[mat562]

For those who are interested, some shots of the bags of former Masters winners:

'93 to '97 Inclusive; Langer, Olazabal, Crenshaw, Faldo, Woods.

Attached image(s)

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[tigerwooooo]

Cool find mate! Wow those clubs look mean!!

I'm glad that I still keep a set of the MP-14 whose serial number on the ferrule is 07770 - very special; an entire set of 2-PW. I lef tthis set together with my old-school vokey wedges in Shanghai for business rounds.

MP-14 is definitely one of the classic sets that are difficult to play hahaha

[easyyy]

They do look pure. Dynamic gold and muscle back irons. Sharp leading edges.

[Eck42]

Thank you very much for posting. Great pictures!!! Where did you find those? Are they out of a magazine?

Thanks again-I have always wanted to see Faldo's clubs from the '96 Masters and here they are!!

[benclab]

Is that two one irons in the first bag? Or am I just seeing things. What irons were taken out, does anyone know?

[mat562]

That other 1 iron's actually a 4 iron. As I remember, Langer won with the 1 iron in the bag, as did Olazabal the following year. Olazabal generally carried both a 1 and a 2 iron whilst also carrying just two wedges (albeit in his '99 victory he ditched the 2 iron for an additional Cleveland 588TG 60-degree wedge), whereas Langer always omitted the 2 iron from his set back then and carried an old Titleist Peter Kostis lob wedge in its place. Crenshaw's bag seems to have a mid iron missing (a 5 iron?) but a 2 iron present. Maybe a bit of Furyk-esque loft-pinching going on to make up for the missing club?

Faldo carried both a 2 iron and a 5 wood that year (with no 3 wood) and Woods carried that bag as seen in the photos including that MP29 2 iron.

Incidentally, I remember having a look in Olazabal's bag around that time, and the 'Maruman' sand wedge he was carrying looked almost exactly like the stock Mizuno TP-9 sand wedge he played for several years when he was with Mizuno ay the start of his career - almost as though it had been carbon copied in fact and had a Maruman stamp put on the back..

[Hoover98]

I don't remember that Cobra driver being a bore-thru. Its also in the 3rd bag pic, non-bore-thru. Maybe the whole "Tour vs. Retail" dates back further than we thought....

[mat562]

I noticed that too. It's the only bore-thru Cobra I remember seeing. Certainly, my old faithful hasn't got one.

That Wood Brothers driver of Langers was a long-lived club. If I remember rightly he used that for a good five years after that photo was taken, and was among the last of the top flight players to permanently switch to a metal driver.

Those Dyna Powered sand wedges must have been a bit special...

[lagpressure]

All Metal woods should have been banned years ago..
Woods are called woods for a reason... they are supposed to be made of wood..

Could you imagine if Major League Baseball went to aluminum bats or even worse, titanium bats...
and to top it off, made the bats as wide around as grapefruits? Then every second baseman could hit
100 plus homers a year and break Ruths records..

Welcome to the USGA..

I can't believe they allowed this to happen..

they sold out the game...

pathetic..

[villa]

lagpressure, on Apr 27 2008, 02:21 PM, said:

All Metal woods should have been banned years ago..
Woods are called woods for a reason... they are supposed to be made of wood..

Could you imagine if Major League Baseball went to aluminum bats or even worse, titanium bats...
and to top it off, made the bats as wide around as grapefruits? Then every second baseman could hit
100 plus homers a year and break Ruths records..

Welcome to the USGA..

I can't believe they allowed this to happen..

they sold out the game...

pathetic..

And irons aren't made out of iron anymore so let's change that as well!

Your sentiments do ring true though. Only the other day I was speaking to the creator of this thread regarding the death of ball striking. Everyone fears long irons now and anyone born after 1985 probably hasn't hit a wooden headed driver!

The fact is though that they all play with the same equipment. No-one has an advantage of another because of what they use. Courses have gotten longer and more difficult to accomodate and as a result, scores haven't dramatically reduced in the last 20 years. Add to that the fact that modern equipment has allowed more people to play the game and then all of a sudden, it's not such a bad thing.

