Hickory Golf - Playing Golf With The Clubs Of Days Gone Bye

Those of us who are interested in collecting antique golf clubs have seen, heard, or read about the term hickory golf clubs more often than perhaps any other collectible golf term. For most of us, our exposure is limited to exactly that, a club in our collection, a reference in an article, perhaps a conversation with a colleague.

For others, it has become a passion to go beyond talk and books, and display cases, and actually experince golf as it used to be, perhaps as long as several centuries ago. Hickory Golf has become a passionate hobby where aficionados of this vintage golf club actually take to the course armed with these historic masterpieces in search of that feeling enjoyed by golfers of yesteryear.

So what does it feel like and in this day of oversized titanium drivers, what does it feel like to play the game at its most basic level, with the most basic of equipment. We thought we would check around and find out, perhaps getting our hands on a genuine hickory shafted club, and here is what we found, and what you can expect.

Hickory Golf Will Test Your Muscles, No Doubt

Immediately, anyone will notice a significant weight difference, with todays designs significantly lighter. Hickory Clubs had shafts which were surprisingly heavy by today's standards. Over time, I would imagine that you would gain your "feel" and that your swing would modify itself to conform to the heavier club, but initially, the difference is quite an eye-opener.

The second difference, which is just as noticeable, and perhaps even more significant, is the size of the clubhead. A function of both the massive clubhead sizes available today, and the traditionally undersized wooden club head of a hickory golf club. One or the other on its own represents a meaningful difference; combine the effect and its like playing tennis with a ping pong paddle.

Overall, as it relates to the woods, it is popular consensus that the trajectory of flight is lower than a modern Driver, more resembling the ball flight of a fairway wood. Hickory Golfers, by design, tee the ball much lower as a result of this. Hitting the irons, whether it be the Mashie or the Niblick, provides a very dependable result for the accomplished player. In other words, although distance may sometimes be compromised, these clubs provide true outcomes with regard to ball flight and direction.

Finally, the conventional hickory putter, which as you would expect, was a steel forged, blade style putter. In the old days, hickory putters had some loft built in to account for greens conditions which often paled in comparison to today's meticulously engineered and maintained greens.

Hickory Golf - No Surprise Its Loved By So Many

Its easy to understand why Hickory Golf has become as popular as it has, and why it is expected to continue to grow in popularity.
For the true golf lover, it allows one to experience the game in a way that raw skill matters exponentially more than it does today, as more and more equipment enhancements make it harder and harder to make a mistake. There will still be bad shots and the associated frustration, and there will be glimmers of excellence with fist pumps of joy, but at its core, hickory golf is a great experince that should be experienced at least once by every serios golfer, weekend or otherwise.