At the beginning of May I had the great pleasure of providing 55 sets of genuine antique golf clubs for a hickory golf event at a real hidden gem of a course, Strawberry Hill in west London. This charming 9-hole course is on the border of Twickenham and Teddington, and is a golfing oasis easily reachable from the centre of the metropolis.

The welcome I had was extremely friendly and I was delighted to be asked to make up the numbers and play the course. The course is over 100 years old and reveals itself gradually with quite short par fours (by today's standards) mixed with some very challenging par 3's. Because par for 18 holes is only 64 it is the perfect place to play of a summer evening, or if you've only got a spare couple of hours. The greens were in fantastic condition when I played and running fast and true.

The club is having an Open Day on the 30th May 2011 and wants to extend the hand of friendship to new potential members. Book now for a free 9-holes !!! I would recommend it to anyone.

Website for Strawberry Hill Golf Club

http://www.shgc.net

Enquiries: 07501 321 867

strawberry hill golf club

Betty Dodd irons

2-9 iron

H&B Mars Grand Slam Mars steel shaft

Original leather red grips in great shape. The end of the shafts read; H&B on the butt

Club grooves are deep

Heads show some rust spotting that should clean easily

Bottom of heads reads; REG BD10

Betty Dodd driver 3 and 4 woods
Driver, 3 wood, 4 wood

Original leather red grips in great shape. The end of the shafts read; H&B on the butt

H & B Mars Grand Slam Mars steel shaft

No splits in the heads that I can see

Bottom of the clubs read; HB Custom Built REG BD15

The "H&B" on the clubs could refer to the Hillerich & Bradsby Company who started making golf clubs in the early 20th century (far more famous for their baseball bats I would think!) and introduced the 'PowerBilt' name\line in the 30s.

The "BD" stamp is almost certainly the reference to Betty Dodd as this line of clubs clearly in her honour.

I wouldn't think there would be too many of these sets left around today.

I'm not sure what value you could place on these as Betty has now almost slipped from golfing memory (VERY sad!) but they are certainly a rarity and a reminder of a great player of the 50s

Make me an offer. j.kalinsky@cox.net

I've now been collecting antique golf clubs for about 15 years. Although I've also been playing hickory golf for about 8 years, it has only been in the last few months that I came across a full set of hickory shafted irons. They are all stamped Mac Smith and were made by George Nicoll of Leven. I obtained them from a nice old lady who said they had belonged to her father. She had kept them in a cupboard for many years but had decided to sell them. The irons run consecutively and are stamped as follows, 1-iron, 2-iron, 3-iron, 4-iron JIGGER, 5-iron MASHIE, 6-iron SPADE MASHIE, 7-iron MASHIE-NIBLICK, 8-iron, 9-iron NIBLICK, 10-iron PUTTER.
This was the first time I had seen a complete set of hickory shafted irons and a putter. What's more something became clear to me. On my Timewarp Golf days , where I rent out lots of clubs for people to play hickory golf, I have lots of people asking me what's the equivalent of a mashire, mashie-niblick, niblick, etc. When I say that a mashire is the equivalent of a modern 7 iron they often sound surprised and say that they thought it was a 5 iron. Now if you get a modern 7 iron and line it up with a mashie you will see that they are of the same loft. Yet, also in many reference books on golf, and particularly old one's, you'll see that it says that a mashie is a 5 iron...so what's happened??? Well, logically, what I believe has happened is that the definition of a 5 iron ( and a 7 iron and a 9 iron for that matter ) has changed!!! In the 1920's and 1930's when numbering of club heads first came in mashies were stamped 5 ( and mashie niblicks 7, and niblick's 9). This knowledge has been recorded in many books and has passed into golfing folklore. HOWEVER, over the years golf club manufacturers have become used to working with a different standard loft for a 5 iron, 7 iron, etc. Therefore, a modern 5 is NOT the same as a number 5 iron from the hickory era, and the same for the 7 and 9 irons. If you don't believe me get some out and look at the lofts!! So in summary, the lofts of a modern 5, 7 and 9 ARE 2 CLUBS LESS than their equivalent hickory period numbered clubs.

Funnily enough, 2 weeks after obtaining the George Nicoll set I acquired a similar numbered set stamped TRUE-LINE. They are for sale at www.antiquegolfclub.co.uk. They exhibit the same conditions regarding the relative lofts! Great playable clubs though! Cheers Gavin Bottrell.

I have been searching for information leading to the value of these clubs I have. I have about 12 clubs , most have cleek marks, a pipe, a hand, and three leaves with m stamped in each leaf. I have a TS of St Andrews, WM PK is also stamped . A few Putters that have "Glencoe" with 1863. and on one its "Robroy". Can someone tell me what I should do to get the value on these clubs?

I have been searching for information leading to the value of these clubs I have. I have about 12 clubs , most have cleek marks, a pipe, a hand, and three leaves with m stamped in each leaf. I have a TS of St Andrews, WM PK is also stamped . A few Putters that have "Glencoe" with 1863. and on one its "Robroy". Can someone tell me what I should do to get the value on these clubs?

I lack a nr 6 and no 9 Kingpin golf clubs. Probalbly made in early 1930. The shafts are painted in dark brown colour. Please reply to claes.n@jetas.se

I am looking for the following clubs.

1) Tom Stewart 1 1/2 iron
2) Auchterlonie 1 iron with Tom Stewart pipe mark
3) John Morris Hoylake Cleek (or perhaps low lofter iron)
4) Wm Park Patented Lofter
5) Wm Park, Jr. Long Nose Putter
6) Set of Walter Hagen Deluxe 301 irons
7) Walter Hagen WH woods
8) Tom Stewart Signature irons
- These are irons that instead of having the Tom Stewart stamp they
have the stamp of the professional's shop they sold in...
Harry Vardon
Gene Sarazen
Tommy Armour
Henry Cotton
Tom Morris
JH Taylor
James Braid
Alex Smith
Jim Barnes etc etc...

hi there im new to this type of thing so please bare with me
im in my later years ,and now ive got some time on my hands ive desided to go start repairing golf clubs,not for a bussiness ,purely enjoyment
i purchased a set of( approx date )early 30s glenfarg irons ,they look nice but ive never heard of the make
i would be happy to hear if anybody could shed some light on the name of these irons
cheers stuart

Ok, here's a picture sent to me of a vintage set of golf clubs. The heads are in great condition and are stamped Gibsons of Kinghorn. These clubs date to the 1930s or 1940's. There a small problem however, if you look closely you can see they are steel shafted...see how the hosels taper as they get nearer to the thinner metal shaft. If these were hickory shafted I'd estimate they be worth 350 GBP = 700 USD. However, I've seen many steel shafted sets go for only 20 GBP = 40 USD. Golf Memorabilia