16 December 2009
The Antique Golf Club
Posted by Joe M. Randolph under: Golf .
If you can read the history of a great old tree through the rings on its trunk; then you can learn the history of golf through the development phases of the antique golf club.
In the start
Not incredibly, the earliest golfing clubs were manufactured by golfers themselves and both clubs and balls were carved from wood. The competitive nature of golfing shortly stretched into the area of equipment creation and the carver / players strove to enhance the quality of their play by improving the standard of their appliances.
The first mention of a craftsman-made set of clubs was that commissioned by King James IV of Scotland. It is great to be the king, because when he became the king of Britain , a royal maker of clubs was appointed. William Mayne became first to hold that position in 1603.
Since clubs were made entirely of wood, it is very unlikely that you might find an antique golf club from that period in time. If you were to find such a valuable club on display in a collection or museum, you might find a "longnose" used for driving. Medium range shots were made by fairway clubs, short range shots by spoons, niblicks were the forerunners to the modern wedge, and putts were attempted with putting cleeks. A step away from the wooden ball and toward the modern sphere was taken in 1618 when the Featherie golf ball was introduced. It remained the standard for 200 years.
Chapter 2
Robert Forgan, a club-maker in Scotland, began using American hickory for shafts instead of ash or hazel. Hickory became the standard for top-of-the-line clubs. An antique golf club of this period would be a real treasure.
The Featherie golfing ball got replaced in 1848 when the Reverend Adam Peterson introduced the Guttie ball. This ball increased the strain on the club leading to the requirement for a club with a more bulbous head. Longnoses became outdated and clubs started to resemble modern woods. Lines of clubs and balls related to pro players were established in Scotland and the apparatus was exported world-wide.
An antique golfing club made after 1900 would likely have a head of persimmon wood which replaced the hard woods of earlier club heads. Hand-forged club heads of aluminium was also found at that point and in 1902, E. Burr started selling groove-faced irons.
Although the late 1890's brought experimentation with steel shafts, their use was not legalized until 1929 after the Prince of Wales used them on the Old Course, St. Andrews. The first major tournament won with steel shafted clubs was the 1931 U.S. Open by Billy Burke. An antique golf club of this time reflects a real step forward in golf history.
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