The Best Antique Golf Club
If you can read the history of a great old tree thru the rings on its trunk ; then you can learn the history of golfing thru the development phases of the antique golfing club. In the start Not surprisingly, the earliest golf clubs were made by golfers themselves and both clubs and balls were carved from wood.
The competitive nature of golf soon stretched into the area of equipment creation and the carver/players strove to improve the quality of their play by improving the quality of their equipment. The first mention of a craftsman-made set of clubs was that commissioned by King James IV of Scotland. It is good to be the king, because when he became the king of England, a royal maker of clubs was appointed. William Mayne became the 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, commenced 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 real 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 Longnoses became out of date and clubs commenced to resemble modern woods.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 till 1929 after the Prince of Wales used them on the Old Course, St. Andrews. The very first major tournament won with steel shafted clubs was the 1931 U.S. Open by Billy Burke. An antique golfing club of this time reflects a genuine step forward in golfing history.
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