Vintage Golf

[Crow]

Saw these on ebay and it really took me back to the 1970s when Lynx hit the scene. I remember a lot of good amateurs buying some and saying they were great. When Lynx went cavity backed they never seemed to have the same stylishness. I'm not attracted by this asking price, but would like your opinion of their place in the vintage scene today.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lynx-Usa-irons-3-sw/154412354895?hash=item23f3b18d4f:g:AnEAAOSworVgZxHt

Lynx clubs were very expensive when they came out but had a good following.

These are more cavity back than blade, they also have a big offset which personally I don't like.

I don't know what date they are but I'm sure you could find out with a bit of searching.

 

[Voyager EMH]

Yes, definitely a concave back and not a true blade as the pictures of this other set show more clearly.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lynx-USA...030960?hash=item1d06f8f6b0:g:2DsAAOSwRN5gbdSZ
Mid to late 1970 from what I've just researched and from personal recollection. The designer had worked for Ping on their early cavities before going it alone and setting up Lynx.

 

[Voyager EMH]

Bought for £45 and collected today.
One of my least favourite grips, but in great condition. Putter is junk, but not bothered - what a great buy! Far better condition than I expected.

 

[Crow]

Great buy!
You were lucky getting good condition grips as they're usually petrified.
Ferrules look good too.

What is the putter out of interest?

 

[Voyager EMH]

Putter looks and feels like something you might be given to play pitch and put with at the seaside. Dead straight, could play left or right handed.
Really, really chuffed with the set. They are ready to play straight away. Just don't like the full-cord grips, but they are playable.
Chevrons on the iron faces are much more visible in natural light.
Just been gently picking tiny bits of dirt from the sole-plate screws on the woods. That's about all I could find to do.
Just seen an irons only set of JN 2000 on ebay with an asking price of £175. Ho-hum.

 

[Crow]

Another video of how to embarrass yourself with vintage clubs.

 

[Voyager EMH]

Just seen this on ebay. Seems to me it ought to have a hickory shaft. Is it not worth a lot more for age and rarity. Hickory shaft and shone up - £100 in a posh auction house, maybe?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-...278613?hash=item46c5904ad5:g:0NsAAOSw~yRgAsnP

 

[Crow]

Just seen this on ebay. Seems to me it ought to have a hickory shaft. Is it not worth a lot more for age and rarity. Hickory shaft and shone up - £100 in a posh auction house, maybe?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-...278613?hash=item46c5904ad5:g:0NsAAOSw~yRgAsnP

Early steel shafted clubs are not valued as I think they should be.
The main problem with early steel shafted clubs is shaft deterioration, in a hickory this can be remedied but replacing an early steel shaft is nigh on impossible unless you have a donor club.
Some people will put a hickory shaft into a steel shafted club but it's hard/impossible to do with most irons as the socket isn't wide enough, compare below. Woods are fairly straightforward, however.

You quickly learn that rarity doesn't equate to price in vintage golf clubs. Ping Eye irons are very common but because people recognise them and have a connection there are more buyers and so they sell for more money than, for instance, the set of 1930s Forgan clubs below that cost me a ridiculous £20, they're in superb condition.

If you're not interested in the putter I might have a bid myself, I have another putter with a face cleek mark, see also below.

 

[Voyager EMH]

My first clubs were hickories that my dad unwound the grips, hacksawed down to size and rewound the grips. I then got to join him and older brother on the course. There were older chaps around still playing with hickories and 1930/40s clubs at that time (late 1960s) who took a real interest in me wielding the old clubs. So I remember quite vividly what a lot of older clubs looked and felt like to play with. I had a spoon, mashie, mashie-niblick and putter. Broke a hundred at Barnsley Municipal off the ladies tees before my 11th birthday with those 4 clubs. The middle one of the three in your picture reminds me of my mashie. I still have the mashie-niblick. I have a full-size 8-rion steel shaft with a face much like your pictured hickory but the lower indentations on the face are worn nearly smooth with so much play. I was able to use that one effectively when I had moved up to Dunlop Blue Flash Junior size 2,4 wood, 3,5,7,9 irons and putter. Gave them away to some other kid as I grew out of them. Eventually inherited my dad's Ambassadors when his arthritis stopped him playing just around the time I was big enough for full-sized clubs.
I won't be bidding for the rivers putter, hope you get it for your collection, which I would really like to see some time. Putter caught my eye coz it is so unusual.

 

[Voyager EMH]

Aha! A few years ago though.

 

[Crow]

There you have it, the hickory uplift.

It's a slightly different model too, an approach putter is lofted at around 20 degrees.

 

[Bigfoot]

So it is a chipper really !!

 

[Crow]

So it is a chipper really !!

Yes!

 

[Voyager EMH]

Was this sometimes called a "Number 2 putting cleek" ?

 

[Crow]

Was this sometimes called a "Number 2 putting cleek" ?

Putting cleek I think goes back to when the first steel cleeks appeared, they were long irons similar to a 1 or 2 iron in loft.
Putting cleek was a steel headed putter with head shape similar to a cleek, putters were for a long time wooden headed.

Going right back there was also a wooden headed cleek, like a fairway wood.

I don't know what the number 2 refers to.

 

[Voyager EMH]

From what I've seen and remembered, it might have been useful to have two putters in the bag. One with a bit of loft to get the ball moving. I think we should consider that some courses would have had fairly ropey looking greens compared with today's standards.

 

[Voyager EMH]

1920s mizuno trademark.

 

[Voyager EMH]

1974 mizuno iron and the cup emblem had evolved.

 

[Voyager EMH]

 

[Voyager EMH]

I have some orphans. Amdassador 2-wood (1970 ish), Maxfli SW (1977 ish), Challenge 8-iron (dunno, 1930s/40s?) and my mashie-niblick cut-down hickory (1920s or earlier ?)