I bet you are wondering what the heck is going on in the world of golf! I find it interesting to look back our roots to understand how or at least how our modern clubs were developed. My friend Lorne, President of the Golf Historical Society of Canada, is a true historian of golf. He imparts his knowledge about this great sport to anyone who is willing to listen and of course, I am a willing listener. After several discussions with Lorne, I realize that innovation in golf back in the early 1900’s was driven by several factors, but one stands out in my mind: supply and demand!
Before I delve in to the main topic of my article, I thought it would be fun to compare the original names for golf clubs with the modern monikers.
| CLUB MONIKERS: THEN AND NOW | |
| Modern | Old |
| 1 Wood | Driver |
| 2 Wood | Brassie |
| 3 Wood | Spoon |
| 4 Wood | Wooden Cleek |
| 1 Iron | Driving Iron |
| 2 Iron | Mid Iron |
| 3 Iron | Mid Mashie |
| 4 Iron | Mashie Iron |
| 5 Iron | Mashie |
| 6 Iron | Spade Mashie |
| 7 Iron | Mashie Niblick |
| 8 Iron | Lofting Iron |
| 9 Iron | Niblick |
| Putter | Putting Cleek |
As many of you know, golf clubs were made of wood for the longest time. Wooden shafts were common place because the ability of manufactures to use metal was not up to the exacting standards required by golfers. Hence, it was a real honour to be considered an elite golf club maker. I am not surprised because I have a 100 year old set and they are still as functional as the day they were manufactured.
Why did the golf industry transition to steel shafted clubs if these amazing clubs were so popular? Great question!
“The first few decades of the 1900’s saw a lot of experimentation and innovation in the club design. Around 1925 the steel shaft was introduced in the United States, although blacksmiths had experimented with them since the late 1890’s. The R&A, named from The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, is the governing body of the game of golf. The R&A finally legalized the use of steel shafted clubs after the Prince of Wales used them on the Old Course at St Andrews in 1929. The steel shaft provided for greater accuracy and durability. In 1931, after the R&A banned concave-faced wedges, Gene Sarazen invented the modern sand wedge which had a straight face and added bounce.” (Source: https://golfcollege.edu/evolution-golf-club/)
Many articles talk about the advancement in technology in order to make steel shafted clubs and of course this is true. However, my friend Lorne also leans towards the demand for quality hickory to make golf clubs in the early 1900s. Golf exploded in popularity around that time and it was difficult to keep up with the demand because of the cost and time to manufacture hickory shafted clubs. So, the transition to steel due seemed logical.
Of course there was no single reason for the innovation of the golf clubs. However, I do lean towards the supply and demand challenges of obtaining quality hickory as an prime contributing factor. Regardless, I enjoy playing with hickory golf clubs. It is fun to feel how players like Harry Vardon and Old Tom Morris felt when playing. I am grateful to the GHSC of introducing my to playing hickory golf clubs and look forward to many more years of great times.
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 
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Lorne
I have always been curious about how the game of golf (and its equipment) evolved and it is so much fun to read. In my opinion, the only truly revolutionarily changes to the game were driven by changes to the golf ball. The changes to the clubs, again in my opinion, tended to be evolutionary. I of course agree with you that supply and demand had a huge influence, notably as you mentioned the transition from hickory to steel shafts. The same thing occurred several decades later with the depletion of suitable persimmon for use in woods.
Prior to 1850, the feathery ball was expensive and the clubs were all woods with the odd exception. A few of us recently acquired replica featheries and played one hole with them using our pre 1900 clubs. Let us say, the experience was quite different, sort of like hitting a hardened marshmallow. Putting with one was also quite different.
The gutta percha ball was very hard and enterprising club makers tried new ideas and irons became more common. Club makers had a field day innovating clubs as the more durable ball offered them more alternatives. It was not long when iron headed clubs dominated the golfers bag.
The wound ball introduced around 1900 spawned big changes which again. There were always enterprising club makers introducing new “innovations”, some worked some did not. The exponential growth of the game and radical club designs finally attracted the attention of the newly formed ruling bodies and resulted in several club designs being banned. Prior to that period, you could probably play with just about anything.
The growth of the game made an alternative to the hickory shaft inevitable due to supply issues and steel was durable and not going to warp. Mass production was replacing the old hand made models which is why my favourite hickory era clubs are from the early 1920’s and before.
I also love looking at the old ads, marketing hype is not new. The offering of matched sets in the mid 1920’s were the roots of today’s modern clubs. Numbered irons replaced the old named clubs and for a while, there seemed to be some standardization. The introduction of perimeter weighting and casting were other evolutionary changes that we see in clubs today.
The more that I explored the history, the more I wanted to try the old clubs. I was also getting more sceptical of the modern marketing hype. These factors have resulted in me preferring vintage clubs over modern offerings and I have saved a lot of money in the process.
Modern ads would lead you to believe that today’s clubs are vastly superior to those of the past. Several of us have separate hickory handicaps that suggest that the gap is not as wide as you would think. My hickory handicap is only 3 points higher than my modern, largely driven by the rating of the tee blocks played. Playing an appropriate yardage with my hickory clubs yields roughly the same score.
Call it nostalgia or as some of my associates call it craziness, I love playing the old stuff. The old clubs have so much character when compared to the new ones. It gives me great pleasure to say that I hit a Mashie into that green or I got a hole in one with a Mashie Niblick.
Thanks for indulging my rant. I too am a grateful golfer.
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