Great pics by the way. Another chance to reminisce on when men were men and still hit long irons.

The bore-through deep face wasn't made specifically for Tiger but you didn't see many of them about. I want to say that Payne Stewart used one for a short time but I could be wrong. I believe Cobra produced a limited number of comemorative versions after Tigers '97 Masters win.

[mat562]

What I find interesting is the clubs that are in those photos - and that were typical a few years back - are often very different to the logo on the bag. Most clubs back then were (and many of those in the above photos clearly are) somewhat careworn. Olazabal's Miuras look pretty new, but the rest have all hit more than a shot or two looking at them. That set of Hagens of Crenshaw's look like they're ancient; and those Wilsons of Langers were in the bag for years. That Masters-winning (and multiple tournament-winning) bag would probably have fetched about fifty quid in a second hand bin.

Nowadays, everyone's chopping and changing clubs every five minutes owing to sponsor's requirements to play a particular brand and the latest clubs, and you don't see old faithfuls like that anymore.

I remember Faldo once talking about his old MacGregor driver and how he mollycoddled it as 'once you found one you liked you didn't want to risk changing the shaft or anything in case you ruined it...' Nowadays, everybody's out with half a dozen drivers and the Trackman every week trying to launch it 0.1 degrees higher to gain a couple of yards of extra carry...

How things change.

[vandercharks]

I remember seeing those Maruman Conductors like Ollie and Woosie was using on that auction site some time back...in mint condition no less. The pros played some pure gems back then.

[SDGolfing]

villa, on Apr 27 2008, 12:41 PM, said:

lagpressure, on Apr 27 2008, 02:21 PM, said:

All Metal woods should have been banned years ago..
Woods are called woods for a reason... they are supposed to be made of wood..

Could you imagine if Major League Baseball went to aluminum bats or even worse, titanium bats...
and to top it off, made the bats as wide around as grapefruits? Then every second baseman could hit
100 plus homers a year and break Ruths records..

Welcome to the USGA..

I can't believe they allowed this to happen..

they sold out the game...

pathetic..

And irons aren't made out of iron anymore so let's change that as well!

Your sentiments do ring true though. Only the other day I was speaking to the creator of this thread regarding the death of ball striking. Everyone fears long irons now and anyone born after 1985 probably hasn't hit a wooden headed driver!

The fact is though that they all play with the same equipment. No-one has an advantage of another because of what they use. Courses have gotten longer and more difficult to accomodate and as a result, scores haven't dramatically reduced in the last 20 years. Add to that the fact that modern equipment has allowed more people to play the game and then all of a sudden, it's not such a bad thing.

Great pics by the way. Another chance to reminisce on when men were men and still hit long irons.

The bore-through deep face wasn't made specifically for Tiger but you didn't see many of them about. I want to say that Payne Stewart used one for a short time but I could be wrong. I believe Cobra produced a limited number of comemorative versions after Tigers '97 Masters win.

Come on. It is called technology. It is the same reason that Tennis players don't use wooden rackets, basketball players don't play with converse's, football players play with lighter more advanced pads, instant replays exist in multipe sports and so on and so on. The death of ball striking? Try telling Nick Watney that or Boo Weekly. These are two guys who flat out struggle putting and still get it done because they hit so many greens.
Do they fear long irons? Tiger Woods sure doesn't. Don't forget his driver up until a few years ago was basically a 6.5 degree spinny head with a xxx stiff 3 wood shaft. Bubba Watson sure doesn't. Vijay Singh, Adam Scott etc etc etc. Reality of the situation is not that they fear them it is that 5 woods and hybrids are easier to hit and way more efficient from the rough. If it is legal and lowers your scores why wouldnt you play them?
Truth of the matter is like you stated technological advances have helped the game become more main stream and have injected tons of money back into the game. It is a lot easier to have these big purses and tournament with sponsors like Callaway, Nike etc.
You cannot CHANGE a baseball stadium like you can CHANGE a golf course. To say that they are setting records because of equipment is just ridiculous. Like the above poster said the score in many ways at majors at least are actually HIGHER!!!!!

