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At this time, clubs had shafts made of ash or hazel with a head of
blackthorn, beech, apple, or pear. The lie was fatter and the
heads much longer than present day clubs - about 1 inch from front
to back and 4 to 5 inches long in the head.
The majority of clubs were wooden with quaint names such as playclub,
brassie, grassed driver, long spoon, short spoon and bathie,
which implied a personal relationship between club and player.
The irons, on the other hand, were for shots from particularly
difficult places - hence a bunker iron, a rutt iron, track iron and
so on.
Over the years, the irons were used not only for recovery
shots, but also for general approach play. By the end of the
19th century, a new range had been developed for longer shots - the
mid irons, cleek, niblet and mashie, for example.
From 1948, the use of the gutty ball in place of the old-fashioned
feathery ball brought a further change to the game. Players
found a definite advantage when hickory was used for the
shafts. They had more tautness than ash or hazel ones,
allowing players to swing in a more upright stance.
The design was changed in that the shaaft was now bore into a hole
into the head, replacing the original method of splicing the two
together.
The introduction of the rubber ball at the end of the 19th century
had brought about an early change to the game. This ball
required the use of harder wood for durability, and persimmon was
therefore used. Originally, there had been no insert to the
woods, but soon either bone, ivory, or later, plastic was inserted
in order to impact extra strength. A shortage of good
persimmon later led to experiments with laminated wood.
Persimmon still remains the most highly prized woods for the
professional. But for most players, laminates and now metal
woods - with their durability and greater distance striking -
are the order of the day. Hickory had been used for the shaft
for many years. With the shortage of this wood after World War
I, clubmakers turned to steel shafts. Now steel is gradually
being superseded by graphite, boron, titanium, an other
materials. Lighter, stronger shafts assist in producing
greater distance, while shafts with less torque (twist) produce far
greater accuracy. |
