Part 2 of a series dedicated to pre-1900 gutty golf featuring Connecticut hickory golfer Christian Williams. In this episode, Williams plays his second round of 1890s gutty golf and shows the pros and cons of playing gutty golf on a modern golf course. In Part 1, Williams introduced the golf clubs and replica balls he uses in his 1890s gutty set; watch that episode here:
“Gutty golf” was the name of the game from the 1860s to early 1900s when the irons were smooth-faced and the balls were made from a tree resin called gutta percha. Eventually, the more player-friendly characteristics of the rubber-cored Haskell ball made solid gutta percha balls obsolete, ushering in equipment characteristics more familiar to modern golfers like scored faces and mesh or dimple-patterned balls. The golf clubs and replica balls featured in this series are what would have been used to play golf in the 1890s and earlier.
Cypress Ridge Golf Course is a public 18-hole course in Topeka, KS that opened in 1954. Williams played this round from the Red tees, which measure at 2,555 yards.
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What’s In the Bag? (actually, What’s Under the Arm? as golf bags weren’t used in the 1890s):
– McEwan long spoon replica made by Kelly Leonard ( / 15 degrees, E6 swing weight, 44 inches long
– Peter Paxton general iron (circa 1894) / 31 degrees, E3 swing weight, 40 inches long
– Douglas McEwan lofter made by Robert Condie (circa 1895) / 45 degrees, D3 swing weight, 36-3/4 inches long
– A.G. Spalding “Harry Vardon” small-head niblick (circa 1900) / 53 degrees, G+ swing weight, 38 inches long
– Willie Park Jr. patent wry-neck putting cleek (circa 1893) / 13 degrees, 34-1/2 inches long
#golfhistory #hickorygolf #guttygolf #antiquegolfclubs
