How to Make a Medieval Golf Equipment
Clubs:
A golfer’s wooden clubs, used to play off the grassy “fair going” (or fairway), usually
included a play club, or driver, for teeing off; various so-called spoons, which were
shaped to give different lofts to the ball; and a putter, used on smooth turf near the hole.
Wooden clubs required two properties: a head sufficiently hard to withstand successive
hits on the ball and a springy or whippy, shaft. These two properties do not coexist in any
native British timber, so it was customary to splice a hard head onto a whippy shaft.
Irons were regarded as “trouble” clubs, to be used when playing out of the rough or off
sand or shingle, where the graceful long-necked woods would simply have broken if
used. They cost several times more than woods, but of course lasted longer; for every
surviving early wood, there are perhaps five irons of the same vintage. Irons could have
been made by blacksmiths or armorers, but are more likely the work of toolmakers.
A set of clubs at the time consisted of a set of play
clubs (longnoses) for driving, fairway clubs (or grassed
drivers) for medium-range shots, spoons for short-range
shots, niblicks (similar to today’s wedges) and a putting
cleek. After 1618, the Featherie golf ball was
introduced which endured for more than 200 years.
Shafts:
Make shafts from European hazel (Corylus avellana), for up to late seventeenth century
pieces. For early eighteenth century pieces, use ash (Fraxinus excelsior). For mideighteenth century and beyond, use hickory (Carya).
Shafts were ripped by handsaw from one-inch planks, cut with a pit saw, or sometimes
split from a billet with a froe or wedge. The four corners of square-section shafts were
planed to produce eight corners, which in turn were planed to sixteen, thirty-two, or even
sixty-four. Final smoothing was sometimes done with a file, judging by file marks on
some surviving shafts, although smoothing was also done with broken bottle glass or
dried fish skin (such as that of dogfish or small rays), followed by rubbing with Dutch
rush (Equisitum hyemale), a low-growing plant with stems that contain significant
amounts of silica.
Because iron heads were so heavy and ungainly they required shafts that were thicker and
stiffer than those on woods. Also, it is probably wise to make the shaft with some extra
length to allow it to be cut down as needed.
Note: Lathing will not work as the wood will whip, especially with the type of wood used
in golf clubs. That is, it should be a fairly flexible wood.
Wood Heads:
The head should be made of a tough wood such as beech, holly, pear and apple.
The heads were generally made from hawthorn (Crataegus), a common hedgerow plant
that grows to a maximum trunk diameter of five or six inches if allowed to mature. An
approximately six-inch length of trunk with an oblique branch at one end could be split in
half to produce a head requiring only final shaping. The split side branch formed the neck
of the club, which was spliced
and glued to the shaft and then
bound with pitched thread to
waterproof the joint. The head
was shaped with a bow saw,
then rasped, filed, and
smoothed like the shaft. Lead
was poured into a V-shaped
notch cut into the heel to
weight the head so that it
would give greater momentum
to the struck ball. A quarterinch-deep strip of ram’s horn
was pegged to a recess in the
front of the sole to protect the
head from striking the turf.
A golfer’s wooden clubs, used
to play off the grassy “fair
going” (or fairway), usually
included a play club, or driver,
for teeing off; various so-called
spoons, which were shaped to
give different lofts to the ball;
and a putter, used on smooth
turf near the hole.
Club heads were made from tough wood such as beech, holly, pear and apple. Shafts
were made from ash or hazel. The head was connected to the shaft using a splint and then
bound tightly using leather straps. The cost, time and effort
which went into making golf clubs priced them beyond the
reach of the masses. The clubs especially long-noses and
niblicks were also prone to breakage and a golfer could expect
to break at least one club during a round.
An 1800s-era wood: Note the differences between this and earlier clubs. It does show the
different types of wood between the shaft and the head, how the bottom plate should be,
and where the lead weight should be inserted.
