Hickories at Musselburgh
Golfmagic member Sean McDonald re-discovers the origins of the game
Posted: 5 September 2008
by Sean McDonald
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The golf course and race course are integrated at Musselburgh
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In my capacity as a starter for the British Horseracing Authority, I have made many visits to Musselburgh Racecourse and as a keen golfer, I have always been intrigued by the nine-hole course inside the rails and its unique place in the history of our great game. So on my most recent racing trip I took some time out to play the course and learn more about its past and what plans it has for the future.
Musselburgh Links Old Course has been in existence in various layouts since the 16th Century. Indeed Mary Queen of Scots is said to have played it in 1567, while there's written evidence of golf being played on these links in 1672.
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Sean tees off the first with his hickory 5-iron
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Various societies or clubs would use the course as their home during the coming centuries until today where it remains the home of Musselburgh Old Course Golf Club whose knowledgeable and committed Secretary, Robin McGregor, gave me an insight into the past and what the future may hold.
Six early Open Championships held here, the first in 1874 won by Mungo Park and the last in 1889 won by Willie Park Junior. These were played over four rounds of nine holes. In Willie Park’s year, play began at 10.30am and those players that were too far behind after 27 holes were offered five shillings (25p in modern money) not to play the remaining nine – an early form of tournament 'cut'.
Many of golf's recognized forms of play began here and also the various rules we adhere to today. For instance, if you have ever wondered why a golf hole is 4.25 inches in diameter, Musselburgh has the answer.
Local man, Robert Gray, devised a hole-cutting instrument in 1829 using a discarded piece of drainpipe with its interior measurement four-and-aquarter-inches wide. When the R & A was formed to standardise rules they used Gray's pipe as the benchmark because it could be easily copied by other courses.
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Anicent and modern:hickory driver and modern big stick
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At the end of the 19th century nearly 60 clubs and societies had their home links at Musselburgh but from the beginning of the 20th Century St Andrews’, as the star in the ascendency, effectively forced Musselburgh into the shadows. The advent of 18-hole courses meant it could not keep up with the demands of the modern golfer and they gradually drifted away. The links became neglected and merely provided a playground for local children.
But in 1982 a group of enthusiasts formed the Old Course Golf Club and in tandem with the local authority, resurrecting the course and brought it back to a decent standard.
"That work is on-going, " says Robin " and the club has devised a worldwide associate membership scheme to raise awareness of Musselburgh’s history and provide funds for future development."
The nine hole layout lies within the confines of the racecourse and, apart from the order of play has remained unchanged since 1896. It looks innocuous at first glance but you quickly realise that the rough and particularly the gorse clumps can be penalising, the bunkers deep and the greens challenging!
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Traditional long and short irons
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I also chose the option of giving myself a further handicap by using hickory shafted clubs over the first nine holes. Several sets are available to rent to give visitors a taste of what it might have been like in Willie Park's era but without the added handicap of a feathery ball.
I was warmly welcomed by the relief starter, a fellow Irishman, Paul Meegan, given a pencil bag with five traditional clubs - driver, long iron (with a 2-iron loft), 5-iron, niblick (wedge) and a putter. Joining me in the footsteps of those legends of the past were two Musselburgh members, Bob McMurtie and David Wilson.
It was a strange sensation swinging that wooden-shafted 5-iron on the first tee. I caught the (modern) ball a little thin, which instantly gave me a painful reminder that my early season tennis elbow hadn’t quite cleared up.
By the third hole as my fillings in my teeth were loosening and my eyeballs watered and turned to wobbly jelly! Whatever flex these hickory shafts had when they were made had long since vanished; I was playing with the period equivalent of super stiff. I could barely get the ball airborne and felt my current 13 handicap would hardly have reflected my flailing ability in the late 1800s.
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Historic poster at Musselburgh
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I eventually managed to make half-decent contact and achieved one drive of about 170 yards. Everything tended to fly low and right which historically sounds appropriate as the brass plates on the clubs' soles were designed to help golfers get the ball back onto the course having sliced shots onto the road that runs alongside the fairways.
Though I struggled with the longer shafted clubs I managed to almost master the niblick despite it having no 'bounce' built into the head and a leading edge that would take the whiskers off a '5 o'clock shadow'. As a result I hit some pretty handy bunker shots and took to the putter quite well.
