Macgregor PCB Tour owners?

[newbgolfer]

In the off season, I was looking to experiment a bit with some irons for fun. I was recommended the Macgregor PCB tours by a friend for 2 reasons: Cheap and Miura forged/great feeling.

Long story short, I got ahold of 2 sets. 1 off ebay, and 1 locally on craigslist (only spend 250 total for 2 sets in great condition).

So I received both sets and couldn't help but compare them. This is what I noticed (sorry not home right now, but will post pics later): One set has significantly bigger/wider grooves than the other. Even the stamping on the hosel and iron # on the sole had deeper/wider lettering. I heard that the PCB Tours provide a LOT of spin - sometimes too much, but I'm skeptical that both sets will provide the same amount of spin. My question is, is what I'm describing about the 2 different sets from 2 different eras? Say 80's vs 90's? Has anyone else came across this difference? I'm assuming there will be a difference in feel/play?

Thanks!

[newbgolfer]

Hey All,

I finally took some pictures - I hope I can find some info out there! Basically if you take a look, one of the sets appear to be stamped, whereas the other looks "etched" or something. You can especially tell on the "Macgregor" printed on the sole. Anyone out there have any information? Does this have to do with when it was produced? Think i have a fake set here from the 90's?

Notice the face of the pitching wedge. You can't really tell with the pictures I have, but the set with the "stamped" appearance have much deeper grooves. Also if you look at the bottom edge, it appears more rounded as opposed to flat across. These 2 supposedly identical sets seem way different.








set with deeper grooves and lettering (rounded bottom edge)



set with more shallow grooves and lettering (flat bottom edge)

[LBlack14]

I'd be interested to know the answers to this one Myself.

[lcfd42]

I would probably think this is different years of manufacture. One appeard to be stamped lettering wheras the other looks to be cut letters. I would guess the upper one is the older of the two. I'm not familiar with these particular clubs, but you do raise intriging questions on one sets authenticity.

[newbgolfer]

You think the stamped lettering is the older of the 2? Also, the grooves appear to be stamped vs cut too. THey're definitely different. Don't you think that would be a huge factor in feel and spin? It seems as if that would be a huge variance between supposedly identical sets of clubs. Just seems weird that a manufacturer would do that - they're supposedly forged in japan by miura?

[wolverine_man]

Wow, this is a great question! I picked up a set of these clubs this past summer and I have fallen in love with them. I just looked at my set, and mine look like the "skinnier numbered" irons - the bottom 7 iron and the top PW. I can't quite tell which grooves mine look like, though. I don't really think they made fake sets of these clubs. My irons do have a serial number on the ferrule. Perhaps we can talk to someone who used to work for MacGregor.

[newbgolfer]

Anyone else out there can pull out their PCB Tour sets and take a look? Someone mentioned on another forum that I asked this question that I Might have a Tour Issued set (the deeper grooves). CHeck out this ebay listing. This guy claims its a Tour Issued set, and look at the PW picture...its definitely one of the deeper grooved irons. I messaged him and hopefully he'll reply with an answer.

http://cgi.ebay.com/TOUR-ISSUE-MIURA...item45efe539ab

[wolverine_man]

I know, I tried buying that set from him last Summer on e-bay. He wanted WAAAY too much. I see his price has come down a tad and he's thrown in some iron covers.

[newbgolfer]

Haha, so I finally got an answer from the Ebay guy. I asked him what the difference between the Tour issue and Non-Tour issue PCB tours were. His answer was generic and funny:

"The tour was made for the PGA Players which can consist of different specs. I'm not a pro but these irons belong in a musuem. Sorry if I didn't answer your question"

[wolverine_man]

Did you find out any additional info regarding the differences between your two sets of irons? I'm curious.

[newbgolfer]

Hey sorry nope. All that I've gathered is that the deeper grooved ones are tour issue and the shallow ones aren't. But i just got this info off of 2 diff sellers on ebay.

Funny thing is, i haven't got a chance to hit them yet. I hit the shallow grooved ones, but have been in and out of town and chicago weather hasn't been too helpful lately either

[wolverine_man]

I see. So which ones had the deeper grooves? My irons look like your se with the larger, skinnier number engravings on the soles. All I know is that these clubs spin the ball a lot more than my Mizuno Mp-14s!

