Brassie...Cleek...Jigger...Mashie...Niblick...Rake...Spoon...are
such great names for golf clubs. Can't you just hear yourself
turning to your caddie an saying "Fred, what do you think, should I use
the Spade Mashie or the Mashie Niblick?". Wouldn't that be fun.
What the heck are these clubs anyway? After a bit of research and
using numerous sources here is a list of what was found.
Brassie: It gets its name from the brass-plated sole.
The brass sole was to protect the underside for the
clubhead from gouges. It is a wood with the loft and appearance of a modern
2-wood. Used for long low shots. Cleek: A
driving iron or maybe a 2-iron. A shepherd's crook in ancient
Scotland was called a cleek. So who cares, right. Well, the
origin of golf may go back to a game shepherds played thousands of years
ago. Jigger: An ancient golf club with the loft and
utility of a modern wedge. Mashie: A wooden shafted
pre-20th century club that is close in resemblance to a 5-iron. It
was a middle distance iron. Niblick: Pre-20th century
equivalent to a modern 9-iron. A wooden shaft club, iron-headed,
with a greater face angle than all but a wedge. Rake:
An ancient specialty club, constructed like a wedge but had several
parallel slots. It was designed to be used in puddles and wet sand,
where the channels would reduce the club's resistance. Spoon:
A wooden-shafted club with clubfaces that were concave, shaped like a
spoon. In appearance, loft and purpose, the spoon is the antique
golf club that most resembles a 3-wood.None of the old clubs really look
like our modern clubs. To match them to modern golf clubs can only
be done by their face angles and the use they were put to. All the
old golf clubs were hand crafted so even a mashie by one blacksmith
varied in design from another blacksmith.
Brassie...Cleek...Jigger...Mashie...Niblick...Rake...Spoon...are
such great names for golf clubs. Can't you just hear yourself
turning to your caddie an saying "Fred, what do you think, should I use
the Spade Mashie or the Mashie Niblick?". Wouldn't that be fun.
What the heck are these clubs anyway? After a bit of research and
using numerous sources here is a list of what was found.
Brassie: It gets its name from the brass-plated sole.
The brass sole was to protect the underside for the
clubhead from gouges. It is a wood with the loft and appearance of a modern
2-wood. Used for long low shots. Cleek: A
driving iron or maybe a 2-iron. A shepherd's crook in ancient
Scotland was called a cleek. So who cares, right. Well, the
origin of golf may go back to a game shepherds played thousands of years
ago. Jigger: An ancient golf club with the loft and
utility of a modern wedge. Mashie: A wooden shafted
pre-20th century club
that is close in resemblance to a 5-iron. It
was a middle distance iron. Niblick: Pre-20th century
equivalent to a modern 9-iron. A wooden shaft club, iron-headed,
with a greater face angle than all but a wedge. Rake:
An ancient specialty club, constructed like a wedge but had several
parallel slots. It was designed to be used in puddles and wet sand,
where the channels would reduce the club's resistance. Spoon:
A wooden-shafted club with clubfaces that were concave, shaped like a
spoon. In appearance, loft and purpose, the spoon is the antique
golf club that most resembles a 3-wood.None of the old clubs really look
like our modern clubs. To match them to modern golf clubs can only
be done by their face angles and the use they were put to. All the
old golf clubs were hand crafted so even a mashie by one blacksmith
varied in design from another blacksmith.