What is the origin of the niblick club?
There were three evolutionary stages of the niblick golf club, going from the oldest form to the last incarnation: The first golf clubs called niblicks had wood shafts and small, spooned, wood clubheads. ("Spooned" means that the face of the club was concave—literally, shaped like a spoon.)
What are Mashie and niblick golf clubs?
These were made of wood and were used until they were replaced by the numbered system used today. "Mashie" is derived from French massue, "club", while "niblick" is diminutive of neb/nib, "little nose." Cleek – A metal-headed golf club having an elongated blade with little loft, equivalent to a one or two iron in a modern set of clubs.
What is a niblick golf auction?
Niblick Golf. Created for golf enthusiasts, by golf enthusiasts, Niblick is a multi-media-based community and online memorabilia auction service. Niblick provides exclusive access to golf memorabilia and the people and places behind our one-of-a-kind items.
What is a rut niblick club?
Niblick or Rut Niblick - a trouble club and pitching iron and generally the most lofted of the 19th century irons, with a very small rounded head and a loft equivalent to a modern nine iron or wedge. The traditional set of irons was invented by Archibald Barrie, and were used from 1903 until about the 1940s.
What golf club is a niblick?
9-ironsPitching Niblick – this is the old way to refer to a golf club which achieved the same function as the modern 8-iron, or short iron. 17. Niblick – the old name for a sort of golf club which corresponds to the 9-irons golfers around the world use nowadays. 18.
What is a niblet golf club?
The wood-headed niblick was, literally, short-nosed: It was a small, snub-nosed, steeply lofted club (with that spooned face) that was designed to let the golfer swing down into ruts or depressions, or other tight lies.
What iron is a niblick?
9 IronMashie niblick: 7 Iron. Pitching niblick: 8 Iron. Niblick: 9 Iron. Jigger: Very low lofted iron, shortened shaft - similar to a modern chipper.
What are the most valuable vintage golf clubs?
What Are The Most Valuable Vintage Golf Clubs?Long Nosed Scraped Golf Club: this vintage club was sold at a Sotheby's auction in 2007 for $91,000.Square Toe Light Iron Golf Club: this club was auctioned at the Sotheby's 2007 auction for $151,000.More items...
What degree is a niblick?
The Cleveland Niblick will be available in a 9 or a 10, the 9 being a 37 Degree and the 10 being a 42 Degree loft. They will have 8 Degrees of bounce, which is 4-6 degree more then the typical short iron. They will be similar in width to a putter and will be available in a 35″ length.
Are old golf clubs worth anything?
According to GolfWeek, the most valuable antique golf clubs can sell for as much as $80,000 at auction. However, it's not at all common to see this type of value. Most individual clubs sell for between $15 and $100 at auction or in resale shops.
When did wooden golf clubs stop being made?
Wooden heads predominated until the late 1980s. They had evolved to include a metal sole and a metal or plastic faceplate. These wooden headed clubs were dense and heavy, and were generally much smaller than today's clubheads.
What is a pitching niblick?
noun Golf. a club with an iron head the face of which has more slope than a pitcher but less slope than a niblick.
What were old golf clubs made of?
These golf clubs were made up of wood with the shafts being made from ash or hazel and the club heads being made from tougher wood like apple, holly, beech or pear. The club head would be connected to the shaft with a splint and then bound with a leather strap.
What is the rarest golf club?
One of the oldest and rarest golf clubs in the world is the Square Toe Lined Iron Golf Club. This treasured and highly desired collectible was sold at a Sotheby's auction for $151,000 in 2007.
What is the rarest golf ball?
The gutta percha balls once belonged to golfing legend Old Tom Morris, who won the Open four times in the 1860s. It is believed the balls have been lying at the bottom of one of the county's deepest lakes for 120 years.
Are used golf balls worth anything?
When recovered and cleaned up, these used balls sell for as little as six cents wholesale and up to $1 or more retail. It's a $200 million industry, and a golf ball diver can make $100,000 per year, according to Golf.com.
How do you use a Cleveland Niblick?
0:281:44Cleveland Niblick Wedge Golf Club Test and Review - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipOn the ball not as much as you'd get from a wedge but therefore it's four players that don't like toMoreOn the ball not as much as you'd get from a wedge but therefore it's four players that don't like to use we're just struggling with their lob wedge is struggling with their gapping.
What is a cleek?
chiefly Scotland. : a large hook (as for a pot over a fire)
What is a golf cleek?
Cleek – A metal-headed golf club having an elongated blade with little loft, equivalent to a one or two iron in a modern set of clubs.
What is golf albatross?
Albatross: This term means three under par, but the "double eagle" synonym is simply a continuation of the aviary theme of good scores. The albatross is rare, as is a three under par.
What is a Niblick wedge?
It was a higher-lofted iron such as a modern 9-iron. Some golf manufacturers still break out the "niblick" name for wedges and chippers, when they want to try to capitalize on club nostalgia. Jigger: You can think of the jigger as an old name for what today we call a chipper.
When did golf clubs become modern?
The transition to such modern sets was completed in the late 1930s, early 1940s. In the earliest days of golf, and up into the mid-1800s, there was very little uniformity from one clubmaker's clubs to another's, and sometimes little conformity even within different sets made by the same clubmaker. Not much was standardized, from set ...
What are some old golf clubs called?
There were clubs called mashies and niblicks (and mashie-niblicks); cleeks and jiggers; baffies and spoons, among others. Today, we call such clubs "antique golf clubs" or "historical golf clubs," or obsolete or archaic clubs. Perhaps the better name, though, would be "pre-modern clubs.". You can think of modern golf club sets as those containing ...
