A History of the Golf Club

Early Golf Clubs

In the earliest days of golf on the eastern coast of Scotland, players used primitive equipment to play the game in a rather haphazard and casual manner. While players initially carved their own clubs and balls from wood, they soon turned to skilled craftsmen to produce competitive equipment.
The earliest reference to a set of specially made clubs is when King James IV of Scotland commissioned a bow-maker in Perth to make him a set in 1502. Later when he ascended to the English throne, he appointed William Mayne in 1603 as royal club-maker. Mayne held an exclusive licence throughout the Kingdom.

A set of clubs at the time consisted of a set of play clubs (longnoses) for driving, fairway clubs (or grassed drivers) for medium range shots, spoons for short range shots, niblicks (similar to today's wedges) and a putting cleek. After 1618, the Featherie golf ball was introduced which endured for more than 200 years.

Club heads were made from tough wood such as beech, holly, pear and apple. Shafts were made from ash or hazel. The head was connected to the shaft using a splint and then bound tightly using leather straps. The cost, time and effort which went into making golf clubs priced them beyond the reach of the masses. The clubs especially long-noses and niblicks were also prone to breakage and a golfer could expect to break at least one club during a round. These factors meant that golf was typically associated with the upper echelons of society.

There was some experimentation with the club face. Some club-makers used leather and other materials in an attempt to increase compression and therefore distance. Others implanted metal and bone fragments into the club-face in an attempt to prevent shattering. Indeed, as early as 1750 some club-makers used forged metal heads for niblicks.

In 1826, a club-maker, Robert Forgan of Scotland, began to use hickory imported from America to manufacture shafts. This was quickly adopted as the wood of choice although the others continued to be used - perhaps because of cost.

The invention of the Guttie ball in 1848 by Rev. Adam Paterson quickly rendered longnoses obsolete. Instead bulgers were used to cope with increased stresses incurred by using the new ball. Bulgers closely resemble today's woods in that they have a bulbous head.

Interestingly, professionals such as Allan Robertson, Old Tom Morris and Willie Park Snr had workshops making clubs and balls which were exported around the world. Back then golfers associated Scotland with golf equipment in the way that today we associate Switzerland with timepieces and as such it was an extremely lucrative trade.

By 1900, persimmon imported from America had replaced beech and other hard woods as the material of choice for club heads. A popular alternative was aluminium in keeping with the tradition of hand-forging metal club heads. Indeed in 1902, E. Burr introduced groove-faced irons for increased backspin.

Although blacksmiths such as Thomas Horsburgh experimented with steel shafts since the late 1890s, they were only slowly adopted. The R&A only legalised them after the Prince Of Wales used them on the Old Course, St Andrews in 1929. Billy Burke was the first to win a major tournament with steel shafted clubs when he won the US Open in 1931

Modern Golf Clubs
Up to the 1930s there was a rich variety of clubs available using both modern and traditional materials. To prevent golfers using an inordinate numbers of clubs and to promote individual skill, the R&A introduced it's 14 club rule in 1939. The modern convention for numbering woods and irons rather than naming them dates from this period.

Since the end of World War II, golf club development has been influenced by research into synthetic and composite materials. The casting method of manufacturing clubs heads was introduced in 1963. This made clubs more affordable than ever. However, professional golfers continue to use hand forged ones because of the increased 'feel' and therefore control. The now very common putter, the centre shafted putter, was only legalised by the R&A in 1951.

The graphite shaft was introduced in 1973 which offers rigidity, lightness and increased strength over steel shafts. Modern graphite shafts are manufactured with other materials to improve their performance; boran is used to reduce twisting. Most amateur golfers still use steel shafted clubs because of their affordability.

Taylor-Made was the first company to manufacture metal woods. Only recently have they become more popular than persimmon woods. The most successful club in history is Callaway's over sized wood, the Big Bertha which was introduced in 1991. Today there is an enormous variety of woods to choose from. The latest trend is woods with titanium heads and graphite shafts which are very expensive.

Antique golf clubs are avidly collected and are becoming increasingly valuable. An Allan Robertson hickory longnose would easily fetch a four figure sum at auction.