Translating the game

[ualtim]

I am sure that just about everyone has heard some of these terms before and wondered just what they meant. I went searching about the internet after I finished reading a book about Bobby Jones and the Grand Slam just to see what I could come up with. I found several lists, none of which matched each other. Apparently, the concept of a standardized/matched set of irons did not come about until Bobby Jones and Victor East released a set of matching Spaulding irons (with numbers rather than names) in the 1930's. Prior to that, every club maker had their own inidvidualized clubs rather than trying to conform to any standard even though they carried similar names.

So, here is the best composite list I could find. It does not include the 1 wood or putter as we still call drivers, "drivers" and putters, "putters" to this day.

The Irons
Cleek · Driving 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 · Wedge
The Woods
Brassie · 2-Wood
Spoon · Higher-Lofted Woods
Baffing Spoon · Approach Wood

 

[Adam Pettman]

I like the sound of the BAFFING SPOON.

 

[mont86]

I like the jigger as in "a jigger of whiskey"

 

[ualtim]

If you ever get caught up in a thunderstorm, hold up your cleek cause even God can not hit a cleek.

Gotta hate the modern game, nothing but driver, jigger, and putter.:laugh:

 

[ualtim]

I like the jigger as in "a jigger of whiskey"

A jigger of whiskey is what you need if you took too many strokes trying to jigger it out of the bunkers.

 

[SiberianDVM]

So modern hybrids are really spoon mashies?

 

[footballking732]

are there also spin milled jiggers??

 

[Adam Pettman]

So modern hybrids are really spoon mashies?

Me likes, From now on i shall refer to my hybrids as "Spoon Mashies".

 

[ualtim]

So modern hybrids are really spoon mashies?

Probably closer to a Baffing Spoon Mid Mashie or a Baffing Spoon Cleek depending on loft.

Of course, Cobra just simply called them "Bafflers".


As far as wedges go, Sarazen did not "invent" the Sand Wedge until later in the 1930's. You just had various lofts of jiggers depending on who built them. They also had specialty clubs such as "rutting irons" with very short blade lengths to get them out of ruts on the less than perfect fairways (someone recently posted picks of a rake like iron and water iron recently in another post if your looking for other examples.) Considering that they did not have the 14 club limit until later in the 20th century (Bobby Jones carried 17 clubs during his Grand Slam run) it is kind of surprising that they had not come up with some higher lofted clubs (although, the balls of the day behaved a lot differently than those that we play today so that could be a simple explanation.)