Spliced joint
This type of joint is used when appearance is of prime importance, particularly in
furniture repairs. Use a fine tooth saw to cut a ‘V’ shape in one section of wood. The
joining section must be cut and planed to make a perfect fit if the repair is to be
successful. It is worth spending time getting the exact fit before fixing the two pieces
together. When ready glue and clamp the pieces together until the glue sets. If the join is
in a vulnerable location, screws can be used to add extra strength.
- This is a modern reference. The joint is simple, though, and makes sense for golf
clubs. I do not know that the term is used in period. It is probably a modern term
for something that has been done for a very long time. Also, see below for a
possible guide to proportions.
Scarf joint
This type of joint is only suitable for lengthening lighter structures such as in cabinet
making. For the greatest strength, make the scarf length 8 times longer than the width of
the timber. Measure the timbers and mark the scarf positions on each. The splayed faces
must be measured, cut and planed accurately to perfect the bond. The faces must butt
exactly together. Glue all the surfaces together and screw the sections together for added
strength.
Iron Heads:
The considerable skills required to produce a socket and forged head are almost identical
to those required to make a socket chisel, virtually the only difference being that the
blade of the chisel was hammered out to form the head of an iron club. Early on, the toe
was squared, but rounded toes appeared in the last quarter of the eighteenth century.
During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries it was customary for iron clubs to
have a curved or dished face, which promoted easy lofting of the ball. Because iron heads
were so heavy and ungainly
they required shafts that
were thicker and stiffer than
those on woods
Before 1890, irons were
hand-forged by cleekmakers, men with
blacksmithing experience.
Iron club-heads were made
by hammering bars of heated
iron into the required shape
around a cylindrical rod,
which formed the large
socket into which a wooden shaft was fitted.
Indeed, as early as 1750 some club-makers used forged metal heads for niblicks.
1800 iron - one of the oldest known irons
Spur Toe Iron c1750
Boy or girl golfer 1595
Note the seam on the ball – it is a “featherie”
Grips:
The club was finished with a grip made by winding cloth selvage (in Scotland called
listing) over a layer of pitch around the top of the start, with the ends of the cloth held in
place by nails. Later, listing was replaced with thin leather. The bottoms and the tops
were wrapped with the same pitched linen thread that protected the joint with the head.
Decorative caps were probably used, but I have found no sources for this for Scottish
clubs. The Dutch child golfer picture shows a very fancy grip with a cap and decorative
fringes at the top and bottom of the grip.
Balls:
Up until the late 16th century, golf balls were usually made of solid boxwood (Buxus
semperviens) or European beech wood (Fagaceae sylvatica), rounded with hand tools or
lathed. They were probably painted white (see below for recipe), but there are no
surviving examples to work from.
As early as the 14th century, it is possible that balls were made – as were balls for other
sports – out of a pouch stuffed with horse or cow hair or wool, but it was the “featherie”
which replaced the wooden ball as the ball of choice for play by the early 17th century.
The Dutch colf players originally played with wooden balls made out of elm or beech.
These balls had negligible aerodynamic properties. Gradually, they adopted a ball made
of white leather and filled with cow’s hair used in the local game of kaatsen (hand
tennis).
Featherie Balls:
The ball was constructed from rawhide, often bull’s hide, a quarter-inch thick. Two hide
disks were sewn to a central strip of hide, with a gap left in one of the seams, through
which the little pouch was turned inside out. A top hat full of
boiled feathers – usually chicken or goose but sometimes duck
or pheasant feathers – was then crammed inside; the gap was
stitched; the ball was hammered to make it as spherical as
possible; and then it was allowed to dry slowly. The hide shrank, becoming very hard,
while the feathers expanded trying to resume their natural fluffy form, resulting in a ball
nearly as hard as wood but with a little more give to it. Feather balls remained the norm
until about 1850, when gutta percha was introduced, making balls somewhat cheaper.
Golf balls should be about 1.62 inches in diameter and weigh about 1.62 ounces. This is
the standard size adopted in 1921, but it was based on average ball size and weight.
