Hickory sticks

drawboy

drawboy

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Golf clubs have come on leaps and bounds these days but it still takes the ability to square the club face to play well, regardless of technological advances. How close do you think you could play to your handicap with a set of hickory clubs?
 
I'd love to have a go, I reckon I could break 90 at least.
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What's your handicap at the moment? I'm off 8 and i reckon i'd struggle to break 90. balls wont fly as far and keeping your normal swing is unlikely to make the club finish square on impact due to the vastly different whip in the shafts. Still i'd love to give it a go. I believe they have an annual tournament at Royal Cinque Ports including shirt & tie, tweed jackets, plus 4's and flat cap!! :cool:
 
A few years ago my club organised a Hickory golf day. A guy turned up with a van full of Hickory club sets.
As we all collected our clubs he emphasised the need to swing really slowly otherwise the clubs could actually split or break. He also mentioned that it wasn't unusual to receive back a few broken ones.

I played really well that day, which I'm sure was down to the, "slow" swing.
I'm sure I could play close to my handicap, as long as I remember to, swing slow! :cool: :D :D

Golfmmad.
 
I'd love to have a go, I reckon I could break 90 at least.
Click to expand...
What's your handicap at the moment? I'm off 8 and i reckon i'd struggle to break 90. balls wont fly as far and keeping your normal swing is unlikely to make the club finish square on impact due to the vastly different whip in the shafts. Still i'd love to give it a go. I believe they have an annual tournament at Royal Cinque Ports including shirt & tie, tweed jackets, plus 4's and flat cap!! :cool:
Click to expand...
I dont have a handicap but when I do it will be around 12, maybe I was being optimistic as usual but it would be a completely different game.
I did have some old hickory shafted clubs, I chucked them in a skip when I lost interest in golf a few years back. I reckon they could have been worth a few quid aswell, im a nugget.
 
How close do you think you could play to your handicap with a set of hickory clubs?
Click to expand...

Not close at all. I doubt I could even get close with a set of 70s blades and persimmon woods, like I started with.

Hickory....no way.

Unless they are magically easier to not slice!!
 
The differences are marginal, but if you see the difference as massive, then it will be. Ive used them before and found only a small difference that could be compensated for by different approach or accepting an extra stroke.

Then again its enough to make life harder. ;)
 
I remember reading about Royal Cinque Ports in a golf magazine and the reporter said that he saw the course in a different light and all of a sudden a lot of the old hazards came into play. Just goes to shjow how equipmnt has brought the game on in terms of distance off the tee etc. Sounds like a good concept. Perhaps GM could organise a C1910 forum meet with all the gear from that era playing a traditional links course as it would have been then!! what a real eye opener that would be to the ability of those players from that era like James Braid, Harry Vardon and JH Taylor!! :cool: ;)
 
I remember reading about Royal Cinque Ports in a golf magazine and the reporter said that he saw the course in a different light and all of a sudden a lot of the old hazards came into play. Just goes to shjow how equipmnt has brought the game on in terms of distance off the tee etc.
Click to expand...

Ahh, so the 1910 lot get to feel what I feel when I play!

I end up in all the bunkers only a good player would have been worried about it 1910.

It peas me off, seriously. I spent ages working out my first shot in a big comp (over the summer). I decided to lay up with a 3 wood as I suspected I couldn't get over the HUGE left hand bunker. As it was, I flushed it and stuck it straight in. The other 3 in my group just pulled out their drivers and flew the lip by 20 yards.....

Old courses, modern equipment, penalises the average hitter more than the big hitters.....

That day, I swear if we'd played off tees 20 yards back, I'd have not been in any fairway bunkers, and they'd have been in loads.....seriously.....
 
I played in a hickory day at Musselburgh Old a couple of years back....I reckon if I broke 90 I would have been lucky!
Unbelievably tough going,the only club I could hit was the shovel sized wedge!
 
When I started playing as a youngster I had two hickory clubs in the bag. When I tried using them some years later when I was inm my mid twenties it was like trying to hit a ball with the shaft made from a garden hose. A short slow swing at least got the ball moving forward.

Don't think I could play a good roound using anything like that now. However it would be fun to try. :D
 
If you are ever up that way, Mussleburgh in Fife is somewhere to play. Not to be confused with Royal Mussleburgh, I am speaking of the Golf Club situated inside the racecourse. This course is one of the oldest courses in the world - older than St Andrews etc. They have proof of Mary Queen of Scots playing there in the late 1500's.

The course held an Open in 1874. It was and still is today unchanged. It is 9 holes and the epitome of simplicity - the holes are straightforward, no hidden hazards - the course stands as it is waiting to be played. It held 6 Opens, the first champion being Willie Park as I said in 1874.

The point is - you can still play it today as it was played back then. The course has not changed, the same greens, tees etc. And - to follow the thread of this posting - if you wish you can hire from the shop a set of Hickory shafted clubs and a feather ball to play the 9 holes with at a cost of ONLY £15.

It is a public pay and play course, and in truth without the history many people woud pass it by. I have had the honour of playing there, with my friends who all hired Hickory clubs and made a very special day.

I urge anyone who is ever in the vicinity to do the same, it was a lot of fun and is still one of my favourite golfing memories.

And yes - as previous posters said - swing slowly and you can make good contact and hit the ball a reasonable distance.
 
If you are ever up that way, Mussleburgh in Fife is somewhere to play. Not to be confused with Royal Mussleburgh, I am speaking of the Golf Club situated inside the racecourse. This course is one of the oldest courses in the world - older than St Andrews etc. They have proof of Mary Queen of Scots playing there in the late 1500's.

The course held an Open in 1874. It was and still is today unchanged. It is 9 holes and the epitome of simplicity - the holes are straightforward, no hidden hazards - the course stands as it is waiting to be played. It held 6 Opens, the first champion being Willie Park as I said in 1874.

The point is - you can still play it today as it was played back then. The course has not changed, the same greens, tees etc. And - to follow the thread of this posting - if you wish you can hire from the shop a set of Hickory shafted clubs and a feather ball to play the 9 holes with at a cost of ONLY £15.

It is a public pay and play course, and in truth without the history many people woud pass it by. I have had the honour of playing there, with my friends who all hired Hickory clubs and made a very special day.

I urge anyone who is ever in the vicinity to do the same, it was a lot of fun and is still one of my favourite golfing memories.

And yes - as previous posters said - swing slowly and you can make good contact and hit the ball a reasonable distance.
Click to expand...

Nahwhere near Fife but the rest is on the number.
 
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