You may ask what is that? well i'll tell you,at the moment we're on winter greens and it's been rather frosty so to add a little fun to the round we've devised a little challenge in our group. On all par 3's you can only use a putter half breed,thats a putter with a sloped face,if you've got a decent one that will take the strain of hitting the ball upto around 170 yards then why not try it yourself,its a bit like hitting a 5 iron and funny to boot but excellent if you connect with the ball right.so far i've managed around 135-40 yards.

I used to carry a little putter/chipper and was deadly with it from just off the greens. Then I discovered the angle of the face was the same as a 6 iron so I quit carrying it. If you pop the ball up to land on the green 1/3rd of the way to the hole with a 6 iron, it will roll the remaining 2/3rds for a one putt, Sometimes in for birdie.

I have a wooden shafted chipper made by Beckly Ralston in Scotland that dates back to the 1920s. It is quite upright and has about a 10 degree loft. I can use it to chip and run but if I take a full swing I can hit it about 140 yards. I found it in a barrel at St. Andrews Old Course in 1974 and I don't use it anymore. It,s mounted on my office wall and draws a lot of comment from visitors.

What in God's name are you geezers all blathering on about?

legitimatebeef wrote:

What in God's name are you geezers all blathering on about?

One of my buddies has a full set of pre 20th century clubs. For irons (actually made of iron), he's got a cleek, three mashies, two niblicks, a mashie niblick, a jigger, a rutter, and a tracker. For woods, he has a brassie, a baffie, and a spoon. And of course he has a putter.

• Driver: 1-Wood
• Brassie: 2-Wood
• Spoon: Higher-Lofted Wood
• Baffing Spoon: Approach Wood
• Cleek: 2 Iron
• Mid Mashie: 3 Iron
• Mashie Iron: 4 Iron
• Mashie: 5 Iron
• Spade Mashie: 6 Iron
• Mashie Niblick: 7 Iron
• Pitching Niblick: 8 Iron
• Niblick: 9 Iron
• Jigger: Very low lofted iron, shortened shaft (aka “a chipper”)
• Putter

Not familiar with a "rutter" or "tracker" but they sound like specialized implements for unusual ground conditions.

bkuehn1952 wrote:

• Driver: 1-Wood • Brassie: 2-Wood • Spoon: Higher-Lofted Wood • Baffing Spoon: Approach Wood • Cleek: 2 Iron • Mid Mashie: 3 Iron • Mashie Iron: 4 Iron • Mashie: 5 Iron • Spade Mashie: 6 Iron • Mashie Niblick: 7 Iron • Pitching Niblick: 8 Iron • Niblick: 9 Iron • Jigger: Very low lofted iron, shortened shaft (aka “a chipper”) • Putter Not familiar with a "rutter" or "tracker" but they sound like specialized implements for unusual ground conditions.

Nice. The interesting thing about those old clubs is that the names sometimes differed between the smiths that made them based on personal preference. I've heard a driver called the "playing club" or the "play club" before. In this set, the 1 wood is actually the brassie.

The tracker is a lot like a flat-spade shovel. That's the impression I get when I look at it. It is made to hit out of buggy tracks on the course because back then, there were no ground under repair rules. The rutter is a club that is actually designed to hit out of water. It has a hole in the middle of it that's too small for the ball to fit through. Ideally, this club was used to hit out of deep buggy tracks that had accumulated water.

It sounds to me like golf might have been a really messy game back then.

Don't worry about it Brooklyn.You would have to be there to appreciate it.

bkuehn1952 wrote:

• Driver: 1-Wood • Brassie: 2-Wood • Spoon: Higher-Lofted Wood • Baffing Spoon: Approach Wood • Cleek: 2 Iron • Mid Mashie: 3 Iron • Mashie Iron: 4 Iron • Mashie: 5 Iron • Spade Mashie: 6 Iron • Mashie Niblick: 7 Iron • Pitching Niblick: 8 Iron • Niblick: 9 Iron • Jigger: Very low lofted iron, shortened shaft (aka “a chipper”) • Putter

Go Gryffindor !!!

If I had to remember to use a 'mashie niblick' for a 155 yd shot I'd be a total wreck out there. Oops, came up short. Should have used a soft 'spade niblick'.

Shoot me.

The beef don't get out much, he only plays one course. I'd be cranky too.