Equipment

Golf irons through the years


Ian Orrell

06 November 2023

the-silhouette-of-a-golf-club-with-a-question-mark-on-it-next-to-an-hourglass

Golf is a very old game, and over the years, the technology found in golf clubs has changed dramatically.

Centuries ago, golf clubs were carved out of wood, and by the mid-18th century, golfers of the time had access to the first iron clubs. Wooden hickory clubs became the norm for the sport right up until the early 20th century, when steel shafts revolutionized the game.

Can you imagine how difficult it must have been to play with crudely carved hickory clubs? How thrilling it must have felt to pull off just the right shot with one?

What about the world’s best golfers of the time? Do you think playing golf to such a level with comparably worse equipment than we have today would make them more talented than our modern players?

The game of golf has had a lot of fascinating technological advances in the past 100 years. So please join us as we consider the transition from wooden to steel golf irons.

 

Hickory clubs

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As we’ve mentioned, the first golf clubs from centuries ago were made of wood. The most common wood used in the crafting of these early golf clubs came from trees belonging to the hickory genus, hence them being referred to as hickory clubs.

Dense, stiff, and shock-resistant, this wood is ideal for being hammered into shape for use on the golf course. While you can get multiple clubs in a modern set of irons, a full set of hickory clubs tended to be fewer than the number we carry today, with each club covering a broader range of use.

A typical 1920s period set of hickory clubs would include a driver, a brassie wood (3 or 5 wood), a mid-iron (5 iron), a mashie (7 iron), a mashie-niblick (9 iron), a niblick (gap wedge), and a putter.

Hickory club competitions are still enjoyed today to pay homage to how the game was traditionally played. Players must use club heads dated from 1935 or earlier, and golf is played on regulation courses with holes that are an appropriate distance for hickory clubs.

 

Steel clubs

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By the early 20th century the game of golf was starting to shift away from hickory clubs in favour of new and exciting metal counterparts.

The R&A officialy legalised the use of steel shafted clubs after the Prince of Wales used them on the Old Course at St Andrews in 1929. Steel shafts made golf clubs more accurate, simplified the game, and were quickly adpoted by golfers of the period. Billy Burke won the US Open in 1931 using steel shaft clubs.

By the 1940s steel was the go-to material used in golf clubs. In 1939 the R&A introduced the 14 club rule that limited how many clubs a golfer could take out on the course with them. Golf club manufacturing was by now sophisticated enough to also introduce the numbering system for clubs of a specific length and loft angle. The 'niblick' was now referred to as the pitching wedge and so on.

Steel largley reigned supreme as the dominant club material throughout the rest of the 20th century and is typically the substance that your standard golf iron is made of today.

Graphite clubs are perhaps the secondmost sought after club type as it's a more flexible material, and is a great alternative for players that have a slower swing speed.

In the pro shop, we’ll be able to tell you all the ins-and-outs of modern golf clubs in detail so you’ll know exactly how your clubs work. If your current set is looking a little weathered, why not consider getting yourself an upgrade? When you come in for a club fitting we’ll take a look at how you play and give you a recommendation of what kind of golf iron would be most appropriate for you.

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