Any idea on this? Nicoll of Leven Scotland

[CJL]

Afternoon...

Bought a bag of clubs the other week for 99p and this was in it...

Anyone know anything about it?

Thanks
Chris

Nicoll of Leven Scotland, Flowing Power, Arc Sole, Cotton Plus.

 

[IanMcC]

https://www.antiquegolfscotland.com/antiquegolf/maker.php3?makerid=112

 

[CJL]

Thanks will see if I can find the club anywhere else.

Is he well known?

 

[CJL]

I'd say that club alone is what you paid for the whole bag ?

Yea hopefully... I ended up with 2 bags for £1.98 from same seller local to me.

 

[CJL]

Also some Christy O'Connor red Smith Continental irons ??‍

 

[CJL]

Hahaha I thought that when I picked them up the other week.

Nice weather today so thought I'd give them a clean and see if I can recoup some money ?

I search local listings collection only and just bid 99p and see what happens

 

[patricks148]

i'm sure i read somewhere that they didn't use the name True Temper till 1949 so i'd imagine they are later than that, Crows you man, he might even give you £1 for it

 

[Crow]

George Nicoll began in 1881 and just made it to their centenary year, closing in 1982.
Henry Cotton was their star player for many years (although I don't think he actually played Nicoll clubs himself) and there are a good number of models with his name on them.

Your putter is the Cotton Plus model (obviously!) and there were a set of irons (and most likely woods) to go with them. Produced in the early 1960s, the attractive irons are shown below. (Note that the ferrules match that of your putter, they did things properly back in the day!)

I'd expect your putter would make between £5 and £25 on ebay.

 

[Crow]

Fred Smyth was an Irish maker based at Royal Dublin Golf Club, Dublin.
He had a very good reputation in Ireland and quite a few of his clubs made it over to the UK.
Christy O'Connor Snr was one of the all-time legends of Irish golf, known to his countrymen simply as "himself".

Your clubs follow the classic style, sometimes called reverse muscle, with weighting higher on the club head rather than lower as is generally seen these days. This gave a lower, more penetrating ball flight. The style began around 1930 with the DW Brand club (see hickory shafted example below) and at one time most manufacturers had a version in their line up.

Nice clubs, if you have the full set you might get between £15 and £45 for them on ebay.

My recommendation is to play them though!

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Fred Smyth was an Irish maker based at Royal Dublin Golf Club, Dublin.
He had a very good reputation in Ireland and quite a few of his clubs made it over to the UK.
Christy O'Connor Snr was one of the all-time legends of Irish golf, known to his countrymen simply as "himself".

Your clubs follow the classic style, sometimes called reverse muscle, with weighting higher on the club head rather than lower as is generally seen these days. This gave a lower, more penetrating ball flight. The style began around 1930 with the DW Brand club (see hickory shafted example below) and at one time most manufacturers had a version in their line up.

Nice clubs, if you have the full set you might get between £15 and £45 for them on ebay.

My recommendation is to play them though!


View attachment 35067

Now your description of the clubs having reverse muscle is a bit spooky as I had a dream last night in which I was watching a top pro (it might have been Tom Watson) hitting cracking irons. I asked if I could have a look at a long iron he had just hit and it looked really weird - almost upside down - as it had a flange/bulge running all along the top edge of the club rather than the bottom where I expected to see more weight...

...and then you go and do this...

 

[CJL]

Thanks for the information Crow that's brilliant, appreciate taking the time to reply ?

I came across this company while searching the Nicoll name and they replied with this

https://www.facebook.com/St-Andrews-Golf-Company-Ltd-101720906572220/

Thanks everyone I'll probably keep the putter and I'll try the irons ?

 

[Maninblack4612]

My recommendation is to play them though!

If you find the game too easy with modern clubs!

 

[Crow]

Now your description of the clubs having reverse muscle is a bit spooky as I had a dream last night in which I was watching a top pro (it might have been Tom Watson) hitting cracking irons. I asked if I could have a look at a long iron he had just hit and it looked really weird - almost upside down - as it had a flange/bulge running all along the top edge of the club rather than the bottom where I expected to see more weight...

...and then you go and do this...

Well check these out!
The first picture are my original set of vintage clubs.

 

[Crow]

Thanks for the information Crow that's brilliant, appreciate taking the time to reply ?

I came across this company while searching the Nicoll name and they replied with this

https://www.facebook.com/St-Andrews-Golf-Company-Ltd-101720906572220/

Thanks everyone I'll probably keep the putter and I'll try the irons ?

Yes, St Andrews Golf Co should be great for historical information considering that they acquired several famous old names but from my experience they're not.

The Cotton Plus set do appear to be late 1950s or early 1960s by the ferrule size and shaft band but the ad below is from 1965 and says "Get the New" Cotton Plus set.

Good to hear you're going to give the irons a go, they're not as hard to hit as people make out, just remember that the lofts are likely to be 2 or 3 clubs weaker than a new set of irons, so where you currently hit an 8 iron you might need to hit a 6 or 5 iron. The 7 iron is likely to be around 38 degrees and PW around 50 degrees.

 

[CJL]

If you find the game too easy with modern clubs!

I decided to take up golf Nov/Dec 2019 (bad timing), so no I don't ?

 

[Canary Kid]

A propos of nothing, I went to the same school as Henry Cotton, albeit many years later. Unfortunately, our golfing skills were somewhat dissimilar. ?