My nine hole score was a fairly unimpressive 55 embarrassing enough without snapping the shaft of a rather brittle driver on the 9th tee. I loved the leather grips - as good today as when they were made.
Complete with modern clubs, including my beloved hybrids, powered trolley and even my GPS yardage device Iset off again on the second nine but this time I felt far more comfortable with my game. The course also played quite differently with hazards that might effect your second shot and now even in range from the tee.
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Looking back from the fifth green
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However, the course still stood the test of time with course management as vital as it ever was. Indeed the final hole with a bunker flanking the fairway seemingly every ten yards after the 150 yard marker, demanded that only the most perfectly placed tee shot would find short grass.
Fortunately my long pulled drive skirted the lot and from the rough found the green where two putts for par took my six-over par score to a respectable 40 strokes - an improvement of 15 shots compared to my nine holes with hickory.
As I headed for the sanctuary of the 19th hole, I'm convinced the ghost of Willie Park looked on enviously at my gleaming metal clubs and shiny steel shafts, not to mentioned my motorised caddie. I'm sure, given similar equipment, the professionals of the 19th century would have given our dandy young pros a run for their money, too.
I left to take up my duties for the evening meeting at the racecourse with nothing but admiration for the skills of those old pros, playing in tweed jackets and hob-nailed boots.
The chance to step back upto 400 years in time and play Musselburgh with hickories is highly recommended. Several competitions - often in traditional costume - are organised throughout the year and full details can be found at the club's website www.mocgc.com or at www.musselburgholdlinks.co.uk, courtesy of East Lothian Council.
Tell us on the forum your experiences of playing with hickory-shafted clubs and at the Musselburgh links..
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Discuss this story
I find it staggering how good the scores were back in the day when you see those old clubs. The description of the niblick is interesting. At my club (Prince's) we have the original sand iron is on display - donated to the club by Gene Sarazen after winning the Open there in 1932. Apparently he invented it prior to the tournament but wasn't sure if it would be allowed, so had his caddy replace it upside down in his bag when he wasn't using it so no-one would see!
Posted: 08/09/2008 19:52
I really liked the write-up. Thanks Sean. Got any tips for the horses?
Posted: 09/09/2008 13:01
Hi Tom - glad you enjoyed reading it. Being part of racing 'officialdom' I have to remain impartial and can't tip. I'd be crap at it in any case and you would go skint quite quickly!! It's worth following the golf betting in the Racing Post though. Their form experts are pretty good and they seem to show a level stake profit year on year. Not a get rich quick scheme though....!
Posted: 09/09/2008 19:45
What an excellent article, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Hack'em
Posted: 09/09/2008 21:35
Sean - I was just being daft. I should have put a smiley on my post or something. You must get asked that all the time. Anyway, interesting to see the difference in the scoring. Wonder if it would have been so big if the hickories were not x-stiff. Swings were very different back in the day to compensate for the lack of whip.
Posted: 09/09/2008 21:55
Some time back I bought some hickory-shafted clubs with the intention of cleaning them up and putting them up on the wall. Never got round to it, but when the time came for a trip to Scotland and we played at Musselburgh (with modern clubs), I thought about putting together a little set and playing there with them. So I took a look on eBay and picked up a mashie here, a niblick there, even a lofter. When my mate and I finally did the Scotland trip, I took my hickories (including a beaten-up looking canvas bag) and a bunch of old picked-up "small balls" (Dunlop 65's, Penfold Aces, etc......) and he hired the half set from the club. What a great afternoon. He birdied the 1st, I hit one of the best bunker shots I've ever hit out of the bunker at the front of "The Chair" using the lofter (with the slightly warped shaft) and had 2 pars, one double, 6 bogeys and a whole lot of fun. Cannot recommend it highly enough. Next time we'll go back in plus fours and jackets.....
