“The most famous driver in golf history - Nicklaus won majors with this exact 1953 persimmon into 1986. By modern standards it is a tiny, high-effort head with a pinhole sweet spot and no forgiveness; you buy it for the aura, not the numbers.”

This is the deep-faced mahogany persimmon head that MacGregor built in the mid-1950s under the Tommy Armour Tourney name, evolved from the earlier 693/693T models and given the six-screw red-white-red fiber 'Eye-O-Matic' face insert. It matters for one reason: Jack Nicklaus put a 945W in play around 1976 and never took it out. He won the 1978 Open Championship, the 1980 U.S. Open and PGA, and famously the 1986 Masters — his 18th major and sixth Green Jacket — swinging a driver that had been made roughly three decades earlier, well into the metal-wood era everyone else had switched to. That is why a plain 1950s persimmon head carries the weight it does: it is arguably the most storied driver in the game's history, not because of what it did technologically but because of whose hands kept it in the bag.

Independent golf media (GolfPunkHQ's 'the club that won four majors', GolfWRX classic-clubs forums) document that Nicklaus won four majors with a 945W across 1978-1986, keeping a ~1954-55 persimmon head in play into 1990 while the tour went metal. It is routinely cited as the most famous driver in golf, and its Nicklaus provenance — not its performance — drives a lasting collector following.

Realistically a collector's piece, a display driver, or a range/nostalgia club for a low-single-digit ball-striker with the tempo to find the center of a tiny persimmon face. Anyone seeking distance, forgiveness or consistency off the tee should not game it — a used modern driver will outperform it by a wide margin. Buy it because Nicklaus won the '86 Masters with one, not because it will help your handicap.

• Jack Nicklaus won the 1978 Open Championship, 1980 U.S. Open, 1980 PGA Championship and 1986 Masters using a MacGregor Tommy Armour 945W persimmon driver (GolfPunkHQ, 'the club that won four majors').
• The specific head he used was made around 1954-1955 and he kept it in play from roughly 1976 into 1990 — deep into the metal-wood era.
• Identifying feature: a six-screw red-white-red fiber 'Eye-O-Matic' face insert on a deep-faced dark-mahogany persimmon head; it evolved from MacGregor's earlier 693/693T models.
• MacGregor was the tour-dominant equipment brand of the era and signed Nicklaus in 1962 to one of golf's first six-figure equipment deals (~$100,000 over five years).
• DB loft of 11 degrees is consistent with a period 'driver' spec; sources describe it as deep-faced rather than quoting a precise loft, so 11 should be treated as nominal.

Made when persimmon and steel shafts ruled and MacGregor was the dominant tour brand — the same golden-era catalog as the M85 and later the Nicklaus signature woods. The 945W descended from the 693/693T; MacGregor's Eye-O-Matic fiber-insert faces were the premium tier of the day. By 1997 only about eleven PGA Tour players still used persimmon at all, which frames how anachronistic Nicklaus's loyalty to this head really was.

The clubhouse-museum caveat matters: Nicklaus's ACTUAL driver is priceless and not for sale, but the model itself is a mass-produced 1950s persimmon head and clean 945W examples typically trade privately for roughly $60-150 in 2026. Comparable MacGregor Nicklaus/Eye-O-Matic persimmon drivers have sold on eBay in the $65 range. Condition of the fiber insert, whorl of the persimmon, original whipping and an intact face drive value; refinished or cracked-insert heads are worth less. This is cheap for its fame precisely because millions of persimmon heads survive — you are buying the story, not scarcity.