 iron for $10 at fraserview and hit it that morning. loved it. found a whole set in exc. shape 3-pw r400 shafts even the grips are mint for $100 in north vancouver last fall. just played them this weekend and shot an 83 (my chipping off of soggy fairways is woeful) great clubs but your swing must be sound. matter of fact, they teach you to swing better. this week i'll get the lies adjusted and game on! ps, did the mp 32 kind of copy them?

[Jon K]

I just found a set of these in my area for sale. I'm considering making an offer. I probably wouldn't use them .. just have them in the house for decoration.

[mel]

Hey dude, glad you find the goosenecks mantlepiece worthy. You're a tour player correct? Go hit them and tell us what you think. According to the advertising in my old magazine, they came with pga approved square grooves. I'm curious how they stack up compared with the new stuff (from a pro player). Thanks, Mel