Evening star., 1932-12-28
NAMES ON STICKS
DUE TO DISAPPEAR
0Id.Timers Regret Passing
of Custom That Has Pre-
vailed for Centuries.
NERHAPS it is a good thing
. for the game Of golf, but you
can't get the old-timerS to


/ can't get the old-timers to
agree that the substitution
Of numbers on golf clubs for the
time honorec names meets with
the chronology Of an ancient game
which has centuries of tradition
behind 1t. The day is not far off
when such terms as "mashie,'
"midiron," "cleek," driving iron"
and "mashie- -niblick" will be as
forgotten as is the old-time
''baffy."
How many players OF these days re-
member the baffy, which was sort Of
wooden cleek, used In the fashion Of
the spoon Of today to get the ball out
OF bad lies in the fairway when
brassie could not be used? How many
can recall the niblick Of two decades
ago, q smal-headed wicked sort OF
weapon which was used for whacking
the ball out Of bad lies anywhere, and
which took hitting Of the most accurate
sort to get the ball out? How many
will recall the days. about 10 years back,
fashioned in the form Of lattice-work
affair and reinforced by steel ribs down
It's length, first made its appearance on
Washington golf courses?
TI1ATER r. TUCKERMAN, then one
w Of Washington's ranking anna
teurs, was the first star player to use
this steel shaft. He used it to such
hat tIn s,r,1,t ts1,
the air OF Tuckerman's steel-shafted
ve7saries Numbered clubs came in
after that. first put on the market by
the manufacturers in the form OF
matched sets. They have had such
vogue over the past six or seven years
that most of the golfers who have
taken up the game In recent years
know only the old terms, such as
"mashie" and 'midiron," as archaic
symbols for their mo. S" or their mo.
g." No more is it the fashion to say.
Il played that shot with a mashie."
Instead the cry Is, Give me my No. 5.
or my No. T." or anything except the
old-fashioned symbols Yet the clubs
are much the same. The dying nomen-
clature of golf clubs is bringing to the
game Of golf q Standardization of shots
that Is doing more than the manufac-
turers can accomplish by furnishing
numbered clubs for varying distances.
It won't be long before the old terms
will dwell only in the memory of the
old timers.
Remember what a master Dr.. Lee
Harlan used to be with the mashie-
nibiicl. and hcW he could carve out
par even though he couldn't reach the
green in the standard number Of shots
- - r1lo hi ia ,li,ly
shot so close to the hole? Today that
same shot would be played with
INC. S".or mo. g." If you had men
toned those numbers to the beloved
"Dr. Lee" of o. dozen years ago he
wouldn't have known what you meant.
But the dying out Of the old terms is
having q standardi1ng and perhaps
good effect on the game. for the manu-
facturers are making every effort to OBJ
tain q standard of loft on their iron
clubs which the old weapons did not
attain.
TN the old hand-forged days, when
i golf clubs came to the professionals
shops in the form Of separate heads
and bulky wooden shafts out of which
they were fashioned into the finished
article, you might find "mashie' with
the loft Of iron Of today; Or It might
day. with the machine methods in use
they are ali standardized You can de-
pend on your No. 5" TO give you mashle
distance, provided you hit the ball
Ing iron," or mo H. which had the
loft Of a "midiron," and many mid
iron" with the loft OF driving iron
in the old days. But today they are all
standardized. A number l. is a true
driving club, and number z is
midiron.
It's all machine-like and standard
ized, but something of the charm OF the
ancient game has gone with the dying
out of the old symbols. What more sym
bolic term for a club which sprsng
from the highlands of Scotland could
there be than "mashic?" And could
there be a better sounding name for
club for short distance than the "Jlgger'
Of beloved memory? Certainly they
sounded better than mere numbers Tor
rolf clubs, even though the modern CLUBS
are better tools than their predecessors.
4 LONG with the mechanlzatlon OF
II the game by substitution OF num-
bers for names. there appears 70
be a definite drift back from steel shafts
toward wooden shafts. There isn't any
doubt that the introduction OF steel
shafted iron clubs in matched sets bear
ing famous names, such as Jones, sara
sen. Hagen. Farrell and others, have
been q tremendous spur to goH clup
sales. But the professional, even
though he profits Handsomely in the
initial instance at the time OF the sale
has watched his profits from club re-
pairs drop off tremendously.
How can the golf professional be
supposed to be combination black
smith-cabinet worker, as he must be
to repair the few breaks in the steel
shafts Of today? When a steel shalt
breaks nowadays. he sends it back 70
the factory for repairs. His bench work
by way OF wooden shaft requirements
has fallen off by big percentage. So
have his profits. Ard SO nowadays
there is trend back toward wooden
shafts, among the professionals as well
as the better amateurs. AS the pro
plays. so play the amateurs at MS cluo'
and the smart pros ere getting back to
wooden shafts. thereby squirting the re-
placement end of their jobs.
The day of the old-time clubmaker.
who built custom made sets to order,
Is waning. but there are signs that ne
is coming back in no small way. AS
wooden shafts come back to popularity,
the day OF the club mske- in the golf
shops Of thousand professionals over
the land will come back.