15 replies to this topic

[DoctorLoomis]

From what I was told, these blades were forged by MacGregor and had the Cobra logo stamped on them. At the time these irons were made, Norman had his personal irons hand ground by Don White at MacGregor. I have seen a couple of these sets but NOT with the TOUR stamped hosel. Can anyone provide any further background on these irons???

[guri]

Great find mate, takes you back to the 1993 British Open Championship. Can just picture him puring those iron shots in the wind.

[Paul Stewart Jones]

Ive got the sandwedge from that set also with tour stamped on the hossel.

There has been some of the normal sets on ebay over the last year, not seen that many with tour stamp on the hossel though.

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[guppy93]

BOYS THE TOUR HEAD-

is actually the head that other staff such as lehman played.
they were also available by customer order at the time.
i did order a set from my club and found the non tour set
about a year after that.the non tour set has these differences
and were actually the model he played.

deeper stampings especially signature
thicker muscle
narrower sole especially on the heel
slightly diff top line more attractive in my opinion
a little less offset

yes they were made by mac dw as most clubs were back then,lol
any1 without a contract either played macs or zunos

i have had about 12 sets of these and the non tour head is the nutz.

they however need some tlc grinding as they are a bit diggy
with little bounce,but that fit normans pick profile and augustas
fairways.


still have a set or 2 left.
redid a set about 1 1/2 years ago and sold them on ebay.
shiny chrome from iron factory.

cheers  willy

[HappyGas]

I picked up a set of these about 7 years ago from a place called House of Forged in San Diego.  They no longer sell clubs.

I have the NON-TOUR set.  I would have to agree that this set is the NUTS.  Small sweet spot and ONLY a golf club for one with some patience.  

They show up on eBay from time to time.  

Very true in the the heads are a bit more "fragile" and show ding marks rather easy in comparison to the other forged blades I have.

I'll try to post a pic mine later.

The OTHER fantastic "signature set" is the Seve Ballesteros Dunlop set.  They come NUMBERED.  Pins in the hosel ((like Hogan Blades)).

HappyGas

[astamm8]

Great info willy. Didn't the other pros usually play with ones stamped cobra, not Norman on the back?

Any word on those? The set I play is stamped cobra and looks just like the one iron lehman played forever. Were those ever available retail?

I can confirm the special order bit, I once say a beautiful set stamped macgregor and nicklaus in satin chrome, but they had a round toe, so I didn't get them.

And I concur, they're great clubs.

Edited by astamm8, 23 February 2010 - 01:50 PM.

[oneaugusta]

I hate to disagree with all of you but many years ago my brother had a set of these and I did some extensive research on them.  I don't think Don White or MacGregor ever had anything to do with these.  Cobra had a very good designer/engineer named Terry McCabe, I think was his name and he actually designed the Cobra Norman putter line as well, ( the boss of the moss still uses it) He later moved to Titleist where he also designed the 975D driver.  I'm not sure if he is still around or is retired but he was very very good.

Edited by oneaugusta, 23 February 2010 - 05:01 PM.

[HappyGas]

Here is some pics of my Cobra Greg Norman irons.  I picked them up about 7 years ago at an outfit in San Diego called "House of Forged".  They no longer sell clubs.

Note.....

1.  This set doesn't have "TOUR" on hosel...
2.  All the "Bag Chatter"....very fragile clubs.
3.  These have been refinished........

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[RobS]

oneaugusta, on 23 February 2010 - 04:59 PM, said:

I hate to disagree with all of you but many years ago my brother had a set of these and I did some extensive research on them.  I don't think Don White or MacGregor ever had anything to do with these.  Cobra had a very good designer/engineer named Terry McCabe, I think was his name and he actually designed the Cobra Norman putter line as well, ( the boss of the moss still uses it) He later moved to Titleist where he also designed the 975D driver.  I'm not sure if he is still around or is retired but he was very very good.

The Norman Signature blade is a MacGregor 985 iron head (one of the later versions, they made several).  Norman played the MacGregor 985 for part of his career and when he became part of Cobra, they contracted MacGregor to make a limited number of sets.  As far as Don White's involvement, I don't know if had anything to do with the retail clubs but he did the work on Norman's. http://www.golfweek....erican-classic/

[tembolo1284]

Dammit these are so sexy.

