Hickory Golf: Playing 1890s Gutty Golf - Part 1

Part 1 of a series dedicated to pre-1900 gutty golf featuring Connecticut hickory golfer Christian Williams. In Part 1, Williams introduces the golf clubs and replica balls he uses in his 1890s gutty set and shares highlights from his very first round playing with this set.

"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.

Woodstock Golf Course opened in 1896 and is one of the oldest public golf courses in Connecticut. Formerly called Roseland and slated to close at the end of the 2020 season, new ownership has saved the course, embraced its history, and reverted the name of the course back to "Woodstock Golf Course," which is what it was when it opened 125 years ago. A par 34 nine-holer playing 2,337 yards, Woodstock is the ideal length for gutty golf and the shorter distance shots you get when hitting a gutty ball.

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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 (https://www.klhickory.com/) / 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

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