Wilson Staff Tour Blade redux

[daveperk]

after gaining some inspiration from earlier posts on this subject, I was browsing ebay and found not one but two great looking sets of these classics. I'm bidding on them both, and one set goes all the way to the 1 iron. Which I did have, in my set that I played in my senior year on the HS golf team, 1978.

I actually hit that one iron. Tee or fairway. Loved it.

Back when I was flexible. :-)

There are several sets of great old Wilson Staff Dynapowers too, the 'fluid feel' models we were talking about.

I suspect, and will find out if its true, that if you reshaft and regrip and make some attempt to weight-adjust (as Lyle G can do to properly match a set of irons) these, they'll play as well as any blade from today.

I might be playing these as my regular irons in a month or two.

I'll let you guys know how this works out. :-)

ps- the new FG59 forged blade from Wilson looks almost exactly like these... there's a reason for that. :-)

[poe4soul]

What was the loft of the driving iron? I bet it's not too far off the loft of the current 2 irons.

[daveperk]

I"ll have to check the lofts when I get a set... I suspect the PW was 49* but I don't know much about the longer irons... I might have them bent to suit me anyway... probably won't be hitting the one iron much at my age and in this dreadful condition.. :-)

[Ben D]

Great idea. I too am inspired by those earlier posts and thinking of reshafting my Wilson Staff Dyna-Power Fluid Feel irons. Lighter steel with a lower kick point maybe. The Wilsons are of higher swingweight compared to what I play now, so I have some leeway. I'm going to measure loft, lie, weight, and frequency, and then research how to preserve or redo the Fluid Feel design feature at the hosel and heel of the sole, and how to try and save or replace the rather unique collar at the hosel. At the least, I will change the 43 year old grips, maybe with something on the modern Wilson's if I like it enough.

[daveperk]

Great idea. I too am inspired by those earlier posts and thinking of reshafting my Wilson Staff Dyna-Power Fluid Feel irons. Lighter steel with a lower kick point maybe. The Wilsons are of higher swingweight compared to what I play now, so I have some leeway. I'm going to measure loft, lie, weight, and frequency, and then research how to preserve or redo the Fluid Feel design feature at the hosel and heel of the sole, and how to try and save or replace the rather unique collar at the hosel. At the least, I will change the 43 year old grips, maybe with something on the modern Wilson's if I like it enough.

Fluid Feel Dynapowers are a bit more complicated, but GO FOR IT. Keep us updated.

I'm absolutely certain that, at the very least, these Tour Blades will be as good as any blades today, with the right shafts and grips and with proper tuning intra-set.

There's even a set on Ebay with the stamped number that signifies Johnny Miller's custom grinds.. a full set of Staff irons essentially made for JM, or for someone who wanted JM irons.

Needless to say, those have a higher base price than the Staff Tour Blades I'm in on. Mine have no reserve.

[bubbha70]

I love my Wilson Staff Tour Blades!
I currently have the 2-PW. I have a FG-17 1 iron coming in.

Yeah, I saw a bunch of Tour Blade sets (1-PW and 2- PW) on ebay over the last week. They finished between the price range of $100 - $150.

Have fun!

[bubbha70]

Oh my! These blades are awesome.

After dedicating two weeks to this set of 1-PW I don't know if I want to go back to my Titleist 695CBs.

[pingman360]

Oh my! These blades are awesome.

After dedicating two weeks to this set of 1-PW I don't know if I want to go back to my Titleist 695CBs.

pics would be cool...

[bubbha70]

pics would be cool...

Pingman,

They're not really nice to look at. Well, the thin top line is nice. But when you make solid contact with these babies, it just keeps going and going and going. I couldn't imagine what new shafts would do. The currently installed 1980s Dynamics still perform well.

[daveperk]

I just got the second of the two sets I bought on Ebay.

This is the one that is in the E740 grind, the Johnny Miller grind.. the heads are actually a tiny bit bigger than the standard Tour Blade set... I took them to the range with me (Nippon 950 S shafts were installed in this set, and they're the same length as my own Adams irons rather than short like the original TT dynamics on the standard set) and actually hit the long irons best. That three iron looks like a butter knife down there but the ball flies HIGH and long...

I'll be posting pix soon.. gorgeous blades.... the Miller grind is actually a narrower blade than the standard Tour Blade, slightly larger and more angular but with less mass...

The Miller grind is very nearly the same dimensions as my Adams... but the original staff Tour BLade is noticeably smaller... I still can't believe I used those things and thought nothing of how small they are... it's a shocker with today's designs in my brain...

[bubbha70]

I'm a golf club whore.
I just picked up the FG-51 (3-PW) on ebay for $60. Very good condition.