God couldn't hit this club

[13wes13]

Almost want to buy it just to try lol. Anyone play with anything similar?

Does a smaller blade exist? 

[ac6]

If there is a smaller one, it's not gonna be by much. Buy that one and stick a hard-stepped X7 in it. 

[RogerinNewZealand]

I'm just waiting for Someone to say

I'm Here,no problem.

[AdamMH]

I owned one of those, sold it. The older iteration of this club is smaller - still own it.

 

The newer one actually struck me as being big compared to the older one. I'll grab a picture later...

[IcemanYVR]

I have one just like that, a Wilson Staff Dynapower from the late 70s. I have hit a couple of good shots with it in the past, but I haven't touched those clubs in maybe 25 years.

[PEI_Golfer]

2 hours ago, RogerinNewZealand said:

I'm just waiting for Someone to say

I'm Here,no problem.

I was more thinking alone the lines of believe in yourself and not sky fairies.  You can hit it, maybe not well, but you didn't say it had to be good...

[bcstones]

seems to me the hickory shafted driving iron & the cleek might have been as thin but longer....wish I had pics 

[Red4282]

Easy peasy

[OnTheBag]

4 hours ago, RogerinNewZealand said:

I'm just waiting for Someone to say

I'm Here,no problem.

We used to hit clubs like that, but very few hit them well.  The only 1 iron I was ever able to hit decent was the Eye 2.  

 

The sweet spot on those was microscopic and a miss resulted in a sharp, memorable pain shooting up the forearms and into your soul.  Glad technology has saved us from that misery.

[AdamMH]

5 hours ago, AdamMH said:

I owned one of those, sold it. The older iteration of this club is smaller - still own it.

 

The newer one actually struck me as being big compared to the older one. I'll grab a picture later...

 

As promised. Shorter heel-to-toe than the 1975 Ram irons in the background!

Edited June 18, 2022 by AdamMH

[Anser3]

I have a vintage Hogan Apex 1 iron in great, great shape.  Not sure if it is smaller than that Northwestern, though.

[bobfoster]

2 minutes ago, AdamMH said:

 

As promised. Shorter heel-to-toe than the 1975 Ram irons in the background!

Hilarious that it was called "Shot Saver". 

[hurley999s]

That offset is offensive!

[Cwebb]

35 minutes ago, AdamMH said:

 

As promised. Shorter heel-to-toe than the 1975 Ram irons in the background!

 

 This was the type of head design where you literally had to flirt with a shank, in order to hit it solid.   The difference between a pure strike and a shank is less than 1/4"

[creerski]

44 minutes ago, hurley999s said:

That offset is offensive!

There might actually be some sort of offset with the blade being slimmer than the hosel!

RIP fingers from playing in the cold with one of these.

[Swingingk]

8 hours ago, AdamMH said:

I owned one of those, sold it. The older iteration of this club is smaller - still own it.

 

The newer one actually struck me as being big compared to the older one. I'll grab a picture later...

I've seen a few of these in thrift store bins and you're right, they are surprisingly large for a 1-iron.  Way bigger than a Staff or Hogan from a regular set.  You can't really see it unless it's shown with a "real" 1-iron.  I believe these were sold singularly. 

[skraly]

The MacGregor 1 iron Nicklaus used in his youth was barely larger heel to toe than the golf ball.

[straightshot7]

too much offset 

[AdamMH]

3 hours ago, bobfoster said:

Hilarious that it was called "Shot Saver". 

 

It's even more hilarious that it might be fitting, based on how many balls I lost off the driver last round 😳

[rebby]

I have a baby blade 1-iron. Couldn't say for sure if it's smaller that that though.

 

[bobfoster]

3 minutes ago, rebby said:

I have a baby blade 1-iron. Couldn't say for sure if it's smaller that that though.

 

OMG! Playing my first Miura wedges this year (which are blowing me away they are so sweet and wonderful and good), but a 1i? I mean I'm pretty good, but I'd be literally frightened to put that in my bag. That thing looks like it has a loft barely above my freaking putter. 

[rebby]

19 minutes ago, bobfoster said:

OMG! Playing my first Miura wedges this year (which are blowing me away they are so sweet and wonderful and good), but a 1i? I mean I'm pretty good, but I'd be literally frightened to put that in my bag. That thing looks like it has a loft barely above my freaking putter. 