[newbgolfer]

THe non-tour ones are skinnier.

check this ebay out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/McGregor-PCB-Tou...item4ced3af130

[wolverine_man]

Well that listing is not correct, as my irons say FORGED PCB TOUR just like all of the PCB Tour irons did, regardless of whether they are tour issue or not. I do want that 2 iron though, BADLY!

[dadoc2001]

My father and I own both the PCB and PCB Tours. The PCB's have a larger forged head, Dynamic Lite shafts and a greater offset in the head. The tours are smaller heads/offsets and Gold shafts. I am in the process of replacing my clubs (PCB Tours) with Srixon I-701 Tours. I cant believe that my current irons are of such a high quality (this is more a 'I refuse to accept notion'). I suppose when I had to replace my 4 iron shaft when it connected with a tree stump and my Pro had to order in a special tipped Dynamic GOLD shaft I should have taken the hint!

I am now hit with the dilemma - do I stick with what I have (love them but the h'cap is creeping up!) or change for something new and punt the PCB's to someont that can use them?

Cheers
Iain

[Dave2512]

Old thread but a bump to see if anyone is using these irons. I bought two sets over the winter and recently started using them. Must admit they are probably a little out of my league. I've been using old Armour 845s and those have a pretty small head but the PCB is quite a bit smaller. For a CB they are small and thin, I've seen bigger MB's, and they're really light. Noticeably lighter than the 845. I've been on the course with them a few times and the scores didn't inflate or anything to will continue to work with them. Not as unforgiving as I thought they'd be. A mishit is a mishit and the 845s weren't disguising that either. Amazingly accurate is the big difference. Anything that's a half decent strike heads in the intended direction and carries the estimated distance. A mishit just lands short of the target but holds the line. I really like the feel of the DGS300 with the forged head, smooth and quiet. I had considered the 588 CB and I thought the PCB was a good compromise that I can experiment with. As mentioned the grooves are huge, the 8-PW really tears up balls.

[cycl0ne184]

I have a set of pcb tour irons that I impulse bought new about 10 years ago because I had always wanted to try forged cavity backs.

Like a few of you I can't hit them consistently enough so they got dropped after about 20 rounds and haven't seen the light of day since. The smallish sweet spot is just not forgiving enough for my swing.

I've just dug them out and googled for my original thoughts on them and damn if it isn't tempting to try them out tomorrow.  The event is American Foursomes so probably not fair to my partner to inflict that on him lol.

From my post in Jan 2004...

"Picked up a set of forged Macgregor Tourney PCB Tour's last week. (

I was using Topflite XL2000's which are oversize, huge cavity, game improvement clubs ( http://www.golfclubreview.com/xl_2000.htm ).

Great clubs but I had been toying with the idea of getting something new - I wanted to see how sweet forged heads feel and I thought the extremely forgiving nature of the XL2000's was resulting in my ball striking getting a little sloppy since there was not much punishment.

So when I saw an add for forged Macgregors on the back page of the courier mail for $599 a few weeks ago, I was drawn in to golf world to have a closer look (it didn't say they were CB's and my game isn't up to blades.)

The PCB Tours are not a current Macgregor model - about 2-3 years but Golf World had some brand new sets with DG S300 shafts and golf pride velvet wraps. They looked boo-t-ful...sleek traditional, nice chrome finish. They felt great at address...but could my 15hcp hit them consistently? The heads and the cavities were much smaller than my existing clubs but I decided to give em a whirl for 3 months. I could always sell em on if the experiment didn't work.

Well 1 range session and 36 holes later and the experiment is over. I have been flushing them most of the time, occasional mishits still get quite a bit of forgiveness. I can work the ball left and right. Trajectories are quite high even tho the lofts are 2 degrees weaker in the long irons and 3 degress in the long irons. But I have always had a high ball flight.

Maybe it's the extra focus that you get with new equipment but I have been hitting these so consistently well I'm removing the safety net and selling my other irons.

Golf is always fun but new equipment puts a spring in your step and a smile on your face!!"

Tony

[Dave2512]

Haven't touched mine since earlier in the summer. Far and away the most unforgiving clubs I've ever taken on the course. Massive inconsistencies with distance if you aren't an above average ball striker. As I mentioned in June I've played more forgiving MB's. Really small heads. The 8i is about the size of a MP-4 5i.