Lastly hate to break it to you but if you think the balls are the same ones they are using in baseball your out of your mind. You want to blame something blame the ability for these guys to work there asses off in the off season and get in great shape. The babe was known for beers and hot dogs not creatine and chicken breasts.

[villa]

vandercharks, on Apr 28 2008, 10:58 AM, said:

I remember seeing those Maruman Conductors like Ollie and Woosie was using on that auction site some time back...in mint condition no less. The pros played some pure gems back then.

I used to have a set in the early 90's, I loved those irons. They were difficult to get hold of back then but they're like rocking horse sh*t now.

Olazabal's actually had quite a bit of offset on them. When Olazabal joined Macgregor, I read a quote by Don White (clubmaker and god) saying that he had to blend in as much offset into his irons as a set of Big Bertha's.

[Titleist1455]

lagpressure, on Apr 27 2008, 02:21 PM, said:

All Metal woods should have been banned years ago..
Woods are called woods for a reason... they are supposed to be made of wood..

Could you imagine if Major League Baseball went to aluminum bats or even worse, titanium bats...
and to top it off, made the bats as wide around as grapefruits? Then every second baseman could hit
100 plus homers a year and break Ruths records..

Welcome to the USGA..

I can't believe they allowed this to happen..

they sold out the game...

pathetic..

Then don't watch and don't participate in the game (or this board) if you think it's "PATHETIC"

I'm pretty sure they've made the courses just a little bit harder...so it's not like these guys are shooting in the 50's on a regular basis. Scores at Augusta just last year were at an all time high!!

chill out...

[teespoon]

Thanks for the pics. Great old clubs. MP-14's are keepers. Still my favorite.

[rankoutsider]

i had my mizuno tour provens at the range today. nice clubs. i just reshafted them and they might become my gamers.

[gpo]

I love seeing the Staffs.

[ragu421]

tigerwooooo, on Apr 25 2008, 10:34 PM, said:

Cool find mate! Wow those clubs look mean!!

I'm glad that I still keep a set of the MP-14 whose serial number on the ferrule is 07770 - very special; an entire set of 2-PW. I lef tthis set together with my old-school vokey wedges in Shanghai for business rounds.

MP-14 is definitely one of the classic sets that are difficult to play hahaha

I actually used to play a set of MP-14's.I loved 'em until I got hurt and lost some swing speed.I def. liked them better than the "butter knife" MP-29's.The MP-14's had a "smidge" of offset which I liked very much whereas the MP-29 was a "straight up" scratch players club.ZERO forgiveness in the 29's but the MP-14's were a little "kinder".They should still make the MP-14's I think.

[ragu421]

lagpressure, on Apr 27 2008, 03:21 PM, said:

All Metal woods should have been banned years ago..
Woods are called woods for a reason... they are supposed to be made of wood..

Could you imagine if Major League Baseball went to aluminum bats or even worse, titanium bats...
and to top it off, made the bats as wide around as grapefruits? Then every second baseman could hit
100 plus homers a year and break Ruths records..

Welcome to the USGA..

I can't believe they allowed this to happen..

they sold out the game...

pathetic..

Whaaaaat? WOW! Ive never heard this statement before.Whats in YOUR bag? Surely you arent still hitting "wood" woods?

[joecollege]

ragu421, on Jun 17 2008, 05:01 PM, said:

They should still make the MP-14's I think.

I'll second that. Still have my set in the office and very tempted to regrip and play .....and put the Cally's in the office.

[sweeet]

Anyone know what that Cobra wedge in Crenshaw's bag is? I found a wedge like that in my basement but it's wrapped in dings and scratches. I played with it yesterday and still spins quite well..but I forgot what it used to be called.

