My Carolina Golf

Before purchasing antique golf clubs, you should get into the practice of evaluating it properly. Sadly, most of us at some time had the experience of giving a club an easy once-over peek and then finding out after we’ve bought it that it might not be the antique that we believed it was.

Here’s some information to help evaluate vintage wooden shafted golf clubs. The most important thing is to begin at one end of the club and carefully work along the club, reviewing all of its parts, making sure that you have an antique golf club appraisal which is sound and reliable. As always, if you have got any questions, there are a multitude of experts available who can help you with questions or concerns. There also are many great reference materials which make evaluating an antique golf club far easier.

Here in this 3 part series on antique golf club appraisal, we take a look at the grip, the end grain of the shaft, and wood rot as factors in figuring out the authenticity and value of a vintage golf club.

Inspecting the grip

Only a miniscule proportion of antique golf clubs have their original grip. The older the club the more chance it's been regripped when in use. Grips on hickory clubs have a tendency to come in two main types: softish suede or hard leather. The biggest clue whether a grip is original is to look for little tacks (nails) or holes in the shaft from previous fittings at the bottom, and particularly, the head of the grip. Previous holes at the bottom may naturally be covered by the more recent grip, it is awfully tough to disguise completely the holes or tacks at the very top. Do not instantly become anxious if you believe the grip is not original. The incontrovertible fact that a grip isn't original is not generally a factor when determining the authenticity of an antique golf club. We now move on to an inspection of the wooden shaft.

The End Grain of the Shaft

When viewing the butt end of the shaft head on, with the club face lined up as if hitting a ball, the grain of the wood should generally run left to right and not top to bottom. The grain of the hickory running in this direction also makes it less likely for the shaft to split when the club is used in play. If the grain isn't in a general left to right direction, it clearly indicates it was not fitted by a skilled club craftsman, and a validation (or not) of its vintage nature.

Wood Rot

It is not uncommon to find hickory golf clubs with wood shafts that have rotten ends at the butt end of the club. The wood might be literally falling apart or it may be very soft. A mild pressing with a finger on the tip can exhibit any underlying condition. If the tip is falling away then you can consider removing a few inches off but you would need to grasp by how much before solid wood is reached. Regularly it'll be clear to you from the very beginning, that the club isn't, nor will it ever be, playable. That does not prevent you from making it a valuable and appealing display piece. If the wood is very soft then few liberal coats of polish can stabilise it and make it quite hard and engaging for display.

There are a few more steps concerned in gauging an antique golf club which we are going to cover in subsequent articles, enabling anybody to determine precisely what you have.

Andrew Shea has been concerned in Antique Golf, both on a personal level, and in a pro capacity for a few years. If you have a query or are interested in vintage golf clubs sometimes, you are always welcome at his site.When you have determined what you have, the very next step is determining what it could be worth. For a more definitive description of the antique golf club evaluation process, and to take the next step and establish more precisely what you piece is worth, you can explore the diversity of resources at our site.

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