[rgk5]

RobS, on 24 February 2010 - 05:44 PM, said:

oneaugusta, on 23 February 2010 - 04:59 PM, said:

I hate to disagree with all of you but many years ago my brother had a set of these and I did some extensive research on them.  I don't think Don White or MacGregor ever had anything to do with these.  Cobra had a very good designer/engineer named Terry McCabe, I think was his name and he actually designed the Cobra Norman putter line as well, ( the boss of the moss still uses it) He later moved to Titleist where he also designed the 975D driver.  I'm not sure if he is still around or is retired but he was very very good.

The Norman Signature blade is a MacGregor 985 iron head (one of the later versions, they made several).  Norman played the MacGregor 985 for part of his career and when he became part of Cobra, they contracted MacGregor to make a limited number of sets.  As far as Don White's involvement, I don't know if had anything to do with the retail clubs but he did the work on Norman's. http://www.golfweek....erican-classic/

I concur with all that you stated.  I had a set about nine years ago and indeed, they were based on the Tourney Custom 985 head which was in turn based on the Tommy Armour Silver Scot 915/925/985 Series made by MacGregor for several decades.

[newporttwo]

speaking of cobra blades...
the s3 pro forged blades are money...
i have hit my best, most crisp feeling iron shots with them to date...

[cwbrion]

When Norman first signed with Cobra he actually played with Irons that were stamped McGregor along the bottom of the blades.  I don't think he actually played the similar ones to the above pics very much if at all.

[pro-fitt]

great clubs I have had a couple of sets and still have a (tour) 1 iron in my 1 iron collection. The story I heard Greg told Spalding in 91 he wanted half of everything with his name on it Spalding said no thus Greg did not renew contract hooked up with Cobra since it was owned by a fellow aussie. since he was friends with Jack Nicklaus and Cobra had no blades MacGregor stepped in. Greg picked the 985 reverse muscleback head to lower and control ball flight. I was told there was 3 versions the first 2 were same grind different stampings (1st did not have Gregs signature) the third set was produced the last 2 yrs 95-96 with slightly more rounded heel and toe, slightly more narrowed sole and had tour stamped on hosel. I have had the tour set and 2nd version both will make u concentrate realiy really hard.

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[Guia]

I stated in another post that these were one of the smallest heads I have seen.  They are beauties and
can be difficult to hit consistently.  They are a ball strikers iron.

[astamm8]

pro-fitt, on 21 November 2012 - 11:31 PM, said:

great clubs I have had a couple of sets and still have a (tour) 1 iron in my 1 iron collection. The story I heard Greg told Spalding in 91 he wanted half of everything with his name on it Spalding said no thus Greg did not renew contract hooked up with Cobra since it was owned by a fellow aussie. since he was friends with Jack Nicklaus and Cobra had no blades MacGregor stepped in. Greg picked the 985 reverse muscleback head to lower and control ball flight. I was told there was 3 versions the first 2 were same grind different stampings (1st did not have Gregs signature) the third set was produced the last 2 yrs 95-96 with slightly more rounded heel and toe, slightly more narrowed sole and had tour stamped on hosel. I have had the tour set and 2nd version both will make u concentrate realiy really hard.

The set without Norman's signature is identical to the "Tour" set other than the signature. The other set (with the deeper signature stamp), has the narrower sole (particularly the heel), is more rounded (especially the toe), and has a ticker muscle, less (no) offest, and a longer hosel.

At Sandwich in '93 Norman was playing a set that looks identical to that non "tour" set, with the same deeper signature stamp and thinner sole. I have no idea if he ever played the other version.

To address some other comments, Cobra made blades but had nothing forged at the time, which is (I think) how MacGregor comes into the picture.

Don White confirmed to me personally that MacGregor made the MacCobras, but he didn't know about the two versions, so I have no idea there. Maybe at some point Cobra started to make it's own version...

I don't think the heads are that small, especially the "tour" version, which weren't small at all at the time. They're nowhere near as small as say a Muirfield or even a PMB.