Yesterday, I tweeted the following: “An 1895 ad offered Putters, Drivers, Niblicks (huh?), Mashies (?), Bulgers (?), and Cleeks (?) + all ‘other articles necessary’ for golf.”

Later, I showed the tweet to A.J. (who’s not on Twitter, so I have to point these things out to him occasionally), and he — a golfer (and, importantly here, a history buff like me) — nodded his head and said that, yes, he’d heard of Niblicks, Mashies, Bulgers, and Cleeks. “They’re names for old golf clubs,” he said.

It turns out there were … Are you ready? … varieties of irons known as Cleeks, Mid Mashies, Mashie Irons, Mashies, Spade Mashies, Mashie Niblicks, Pitching Niblicks, Niblicks, and Jiggers; varieties of woods known as Brassies (the Bulger was a type of Brassie), Spoons, and Baffing Spoons; and other oddly named specialty clubs.

Through the early years of the twentieth century, golfers simply amassed collections of (oddly named) clubs that suited their needs, and it wasn’t until the 1920s that clubs were  made and sold in “matched sets.” This web page has quite a lot of interesting information on the topic of these old-style clubs and how they compare (or don’t!) to modern clubs: http://www.leaderboard.com/CLUBINFO.htm.

The “founding father” of professional golf, Thomas M. Morris, Sr. (1821-1908), played with these old clubs, as did his son, Thomas M. Morris, Jr. (1851-1875).

Both father and son — who were known as Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris — were hugely successful and well-known golfers in their day. You can read more about Old Tom Morris here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tom_Morris, and about Young Tom Morris here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Tom_Morris and here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/jul/18/young-tom-morris-open-golf.

And how, do you wonder, does this fit in with our usual horsey theme here on the blog? Well, as you might’ve guessed, I found that original “golf supplies” ad in an 1895 issue of a riding magazine!