Early Golf Clubs
At the time of the advent of the sport, the equipments used by the Scottish people were crude in nature. The players themselves used to make the clubs and balls from wood. However, in short time, there were skilled professionals for producing the clubs and balls as per the players’ requirements. King James IV of Scotland was the first person, who hired a bow-maker in Perth and ordered him to make a set of clubs in 1502. in 1603, when he ascended the English throne, he allotted William Mayne as the royal club-maker.
In those early days, the golf club set included different types of clubs used for various shots. The clubs used for driving were known as long noses. The medium length shots were taken using the fairway clubs or the grassed drivers. Spoons were used for making the short shots. In the club set, there were also nib licks, which were the precursor of wedges, and a putting cleek.
Rough woods like beech, holly, pear and apple were used as material of club head in the early days. Ash wood or hazel wood were used for making the shafts of the clubs. The head was bound with the shaft with leather straps. The cost of production was so high that the common people could not afford these clubs. And also the clubs were very fragile. For all these reasons, golf was popular only among the elite class of the society.
The club makers also experimented with the club face. Some tried their hands in making leather club faces, in order to drive the balls further. They also used other materials for making club faces. To make the club faces more durable and to prevent damage, some club makers even started using metal and bone. In 1750, there was use of forged metal heads for nib licks, as a mark of the continuous development of the equipments.
