Golf Clubs and Equipment Manufacturer St Andrews Scotland
St Andrews ~ The Home of Golf
Although the game of golf in St Andrews can be traced back to the early 1400s it was not until the 19th century that the game really developed. This was largely due to the introduction c1845 of the Gutta Percha ball, moving away from the expensive Featherie that had been used for centuries before.
ONLINE SHOP >> Corporate Golf Gifts
As the game grew so did the requirement for clubs. The recognised
craftsmen clubmakers of this era included Philp, McEwan, Forgan
and Wilson. A further group of clubmakers worked as professional
golfers, playing in matches and tournaments, giving lessons,
working on course development and maintenance and, as a sideline,
would make wooden clubs, and in some instances featherie or gutta
percha balls. Amongst those established clubmakers were Morris,
Park and Dunn. All hailing from the East Neuk of Fife or across the Forth from Musselburgh.
Cleekmakers, or iron clubmakers, were blacksmiths who, having recognised the growing demands of the times, developed their specialised skills into producing golf club heads which were usually supplied to others for shafting and gripping. Early hand forged clubs were not stamped with any identification marks. As demand for equipment grew, the craft of 'cleekmaking' evolved and makers began to mark their iron heads with their own symbol or `cleek' mark.
Amongst the prominent 'local' cleek makers were Anderson, Stewart, Spence, Gibson and Nicoll. The names of George Nicoll and the St Andrews Golf Company now belong to Heritage Golf.
[ top of the page ]
Copyright Mackins Design Studio 2006 - All Rights Reserved
