A couple of years ago I began to wonder what hitting a long nose golf club would be like. Although I own a number of really nice long nose woods I would have been very foolish to take them out to the driving range. So, I decided to experiment in making my own. Over several months I carved clubheads from a range of woods. I found myself learning very valuable lessons about the art of clubmaking....it begins with the selecting of the wood and looking at the grain pattern in particular. It involves shaping the head until the lines look aesthetically appealing. It involves sourcing ramshorns that have not long before parted compnay with their original owner and making the leading edge slips. It involves the planing and forming of shafts and the cutting of the scare joints. Finally, it involves skill in applying stains and polishes. Considering an apprenticeship in clubmaking could last up to 7 years in ahistorical times I think I've done pretty well to gain a high level of profiency over the past two years. I'm very proud of the replica Troon Clubs I make and if you'd like one you can buy one from me through www.antiquegolfclub.co.uk I have hit some replica balls with them and they are surprisingly easy to use once you;ve got used to them...I'm just loking now for some really good replica feathery golf balls. If you know of any please let me know. Cheers Gavin Bottrell. Troon Clubs
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Long Nose Golf Club 2
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long nose golf club 3

On Sunday 6th July I provided sets of hickory clubs for 250 people to play on Blackheath Common in London. Royal Blackheath Golf Club is celebrating its 400th anniversary and claims to be the oldest golf club in the world. However, official documentary evidence dates to *only* something like the late 1700's! Anyhow, 5 golf holes were laid out on the common as they would have been in times gone by. The first players teed off at 7:30 in the morning, the last at 5 pm. I'm pleased to report we only had 3 clubs break ( one struck by the club pro Matt! ). Distinguished guests included Prince Andrew The Duke of York ( shown speaking with me and inspecting a playing set ) , Bernard Gallagher, Neil Coles, and other notable sportmen from the world of football, golf and rugby. A great time was had by all. For more info about my hickory golf company please call me on 07708 661 659 or see my other website www.timewarpgolf.com
Cheers
Gavin Bottrell
Royal Blackheath Hickory Golf 1
royal blackheath hickor golf 2
royal blackheath hickory golf 3

Another Timewarp Golf day was held at Eastbourne Downs Golf Club on the 21st June 2008. Over 80 people took part sharing one bag between two players. A great time was had by all and I even managed to find an original hickory golf club stamped Eastbourne for them to give away as a prize.

If you wish to hire up to 50 bags of original antique hickory golf clubs contact me Gavin Bottrell on 07708 661 659

Eastbourne Hickory Golf 1
Hickory Golf Eastbourne 2
Hickory Golf Eastbourne 3
A good putt is sank on the 18th
vintage golf at Eastbourne
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On the 16th June I took my 50 sets of hickory shafted antique golf clubs to Wimbledon Common Golf Club as the "club" is celebrating it's centenary year. However, golf was first played on the common in the early 1860's making it the second oldest layout in England still in play. All golfers have to wear red clothing by law to warn the multitude of people who use the common for walking, jogging, horse-riding, etc, and wow, it does get busy. This was back to grass roots golf, and the club officials and members are an extremely friendly bunch. Definately worth a visit! Click on the images for larger view.
Wimbledon Common Hickory Golf Day
Hickory Golf 2
wimbledon golf 3

I had the great fortune a couple of months ago to take part in a conference organised by the European Institute of Golf Couse Architects in Dublin.

Professional golf architects came from far and wide and I provided them with sets of antique hickory golf clubs for them to play with on Portmarnock Links.

The best bit for me was having my shots radar tracked by Steve Otto, the chief scientist of the R&A. I had five goes with my trusted hickory Brassie dating from around 1920 and was very pleased to learn that all my shots had a carry between 185 and 190 yards- how's that for consistency! Plus I estimated that they rolled an extra 30 yards at least given the hard and fast ground conditions.

Steve tracked all of the other players shots and came to the rough conclusion that for most amateur players modern clubs offer an advantage of about 10% in terms of distance.

Interestly Steve told me that most amateurs could increase the distance they hit the ball by well over 10% if they worked to obtain an optimised launch angle and ball spin rate. He just didn't quite explain how I should exactly go about that....

Here's the link to the article on the website of the EIGCA
Radar tracking hickory golf shots