Posted: 10/09/2008 15:54
Thought the article was great. Three years ago I started playing with hickory and there's a whole other world out there. If you're really a glutton for punishment, try playing with the pre 1900 clubs (splice neck woods, smooth faced irons) hickory shafts and gutta percha balls with no gloves, knickers, tie, and carry your clubs (no bag since that wasn't pre-1900 play). Regarding the flex, the only way to really check (even if you get a matching set ) is to check each shaft with a frequency analyzer. In 1930, before Bobby Jones won the Grand Slam, he and I believe a Mr. Findley from Spalding, wanted to reshaft one of his woods. Finley went through 5,000 shafts before they found the right one. There's all kinds of articles written back then about hickory from the top of the hill was too dry, hickory from the bottom was too wet, and how it was cut, etc. It is ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE that greats like Harry Vardon achieved the scores they did. One other thing - if you play early in the morning and live in the Deep South (Louisiana) of the USA and happen to have forged steel heads rather than stainless steel, by the time you get back to your cart or bag, there's already rust appearing on the club heads from the morning dew. If you want an extreme challenge and adventure, try hickory. Lee Trevino attempted Oakhurst Links in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia (Oldest Course in the U.S.) where you must play with splice neck woods, smooth faced irons, and gutta percha balls. He quit before finishing 9 holes because he was afraid (it is reported) he was going to break 50 on the first nine. AWESOME ARTICLE AND HATS OFF TO YOU FOR PLAYING WITH HICKORY. IT'S NOT JUST A GAME, IT'S AN ADVENTURE IN TIME WHEN THE GOLDEN ERA OF GOLF EXISTED. CHEERS TO ALL FROM THE USA
Posted: 11/09/2008 04:52
Thanks Guys. Stanley, where can I find out more about the hickory cutting? Sounds interesting re the difference in sap levels at the top of the hill and bottom. We don't know how lucky we are today with the modern equipment!
Posted: 11/09/2008 08:53
Re: Hickory Cutting There's a book entitled, "Golf Implements and Memorabilia" by Kevin McGimpsey and David Neech with an entire section devoted to woods and other materials used for golf clubs prior to the authorization of steel shafts by the R&A in Europe on January 1,1929, and I think around 1925 by the U.S.G.A. The proliferation of hickory as shafts came about due to the efforts of Robert Forgan and Tom Stewart, if memory serves. The best hickory came from the United States , particularly the Tennessee hickory belt, Canada and even Russia (this is from McGimpsey and Neech's book). There was experimentation as well. For example, Butchart & Nichols, (BTN trade name) made sets of clubs that had alternating strips of hickory and bamboo. There's a book, "The Vintage Era of Golf Club Collectibles" by Ronald O. John and at page72 there's a photograph of a set of the Butchart & Nichols bamboo/hickory shafted clubs. The owner of that set which appears in the book contacted me and I was fortunate to now be the proud owner of the set. I have several other sets of BTN's including one that has Tom Stewart club heads. In order to play with them these days, usually the shafts are removed from the head (there's a pin that holds it in place), the interior of the club head is cleaned and then (there's a debate amongst hickory golfers) the shaft is either expoxied or wood glued and repinned. This gives it a tight fit and helps prevent breaking. In reviewing the book it apparently was a fellow named "East" not Findley as I had said who helped Bobby Jones with the reshaft of the wooden club. According to the book: A very interesting chapter in J. Victor East's book 'Better Golf in Five Minutes' includes the story of how East copied a driver for Bobby Jones. The shaft was the problem. He tried 5,000 pieces of hickory before he found four that were suitable, and when these were reduced to two, even one of these reacted differently in varying weather conditions. Finding one in 5,000 - a tough job! Nowadays, True Temper Gold Shafts are all the same. Also, the highest quality hickory was white wood, some red wood was used but this was a lesser quality - the very best timber came from the first 12 ft. (3.7m) of the tree, and the very best of this from around the centre of the trunk. Ringed hickory shafts - or tiger shafts, as they were known - were said to be unbreakable. Of course, they were breakable. But they were tougher than the rest. I hope that helps you. Who would ever think all that went into the making of one club. All the best and cheers from Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav (I just got my power on tonight - out for two weeks). Cheers Stephen Spring
Posted: 12/09/2008 04:30
Morning Mr Spring, You mentioned Oakhurst Links - was that the course that was lost and overgrown, and someone found the routing and a map and they dug it out again? I remember seeing a programme on The Golf Channel on a trip to the USA about that but couldn't remember the name of the course.
Posted: 25/09/2008 09:39
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