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 terribly doubtful that you may find an antique golfing club from that period in time. If you were to find such a valuable club on view in a collection or museum, you could find a longnose used for driving. Medium range shots were manufactured by golfing green clubs, short range shots by spoons, niblicks were the forerunners to the modern wedge, and putts were tried with putting cleeks. A step away from the wooden ball and toward the modern sphere was taken in 1618 when the Featherie golfball was introduced. It stayed the standard for two hundred years.
Chapter Two
Robert Forgan, a club-maker in Scotland, started using Yankee hickory for shafts rather than ash or hazel. Hickory became the standard for top-ofthe-line clubs. An antique golfing club of this period would be a genuine treasure.
The Featherie 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 necessity for a club with a more bulbous head. Longnoses became out of date and clubs commenced to resemble modern woods. Lines of clubs and balls related to pro players were established in Scotland and the appliances was exported world-wide.
An antique golf 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 aluminum was also found at that time and in 1902, E. Burr began 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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Joe M. Randolph
