Wawashkamo G.C. (Mackinac Island) with 1890s Gutty Golf Clubs – Hickory Golf Course Vlog #43

A shot-by-shot hickory golf course vlog featuring hickory golfer Christian Williams playing 1890s gutty golf at Wawashkamo Golf Club on Mackinac Island, MI, with fellow hickory golfer and golf historian Andy Grow. Williams is a golf historian with a high handicap, sharing his passion for the game through this channel where he shows how to collect, repair, and play with antique, wood-shafted golf clubs. In this round, Williams, is using his authentic 1890s gutty golf irons, a replica 1880s long-nose spoon, and the period-accurate McIntyre Park synthetic gutta percha ball, McIntyre Braid limited-flight line cut ball, and his own custom hand-hammered Wilson DuoSoft ball to mimic the style of ball used in the 1870s and early 1880s. Watch this video to learn how he makes that hand-hammered ball: https://youtu.be/l9OsEi8OlJ8

Joining Williams in this round is his friend and fellow golf historian/hickory golfer Andy Grow. Andy’s father, Larry, was the caretaker at Wawashkamo from 1985-1998 and Andy spent the summers of his teenage years living and working on the golf course with his dad. In this special course vlog, both Andy and Christian are mic’d up and discuss the interesting aspects of the golf course as they come across them during their 9-hole round.

Wawashkamo Golf Club dates to 1898 and is unique in that it’s been mostly unchanged since it was originally carved out of farmland and an apple orchard by Scottish golf pro Alex Smith. Before it was a golf course, Wawashkamo was a battlefield pitting invading British forces against American troops in 1814 as an extension of the War of 1812. In fact, 13 American soldiers killed in action are still buried in a copse of trees alongside the 5th and 6th holes.

Smith designed Wawashkamo not long after he arrived in America and would go on to have a successful golf career in the United States, winning the U.S. Open twice in 1906 and 1910.

In this round, Williams is playing gutty golf, which is hickory golf played with pre-1900 golf clubs and a line-cut, period-accurate ball made of synthetic gutta percha that’s about as close to the real thing as you can find to mimic the playability and distance of the gutta percha ball that was used for golf from 1848 to about 1898 when the rubber-cored Haskell ball first made its appearance. This round is sponsored by McIntyre Golf Co., which produces period-accurate replica golf balls for the hickory era, including several different balls used for pre-1900 gutty golf. Williams is using their premium Park ball for this round as well as their less expensive Braid limited-flight; learn more about McIntyre golf balls at: https://www.mcintyregolf.com/

Williams plays authentic 1890s irons and a replica long-nose playclub handmade by Kelly Leonard. He also carries the sand for his sand tees in a leather sand tee pouch made by Steurer & Jacoby (use the promo code HICKORYHACKER23 to save 10% on any purchase at http://www.steurerjacoby.com including their Leather Sand Tee Pouch). In rounds where he doesn’t have sand or in frozen tee box conditions, he uses a durable 3-in-1 rubber tee that you can find on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3KVF1wA

Here’s “What’s Under the Arm?” for this round sponsored by McIntyre Golf (https://www.mcintyregolf.com/):
– Replica 1880s McEwan long spoon – 15 degrees, E6 swing weight, 43 inches
– Circa 1894 Peter Paxton general iron – 31*, E3, 40-1/2″
– Circa 1898 Cann & Taylor “Taylor’s Mashie” – 36*, D3, 37-3/4″
– Circa 1900 B.G.I. lofter – 46*, G0, 37-3/4″
– Circa 1902 Tom Stewart Ord Putter – 8*, C7, 35″
– McIntyre Park synthetic gutta percha line-cut ball

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