[sweeet]

sweeet, on Sep 21 2008, 06:06 PM, said:

Anyone know what that Cobra wedge in Crenshaw's bag is? I found a wedge like that in my basement but it's wrapped in dings and scratches. I played with it yesterday and still spins quite well..but I forgot what it used to be called.

bump?

[63Brummie]

Those signature Greg Norman blades are beautiful, have you been playing them long?
I understand that you're a contemporary of Lee Westwood, what's you take on the Ryder Cup heckling?
63Brummie
fairways and greens

[mat562]

I'll PM you mate.

[Jack lives here]

I played MP 11s for sixteen years. When the swing was on these are as good as it gets.

Also had the old McGregor driver long after metal woods became popular.

Lets be quite frank about a couple of things here.

Tigers irons are little different from the ones made thirty years ago, and without getting into a debate closely resemble the Mizunos he used as an ameteur. Tiger would also have a lot of fun with an old McGregor driver and the way you could move the ball either way with them, like Faldo.

In the old days the tour pros found what they loved and then kept itin the bag for years.

Todays tour pros play, or at least have labelled, their sponsors clubs, so old blokes like me with old swings buy them.....and I do buy them because now I need forgiveness over purist.

[ewfnick]

I couldnt agree more

[epevoto]

"Add to that the fact that modern equipment has allowed more people to play the game and then all of a sudden, it's not such a bad thing."

Red Herring.

[hos]

Great pics. Let's not start this into an argumentative thread, instead someone find more of those pics. I love nostalgia. I just never know which old school bag is going out in the evening.

[aytee]

Anyone know what that Cobra wedge in Crenshaw's bag is? I found a wedge like that in my basement but it's wrapped in dings and scratches. I played with it yesterday and still spins quite well..but I forgot what it used to be called.

cobra used to have trusty rusty wedge not sure if it was that time or later

[MoaningM]

Great photos,

Is that a set of Wison Staff FG 17 in Langer's bag? I got a set of those around here - great irons!

[jaskanski]

Great post, Matt.
I love to look at the old stuff. Plenty of lead tape for Langer and Faldo! I remember Olly's bag quite well. I got a peek into his bag at the 1993 Ryder Cup. I dreamt of having a set of Marumans once. When Olly won using the prototype Burner Bubble (the first metal head driver at the Masters I think), I just had to get one myself. Like everyone else, I got swept along with the hype surrounding the Bubble shaft and I finally got to purchase one in 1995. A very pricey £239 at the time. Happy days.

[birdieputt]

Interesting pics. Love Langer's Raylor with the steel shaft. Still amazes me how square toe'd blades used to be, just, a little before my time i suppose.

[mat562]

That wood of Langer's was shafted up with the beloved old Flex Twist Graphite shaft - as played by yours truly until only three or four years ago.

Those FG17s of Langer's were amazing things. Possibly the most knackered set I've ever seen in a pro's bag by the time they were finally retired. The toes on them were ground to be especially square and it looks like they had a sale on for lead tape where he got them. That Wood Brothers Texan driver signalled the end of an era; as alluded to above it was the last wooden driver to win at Augusta and ended up being one of the last persimmon drivers in play on the European Tour along with Anders Forsbrand's old MacGregor.

I also managed to get hold of one of those first TM Bubble drivers - with the same grey head as Ollie's and the all-black Bubble shaft. Cracking driver - but I foolishly sold it and ended up with a regular orange-headed one that was a piece of junk instead.

That Cobra wedge was a rare one to find (at least over here in the UK) and, as well as Crenshaw winning with one, it was also in Greg Norman's bag for his Open Championship win at Sandwich.

I'll try and fish out a few more old photos for old fogies like us to have a gawp at. From the days when men were men, balls were balata and a 'hybrid' was a thing from the local garden centre.

[freddiec]

Matt,
You gotta post some more pics like this if you have any more in any of your magazines. I love this stuff. I love all the older equipment played in the 80s. It was so different to the cyber techie stuff we play today. Please post more!!! I love it. Especially if you got some persimmon shots. I know Bob Tway used to use a similar Texas driver like Ollie. Great post!!!