Featherie balls were close to this and it seems reasonable that wooden balls would be too.
The “feathery” consisted of a leather casing, usually bull’s hide, soaked in alum and
crammed with goose feather which have been softened by boiling. The ball was then
knocked into shape and painted white so as to make it more visible. On drying, the ball
became tighter and firmer.
The following abstract was taken from Reminiscences of Golf and Golfers, published in
1890, and was written by a H.Thomas Peters and was an accurate description of how
feather balls were made.
“The leather was of untanned bull’s hide, two round pieces for the ends and a piece for
the middle, being cut to suit the weight wanted. These were properly shaped, after being
sufficiently softened, and then were firmly sewn together. A small hole was left through
which the feathers would be afterwards inserted. But before stuffing, it was through this
little hole that the leather itself had to be turned outside in. This was a very difficult
operation that resulted in only smooth seams showing on the exterior of the ball.
The skin was then placed in a cup shaped stand and the worker placed the appropriate
amount of feathers in the pocket of his apron. The actual stuffing was done with a crutchhandled steel rod, which the maker placed under his arm. And very hard work, I may add,
it was. After the ball was tightly packed, the aperture was closed and firmly sewed up.
The resultant ball was smooth and only the outside seam was visible. When I say this, I
of course refer only to the new balls.”
Paint:
Three layers of paint were applied. One contemporary recipe for white paint, in this case
gesso, was to use equal amounts of hide glue (see below) and powdered gypsum. The
coats are applied, let dry and then smoothed.
Glue:
Glue of the kind that would have been appropriate for both golf club and ball
construction could have come from fish or animal parts, boiled in water. Both would have
been easily available in either Scotland or the Netherlands. However, as the makers of
both of these implements would be likely to have hide on hand as the raw material for
their respective trades, it is reasonable to assume that hide glue would have been used in
at least cases.
Method 1: Break down bones, hide, hooves and horns into the smallest pieces possible
and boil down to desired consistency. Powder raw materials if possible. It will take a very
long time to do this and will stink. Stir and add water as necessary.
Method 2: Boil scraps of vellum until, as above, you get the desired consistency. Vellum
is hade that has been scraped and stretched very thin.
Method 3: Knox Gelatin. It is made of, in part, hides and bones.
Hide glue is applied hot, but may be dried out and reconstituted later. Hide glue is
reversible. It can be “re-activated” with water and heat and it will re-bond to itself. This
means that joints originally glued with hide glue do not have to be scraped to bare wood
to get the new glue to stick. Just re-apply some new glue after moistening the old glue
with hot water.
Hide glue can be “de-activated” on joints that are still stuck by saturating the joint with
alcohol. Squirt some alcohol (I use denatured alcohol) along the edges of the joint and it
will wick in by capillary action. After several minutes the joint will be loose enough to
pull apart.
Wood finish:
Take thee a pound of good beeswax, and warm it gentle until it has melted. Then take
thee a quart of good tung oil, and mix it with a quart of good turpentine, and then cast
these into the wax with rapid stirring. As it doth cool, it shall give thee a pleasant
smelling paste which shall enter the wood freely, and after a day may be buffed unto a
dull warm glow. Tis not a hard finish, but it doth smell well, an when tis damaged, may it
can be repaired by so simple a means as buffing more on. Thou shoulds’t store that which
thou has not used in so tight a can as thou may find, for the air do cause it to harden.
Judging by the darkening of the surfaces of extant early woods, the clubs were likely
given a final a protective finishing coat of linseed oil. By the late eighteenth century red
keel--usually white lead paint colored with red oxide--was applied to the heads both as
decoration and as a preservative (see P1. VII). Also about this time, makers began to
stamp their names on clubs, among then Robert Neilson of Leith, Simon Cossar of Leith
(see P1. VI), and James McEwan of Bruntsfield (see Pls. VIIIa and VIIIb).