Hickory Golf – Playing Golf With The Clubs Of Days Gone Bye
Those of us who are interested in collecting antique golf clubs have seen, heard, or read about the term hickory golf clubs more frequently than perhaps any other collectible golf term. For many of us, our exposure is constrained to exactly that, a club in our collection, a reference in an article, perhaps a dialogue with a co-worker.
For others, it's become a hunger to go past talk and books, and display cases, and actually experience golf as it used to be, maybe as long as 1 or 2 centuries back. Hickory Golf has turned into a passionate hobby where aficionados of this vintage golf club really take to the course fitted out with these important masterpieces in pursuit of that feeling enjoyed by golfers of yesteryear.
So what does it feel like and in this day of outsized titanium drivers, what does it feel a bit like to play the game at its most simple level, with the most basic of equipment. We believed we would check around and find out , perhaps getting our hands on a genuine hickory shafted club, and here is what we found, and what you can expect.
Right away, anyone will see a serious weight difference, with todays designs seriously lighter. Hickory Clubs had shafts which were surprisingly heavy by today’s standards.
Over the passage of time I'd imagine that you would gain your “feel” and that your swing would alter itself to conform to the heavier club, but initially, the difference is quite an eye-opener.
The second difference, which is just as obvious, and maybe more heavy, is the dimensions of the club-head. A result of both the big club-head sizes available today, and the traditionally undersized wooden club head of a hickory golf club. One or the other on its own represents a meaningful difference; combine the effect and its like playing tennis with a ping pong paddle.
Overall, as it is related to the woods, it is well-liked consensus that the trajectory of flight is lower than a modern Driver, more looking a little like the ball flight of a green wood. Hickory Golfers, by design, tee the ball lower as a consequence of this. Hitting the irons, whether it be the Mashie or the Niblick, offers a terribly trustworthy result for the accomplished player. In other words, though distance may sometimes be compromised, these clubs provide true outcomes with regard to ball flight and direction.
Finally, the traditional hickory putter, which as you would expect, was a steel forged, blade style putter. In the old days, hickory putters had some loft built in to account for greens conditions which often seemed trivial in comparison to today’s scrupulously engineered and maintained greens.
Its straightforward to comprehend why Hickory Golf has become as well liked as it has , and why it is predicted to grow in popularity. For the true golfing lover, it allows one to experience the game in a way that raw skill matters exponentially more than it does today, as more and more apparatus enhancements make it harder to make a boo boo. There will still be bad shots and the associated frustration, and there'll be glimmers of excellence with fist pumps of joy, but at its core, hickory golf is a great experience that should be experienced at least one time by every serious golfer, weekend or otherwise.
Andrew Shea has been involved with Antique Golf Clubs, both on a personal level, and in a professional capacity for many years. If you have a question or are interested in vintage golf clubs generally, you are always welcome at his site.
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