Antique Golf Equipment

Antique Golf Clubs

Brassie...Cleek...Jigger...Mashie...Niblick...Rake...Spoon...are        such great names for golf clubs.   What the heck are these clubs anyway?  After a bit of research and using numerous sources here is a list of what was found. 

• Brassie:  It gets its name from the brass-plated sole.  The brass sole was to protect the underside for the clubhead from gouges.  It is a wood with the loft and appearance of a modern 2-wood.  Used for long low shots.  

• Cleek:  A driving iron or maybe a 2-iron.  A shepherd's crook in ancient Scotland was called a cleek.  So who cares, right.  Well, the origin of golf may go back to a game shepherds played thousands of years ago. 

• Jigger:  An ancient golf club with the loft and utility of a modern wedge. 

• Mashie:  A wooden shafted pre-20th century club that is close in resemblance to a 5-iron.  It was a middle distance iron. 

• Niblick:  Pre-20th century equivalent to a modern 9-iron.  A wooden shaft club, iron-headed, with a greater face angle than all but a wedge. 

• Rake:  An ancient specialty club, constructed like a wedge but had several parallel slots. It was designed to be used in puddles and wet sand, where the channels would reduce the club's resistance.  

• Spoon:  A wooden-shafted club with clubfaces that were concave, shaped like a spoon.  In appearance, loft and purpose, the spoon is the antique golf club that most resembles a 3-wood. 

None of the old clubs really look like our modern clubs.  To match them to modern golf clubs can only be done by their face angles and the use they were put to.  All the old golf clubs were hand crafted so even a mashie by one blacksmith varied in design from another blacksmith.