Hogan Director Forged

[wirehair]

I was at a garage sale & bought these irons (3-E) for $5. Anyone know what I just bought?

[ezra76]

Where's the Pics?? $5 for any set is a good deal.

[ezra76]

Is it this set?? http://valueguide.pga.com/detail-exe...set/m/Director

[wirehair]

Originally Posted by ezra76

Is it this set?? http://valueguide.pga.com/detail-exe...set/m/Director

Yup, I also found a set for sale at "House of Forged" - anyone know of someone who could restore these? It'd be fun to have them pretty. Are they any good?

[Rockford35]

At $30 for the set, that sorta answers itself. LOL.

Go out and hit them. Then decide whether or not you wanna dump 300 bucks into making the look good again.

R35

[ualtim]

Originally Posted by wirehair

Yup, I also found a set for sale at "House of Forged" - anyone know of someone who could restore these? It'd be fun to have them pretty. Are they any good?

If you want them restored, ship them off to Golfsmith or Golfworks. There used to be a place called Iron Works that specialized in restorations, but the last time I checked their website still listed them as moving and no orders were being accepted.

[wirehair]

Back from the range. The heads were about the size of a cats ass.
Started with a couple of 3/4 wedge shots to loosen up, it felt OK, then I hit a couple of pure full shots. Nice feel & ball flight, about 110 or so, about the same as my regular Titty 822's.

Grabbed the 9 iron and pretty much got the same results as the wedge, pure shots 110-115 with a nice high flight & a little fade. I figured there was a loft adjustment needed until I hit the 8 iron, 110-115. I'm starting to think, WTF. Grabbed a 7, it was a clunker, all the way, but it got the ball out to an astounding 130 yards. Went to a six. Here I could start to feel the shafts - roughly equivalent to 3/8 inch rebar, I don't think Governor Arnold could do anything with them when he was in his prime. They must be XXX.

Worked my way on up, these baby's are short. Not just the shafts which were about 1/2 in shorter, but seriously short. Solid 5 iron about 145. 4 iron - again 145. I tee'd a few up & hit the 4 iron off the tee, mebbe 155 on good solid hits. How could people play with these clubs. These aren't junk, they're Hogan forged irons. I know I'm a fat old man who times his swing speed with an hour glass, but c'mon...

I continued to mess around with 'em & the 5 iron was really sweet for a 3/4 punch shot, if you need a 145 yard punch shot.

Other than that, I've been hosed for $5 - cash money. Also, the 25 year old cord grips tore up my glove. But I can now always say "I played Hogan Forged blades for a little bit, but I prefer Titleist..."

Anybody want 'em?

[wirehair]

Originally Posted by Rockford35

At $30 for the set, that sorta answers itself. LOL.

Go out and hit them. Then decide whether or not you wanna dump 300 bucks into making the look good again.

R35

C'mon down to Texas Rock. I'll let you play with these clubs & we won't even need to kick you in the balls.

[Garrett]

Originally Posted by wirehair

Grabbed a 7, it was a clunker, all the way, but it got the ball out to an astounding 130 yards. Went to a six. Here I could start to feel the shafts - roughly equivalent to 3/8 inch rebar, I don't think Governor Arnold could do anything with them when he was in his prime. They must be XXX.

ROFL That's a funny section there

[SiberianDVM]

C'mon, Wirehair, join the Hogan Fan Club!

My current set is 1999 Apex blades. Couldn't do crap with them until I had them reshafted with Rifles.
My backup set is 1981 Apex IIs. Backup as in I only play them if I have to, like when the Apex set is in for repair. The shaft makes all the difference.

[wirehair]

I've got a set of NS950's in the closet, but those Hogans have pins through the hosel locking the shafts in, it'd cost money for someone else to reshaft.

Those instruments from the Devil's workshop are going into my "Visitor's Bag". Then I'm going to bet the poor sucker $10 a hole. Can't wait until my Brother-in-Law comes back to town without his clubs.

[Rockford35]

Originally Posted by wirehair

C'mon down to Texas Rock. I'll let you play with these clubs & we won't even need to kick you in the balls.

October 11th, dude. I'll give 'em a go. Bring them, I'll hit them at the range. If they feel ok, I'll play with them.

(Ya right...)

"The heads are the size of a cat's ass."


LOL x 10. WTF does that mean!?! LOL...

R35

[SiberianDVM]

My Apex IIs are pinned as well. Really not that difficult, or so I've read: heat, pin punch the pins out, heat again, pull shaft. No need to repin when reshafting.