16’ is the stock loft. It’s not that difficult to hit. I’ve always done well with long irons though. I love hitting this off the first tee when there’s a crowd. Gives me more credit as a golfer than I deserve. LOL

[Swingingk]

26 minutes ago, rebby said:

16’ is the stock loft. It’s not that difficult to hit. I’ve always done well with long irons though. I love hitting this off the first tee when there’s a crowd. Gives me more credit as a golfer than I deserve. LOL

If you're successfully hitting a BB uno off the tee in front of a crowd then you are definitely getting the credit you deserve.  Good form old chap!  🙂

[rebby]

5 minutes ago, Swingingk said:

If you're successfully hitting a BB uno off the tee in front of a crowd then you are definitely getting the credit you deserve.  Good form old chap!  🙂

The thing with the baby blade, or any small club head really, is that there isn’t that much room to mess things up. Sure, you can hit some really bad shots with them but I think what helps me in the confidence department with a club this small is that if you can put the blade on the ball, that’s really all you have to do. There isn’t a lot of club there so any reasonable strike will actually end up pretty good. It’s a form of reverse psychology I guess.

 

Especially in a first tee situation. You have a perfect lie so all you really need to do is make a smooth swing. If you catch it a little thin (my typical miss), you hit a low bullet that flys about 225 and takes a nice kick forward. Everybody watching thinks that you’re hitting the TW stinger. Catch it flush and you have a high soft draw that carries about 240 and sits pretty still. Spectators think that you’re going to take the course apart with some level of surgical precision and are in awe that you’re hitting an iron as far (or further) than they can hit driver. It’s kind-of a win-win. I actually get more nervous over the wedge that I have left into the green. The tee shot has created a heightened level of expectations and it’s debilitating to crush that with a wedge in your hands! LOL

[Swingingk]

29 minutes ago, rebby said:

The thing with the baby blade, or any small club head really, is that there isn’t that much room to mess things up. Sure, you can hit some really bad shots with them but I think what helps me in the confidence department with a club this small is that if you can put the blade on the ball, that’s really all you have to do. There isn’t a lot of club there so any reasonable strike will actually end up pretty good. It’s a form of reverse psychology I guess.

 

Especially in a first tee situation. You have a perfect lie so all you really need to do is make a smooth swing. If you catch it a little thin (my typical miss), you hit a low bullet that flys about 225 and takes a nice kick forward. Everybody watching thinks that you’re hitting the TW stinger. Catch it flush and you have a high soft draw that carries about 240 and sits pretty still. Spectators think that you’re going to take the course apart with some level of surgical precision and are in awe that you’re hitting an iron as far (or further) than they can hit driver. It’s kind-of a win-win. I actually get more nervous over the wedge that I have left into the green. The tee shot has created a heightened level of expectations and it’s debilitating to crush that with a wedge in your hands! LOL

Haha!  That's so true.  If you can make a 1-iron work off the tee then you'd damn well better bird the thing or you're nothing.  You're either God or hack. Haha!  Really, I can't think of anything more intimidating than the second shot after a flushed 1-iron.

 

Ps:  Love your "glass half full" positive attitude towards the game.  It's not that half your 1-iron shots are bad - it's that half are good!  That's 90% of the game right there.  That really is the secret.

[Qegurezi]

Half of WRX would thrive with that club. Imagine the workability. They'd be able to hit it up, hit it down or bend it either way. The super thin sole would make hardpan a breeze. 

[phizzy30]

14 hours ago, ac6 said:

If there is a smaller one, it's not gonna be by much. Buy that one and stick a hard-stepped X7 in it. 

Or C-taper 130X/PX 7.0/Modus 130 TX and we're in business.  😬

Edited June 18, 2022 by phizzy30

[bcstones]

1 irons were special orders, almost custom made, cuz they were not part of "normal" sets...to an extent, so are 2 irons. These 6 pics are some 1 irons I had at hand, in order right to left:

 

Affluent (invented by Ray Cook), H&B Grand Slam Fairway Iron (hickory shaft), Browning 440, Cleek (made in Scotland, hickory shaft), Ping Eye2, Arnold Palmer Tru-Matic (1970ish, I think). 

a range of shapes, some long & some wider....I found it easier to hit the 440 & the Eye2 (also the Hogan Magnum Plus, not pictured), tho I've not tried the hickory shafts (a future plan)...
I have a barrell of 1 irons, some 2's, in storage I need to go thru....

[EmperorPenguin]

The offset on that Northwestern 1 iron is horrid.  To answer your question, the smallest 1-iron blade I've ever come across is the MacGregor Muirfield.  The face barely covers the ball.

 

Here is a much better 1 iron than the one in the opening post.  It was in my bag for the first seventeen years of my golfing life.  It required much practice, but I did that and in my prime I could hit the ball about 210-215 average, dead straight.  Today, when I catch it, I can go about 200 with it.  Much easier to hit off a peg then from the deck, the latter of which I use the 2 iron with much more consistency.

 

For you equipment junkies, here are the specs: 39.5", 18 degrees loft, FM 6.5 steel shaft.

[rebby]

I love all these 1-irons coming out of the woodwork. Does anyone other than me bag one regularly? Mine isn’t a constant in the bag but, especially lately, I’ve carried it more often than not.