What are the names of golf clubs?
The Old Names of (Old) Golf Clubs 1 Play Club (grass club, long club): The historical equivalent of the driver. Golfers used the "play club" to "play away" from the teeing ground. 2 Brassie: The closest equivalent in use to modern 2- or 3-woods. It had that name because of a brass plate on the sole. 3 Wooden Cleek: Used in the manner of a modern 4-wood. 4 Spoon: Used as one would use a modern 5-wood. When spoons first appeared (going back to the 18th century, perhaps earlier), some had concave faces. Shaped like a spoon, in other words, giving them their name. 5 Baffie (baffing spoon): Equivalent to a higher-lofted wood (such as a 7-wood) or even a hybrid. In fact, some modern golf manufacturers have used the "baffie" name on hybrid clubs. It's sometimes spelled "baffy."
When did clubmakers start making mashie?
One clubmaker's mashie, in other words, was roughly the same as another's (but not necessarily identical in playing characteristics) by the early 1900s, and companies began making sets with the following names and relationships.
Is an antique golf club obsolete?
Some of the Replacements of Antique Clubs are Themselves Now Obsolete. Golf clubs keep developing. Hybrids, for example, are (comparatively) recent developments in the history of golf equipment.
Is the 1-iron used in golf?
The 1-iron is virtually gone from golf, and 2-woods are rare. The 2-iron is sometimes used by the best golfers, but almost never seen in the bags of recreational golfers (nor offered for sale by that many golf manufacturers anymore).
What thread was used in the 1924 golf club?
Pre-1900 clubs (smooth-faced gutty era) used 7-ply thread. Clubs from the era 1900 to 1935 required 4-ply thread. From 1924 golf clubs started to be manufactured with shafts of steel, pyratone, aluminum, and fiberglass or resin; many of them were given a wood-look coating.
What is a brassie club?
Brassie: so called because the base-plate was of brass; equivalent to a 3 Wood.
What is a lofter golf club?
Lofter - A metal-headed golf club with a moderate loft ranging from a modern five iron to an eight iron. Niblick or Rut Niblick - a trouble club and pitching iron and generally the most lofted of the 19th century irons, with a very small rounded head and a loft equivalent to a modern nine iron or wedge.
When were irons invented?
The traditional set of irons was invented by Archibald Barrie, and were used from 1903 until about the 1940s. The introduction of the standardized numbered iron set produced by the Spalding Sporting Goods Company in the early 1930s caused the traditional set of irons to give way gradually to the numbered set.
The Small, Iron-Headed Niblick
- This version of the niblick started becoming more common than the wood-headed version in the latter half of the 1800s. The clubheads were iron, rather than wood, but were still steeply lofted and still had some spooning in the clubface. And the iron heads were also, like the wooden niblic…
The Larger, Iron-Headed Niblick
- Beginning in the later 1800s, niblicks started to more closely resemble - in appearance, not just use - today's 9-irons and wedges. The clubheads became larger and rounder (the snub-nosed look disappeared), the spooning was lessened and eventually, in some niblicks, also disappeared. The blade on these niblicks was deeper (longer from top to bottom), and these niblicks were used m…
Modern Golf Manufacturers Sometimes Still Use The Niblick Name
- While those historical niblicks are long gone from golf, the name "niblick" still occasionally pops up in new golf clubs. Club manufacturers today sometimes bring back the name to use on a new wedge or chipper. Cleveland Golf, for example, has introduced chipper-type clubs and "short-iron hybrids" under the the Niblick name several times in the 2000 and 2010s.
Overview
Early golf clubs were all made of wood. They were hand-crafted, often by the players themselves, and had no standard shape or form. As the sport of golf developed, a standard set of clubs began to take shape, with different clubs being fashioned to perform different tasks and hit various types of shot. Later, as more malleable iron became widely used for shorter-range clubs, an even wider variety of clubs became available.
19th century irons
• Cleek – A metal-headed golf club having an elongated blade with little loft, equivalent to a one or two iron in a modern set of clubs.
• Lofter – A metal-headed golf club with a moderate loft ranging from a modern five iron to an eight iron.
• Niblick or Rut Niblick – a trouble club and pitching iron and generally the most lofted of the 19th century irons, with a very small rounded head and a loft equivalent to a modern nine iro…
• Cleek – A metal-headed golf club having an elongated blade with little loft, equivalent to a one or two iron in a modern set of clubs.
• Lofter – A metal-headed golf club with a moderate loft ranging from a modern five iron to an eight iron.
• Niblick or Rut Niblick – a trouble club and pitching iron and generally the most lofted of the 19th century irons, with a very small rounded head and a loft equivalent to a modern nine iron or wedge.
Woods
Wooden clubs generally had a metal base-plate and were made heavier with a lead insert into the back of the head; often the face of the club had an insert of bone or ivory to reduce the wear from impact on the wood.
They were:
• Play club: Driver
20th century wood-shafted irons
They were:
• Driving iron: 1 Iron
• Mid-iron: 2 Iron
• Mid-mashie: 3 Iron
• Mashie iron: 4 Iron
Sabbath sticks
Sunday sticks or sabbath sticks were the golf enthusiast's answer to the Church of Scotland's discouragement of golfing on Sundays. Clubs were disguised as walking sticks, the club head comfortably fitting into the palm of the golfer's hand, until when the golfer was unobserved, the stick was reversed and a few strokes were played.
See also
• Hickory golf
External links
• Golf.about.com
• Imdb.com: How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 4: 'the Mashie Niblick'
• P4a.com
• Leaderboard.com