[Dire Wolf]

Tiger's old bag still looks DAMN good to me!

[mikey634w]

villa, on Apr 27 2008, 02:41 PM, said:

lagpressure, on Apr 27 2008, 02:21 PM, said:

All Metal woods should have been banned years ago..
Woods are called woods for a reason... they are supposed to be made of wood..

Could you imagine if Major League Baseball went to aluminum bats or even worse, titanium bats...
and to top it off, made the bats as wide around as grapefruits? Then every second baseman could hit
100 plus homers a year and break Ruths records..

Welcome to the USGA..

I can't believe they allowed this to happen..

they sold out the game...

pathetic..

And irons aren't made out of iron anymore so let's change that as well!

Your sentiments do ring true though. Only the other day I was speaking to the creator of this thread regarding the death of ball striking. Everyone fears long irons now and anyone born after 1985 probably hasn't hit a wooden headed driver!

The fact is though that they all play with the same equipment. No-one has an advantage of another because of what they use. Courses have gotten longer and more difficult to accomodate and as a result, scores haven't dramatically reduced in the last 20 years. Add to that the fact that modern equipment has allowed more people to play the game and then all of a sudden, it's not such a bad thing.

Great pics by the way. Another chance to reminisce on when men were men and still hit long irons.

The bore-through deep face wasn't made specifically for Tiger but you didn't see many of them about. I want to say that Payne Stewart used one for a short time but I could be wrong. I believe Cobra produced a limited number of comemorative versions after Tigers '97 Masters win.

You are both very correct. While scores haven't changed and 2009 courses look different than 1979 courses the game has changed. Golf could also be called "smash the ball" while it used to be called "control the ball." The modern game allows for more money and interest to flow through it but I'm not sure it's a better game for it. I would have loved to live in an era where you could find a great set of clubs and play them for 20 years.

[SwingLikeElk]

I disagree.

New clubs have made the game more enjoyable for a guy who plays five times a year who can't hit a forged iron, etc.

It really hasn't made the Tour level player a great deal better. Possibly a bit more refined. At their level, it's still a shot makers game.

The last 4 holes in Hawaii where Zach Johnson won this past weekend are sharp doglegs left. He can't bomb tee shots over the trouble so he had to shape the ball. He beat everyone including players who out drive him by 40 yards. David Toms, who finished second or third is also a short hitter who nearly won.

Back in the day, there were guys who bombed their "woods" past everyone and there were guys who shaped them. It's not the technology. It's the human.

[hos]

Langer's bag is to die for if you pulled that ugly 1 iron and metal wood out! Love the Wood Bros. driver. Still don't have one of those. I am refinishing my fg-17's this year. Think I'll skip that wicked toe grind though.

Bring on more pics.!!!! Great thread!

[mikey634w]

SwingLikeElk, on Jan 20 2009, 09:39 AM, said:

I disagree.

New clubs have made the game more enjoyable for a guy who plays five times a year who can't hit a forged iron, etc.

It really hasn't made the Tour level player a great deal better. Possibly a bit more refined. At their level, it's still a shot makers game.

The last 4 holes in Hawaii where Zach Johnson won this past weekend are sharp doglegs left. He can't bomb tee shots over the trouble so he had to shape the ball. He beat everyone including players who out drive him by 40 yards. David Toms, who finished second or third is also a short hitter who nearly won.

Back in the day, there were guys who bombed their "woods" past everyone and there were guys who shaped them. It's not the technology. It's the human.

Unfortunately it's not a debatable issue. How players get the ball in the hole today is different from 30 years ago. The ball flies different and players swings and equipment are much different. There have always been short and long hitters from the begining of time. It's somewhat sad that there might be a Cory Pavin out there somewhere that will never win a major because the modern premium is not on shotmaking. It would be cool to sit down with players who have played through the transition like a Faldo, Couples, Langer and others who can speak of the differences first hand. Yes, shotmaking will always play a role, but never before has that role been less significant than it is now.