Practical Clubmaking, A Guide to Long Nose Era Golf Clubmaking

PRACTICAL CLUBMAKING

Practical Clubmaking, A Guide to Long Nose Era Golf Clubmaking unravels the mysteries of how 19th-century clubmakers made wooden golf clubs. The book takes the reader back to the 1800s to learn, in a step-by-step fashion, the methods used to build a long nose club. Long nose golf clubs are the graceful wooden implements that propelled feathery and gutta percha golf balls for centuries.  With a modest set of hand tools, the reader should be able to build a replica fully playable mid-19th-century golf club. After making many clubs and extensively researching historical texts, the author pieced together the sequence of steps and design features of long nose era clubmakers.

CLUBMAKING—A MYSTERIOUS CRAFT

The volume of historic literature in golf is unsurpassed by any other sport. Most golf books of the 19th century examined the history or techniques of the game. There were no books solely dedicated to clubmaking. In general, descriptions of clubmaking techniques consisted only of snippets of information. As with many trades, clubmakers felt no need to share their secrets. They were more adept with a rasp than with pen and paper. Not until the end of the 19th century did any substantial account of golf clubmaking become available.

The first publication to delve into the actual steps of clubmaking appeared in The Book of Golf and Golfers by Horace Hutchinson in 1899 in a chapter called "Practical Club-Making" authored by J. H. Taylor. Besides winning five Open Championships, Taylor had a successful clubmaking business teaming up with clubmaker George Cann to form Cann & Taylor in 1894 producing woods and irons. Taylor was not a skilled clubmaker, but he organized and promoted his company. George Cann also contributed to the chapter to some extent. Cann and Taylor grew up together on the links of Westward Ho! in Northam, England. Both apprenticed under golf professional and master clubmaker, Charles Gibson. Gibson apprenticed under Willie Dunn, Sr., a famous tournament player, ball maker and clubmaker. At Westward Ho!, Cann learned clubmaking while Taylor worked on greenkeeping. Knowing that their chapter was directed to the general public, Taylor and Cann's description of clubmaking is devoid of any of the recently introduced machines such as copying lathes and specialized mortisers for the lead groove and animal horn soleplate. Instead, their description hearkens back to their apprenticeship days using only hand tools in the manner used by clubmakers for centuries. An interpretation of Taylor's chapter forms the framework of the new book, Practical Clubmaking, A Guide to Long Nose Era Golf Clubmaking. 

Over centuries, both wooden and iron clubs evolved from roughly made bludgeon-like affairs to elegant forms reaching a pinnacle of design around 1840 to 1850. Clubmakers like Philp and McEwan distilled the design of the club to its bare essence to capture its strength and beauty while improving performance. Golf clubs began to lose their elegant form once the gutta percha golf ball usurped the feathery around 1848. The newly introduced hard gutta percha ball took a toll on golf clubs that had previously been designed to hit the softer feathery balls. There were only subtle design changes in wooden clubs for the first thirty years after the gutta percha ball. Heads and necks became slightly more robust but still retained their delicate form. There was a dramatic shift in the mid-1880s to more stout clubs called transitional clubs followed by an even bulkier looking club with a convex face called a bulger. 

Practical Clubmaking, A Guide to Long Nose Era Golf Clubmaking combines insights into both woodworking and golf history so that the reader may feel confident crafting a replica 19th-century long nose era club with the methods of the original clubmakers. Recently, golfers have had an increasing interest in playing with hickory clubs, perhaps because the shots are more palpable, and each club has its own personality. Typically, early 1900s clubs are played for these hickory gatherings, but a small group plays with earlier clubs. This book may also provide the hickory enthusiast with insight on clubmaking for repairs and an understanding of the process before sending the club out.

HICKORY GOLFERS SHARE A SIMILAR SPIRIT WITH HAND TOOL WOODWORKERS

In this digital age, some people long for the tactile feel of the tool manipulated by their own hands. If you are a hand tool woodworker already, you probably have most, if not all the tools needed to make a historic club like the original clubmakers. In terms of purchased tools, none were specifically designed for clubmakers. A clubmaker’s toolbox looked similar to that of an apprentice cabinetmaker or joiner. For the woodworker who may have a broad selection of machines but wants to venture into the hand tool woodworking arena, making old golf clubs can provide a good start. You will discover that your eye and a hand tool are remarkably accurate. The amount of lumber needed is minimal. The reader will learn about many physical properties of wood essential for producing a durable club.

J. H. Taylor made a commendable effort in trying to explain clubmaking without photographs in his 16-page chapter. It took the author many tries and much research to decipher every sentence of his chapter. After making many clubs while following Taylor's guidance, the once perplexing parts became clear. This new book elaborates on Taylor's explanation using hundreds of photos and much more detailed explanations. For one example, Taylor mentions shaft making only in passing since he had purchased shafts by this time. A chapter on shaft making has been added explaining multiple different ways of forming a shaft from splitting and riving, to planing, to using a trapping plane as well as other methods. Taylor also glossed over the art of shaping the clubhead. The book will take the would-be clubmaker through a detailed approach to remove the guesswork.

Given its specialized target audience, Practical Clubmaking is privately printed in a limited run using a large landscape format (9" x 12", 160 pages, hardcover with linen cloth) that allows the book to be opened and viewed hands free while working in the shop. It is lavishly illustrated with more than six-hundred photos and illustrations. In the introductory historical chapter, the author provides a craftsman's perspective of notable clubmakers such as McEwan, Hugh Philp, Tom Morris and Robert Forgan along with the design features of long nose clubs. The book's landscape style allows the pages to stay open readily while following the step-by-step instructions in your workshop, but it will look wonderful on your coffee table too.

UPDATE (October 2022): Practical Clubmaking had been unavailable for over two years. Over the last three years, the author has added and revised the text and photographs of the original book. Additional copies of the revised second printing are in the process of being printed. The book should be available again at the end of November 2022 for $77 plus shipping.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elmer Nahum, the author of Practical Clubmaking, is a retired interventional radiologist who has a passion for traditional woodworking and golf history. Playing Bobby Jones’ home course of East Lake in the 1980s, which served as his college team’s home course, spawned Elm’s interest in golf history. Over the years, he has read a collection of golf books on the early history of the game as well as biographies of notable players. His woodworking focuses on making 18th- and 19th-century furniture, primarily using hand tools with traditional methods. Nineteenth-century replica golf clubmaking is a natural offshoot of these two hobbies, with a club or two fashioned in between other larger projects. The golf bug occasionally finds its way into some furniture manifested as a subtle golf motif. His woodworking knowledge stems from classes, books, the internet, and simply discovering while woodworking. Each attempt at making a replica 19th-century golf club offers a chance to gain new insights into the traditional methods and history of clubmaking and woodworking.

Contact the author via email at practicalclubmaker@gmail.com or through Instagram (@practicalclubmaker) for inquiries, corrections, or to send a proud photo of a finished club.

A few sample pages:

A replica 19th-century presentation putter by the author.

One-third scale replica McEwan long nose clubs.
Beech heads derived from a branched trunk. Split hickory shafts.