[ualtim]

Originally Posted by wirehair

Back from the range. The heads were about the size of a cats ass.
Started with a couple of 3/4 wedge shots to loosen up, it felt OK, then I hit a couple of pure full shots. Nice feel & ball flight, about 110 or so, about the same as my regular Titty 822's.

Grabbed the 9 iron and pretty much got the same results as the wedge, pure shots 110-115 with a nice high flight & a little fade. I figured there was a loft adjustment needed until I hit the 8 iron, 110-115. I'm starting to think, WTF. Grabbed a 7, it was a clunker, all the way, but it got the ball out to an astounding 130 yards. Went to a six. Here I could start to feel the shafts - roughly equivalent to 3/8 inch rebar, I don't think Governor Arnold could do anything with them when he was in his prime. They must be XXX.

Worked my way on up, these baby's are short. Not just the shafts which were about 1/2 in shorter, but seriously short. Solid 5 iron about 145. 4 iron - again 145. I tee'd a few up & hit the 4 iron off the tee, mebbe 155 on good solid hits. How could people play with these clubs. These aren't junk, they're Hogan forged irons. I know I'm a fat old man who times his swing speed with an hour glass, but c'mon...

I continued to mess around with 'em & the 5 iron was really sweet for a 3/4 punch shot, if you need a 145 yard punch shot.

Other than that, I've been hosed for $5 - cash money. Also, the 25 year old cord grips tore up my glove. But I can now always say "I played Hogan Forged blades for a little bit, but I prefer Titleist..."

Anybody want 'em?

Pre mid 1990's irons have different specifications than today's modern irons. Irons from the 1980's and earlier are at least one full club weaker than iron produced today. Your Hogan blade 7-iron proabably has the same loft as your modern Titleist 8-iron and may even be a bit weaker. Additionally, the standard shaft lengths have increased about 1/2 inch versus the irons of yesteryears. Why has this happened? Marketing. This NEW 7 iron goes farther than your old 7 iron, just hit the range and try it out. Can anybody recall a Gap wedge from the 70's or 80's? They did not need them because the PW was 50 or 51 degrees. Today's PW is 47 or 48 degrees, a full club stronger or equivilent to a 9 iron from the past. When I play my FG-17's, I have to play one addional club stronger than I do with my current irons in order to get the same distance. Additonally, when I reshafted my irons, I brought them up to today's standard length versus the length that the original shafts were crafted in as they were what we would consider today 1/2 inch short.

Wishon goes more in dpeth in his book if you want to know more, he refers to it as Vanishing Loft Disease.

[ualtim]

Originally Posted by SiberianDVM

My Apex IIs are pinned as well. Really not that difficult, or so I've read: heat, pin punch the pins out, heat again, pull shaft. No need to repin when reshafting.

Intersting note on the pinned shafts in Hogans. Apparently the early epoxies did not hold as well as the modern ones so shafts were pinned as well as tapered tipped to provide a mechanical lock in addition to the expoxy bond to keep the heads from flying off the shafts. As epoxies improved in holding strength, most club manufacturers stopped pinning their clubheads and relied on the taper tip shaft and epoxy strength to keep their club heads on. At that time, Mr. Ben Hogan was still alive and well and was still in charge of the Ben Hogan Golf Co. Hogan, as you may have heard, was a perfectionist as was extremely image concious. Televised golf was becoming more and more popular at the same time golf manufacturers stopped pinning their club heads. As the head of Ben Hogan Golf, Mr. Hogan determined that he never wanted to see one of his clubheads fly off a shaft, especially on television during a nationally televised tournement so the pinning of of clubheads continued at the Ben Hogan Golf Co. for a long time. Eventually, some Hogan models for public consumption were released without the pins, but every set of irons destined for the Tour left the factory with pins installed for many years at the insistance of Mr. Hogan.

Even as recent as 10 years ago, it was common practice to "dimple" a steel shaft tip prior to the epoxy step to provide a mechanical lock in the hosel to assist the expoxy in holding the clubhead to the shaft especially in unitized tips. Today, some OEM's still produce their iron heads to accept tapered tip shafts even though epoxies have progressed to the point that the mechanical lock is no longer required. More OEM clubheads are now produced for unitized shafts which allows a greater shaft selection for the end user. Taper shafts are getting harder to find, especially in the lower demand flexes and are almost non-existant in graphite shaft options.