Always having an interest in the history of golf, this started out more with books on some of the first courses or figures who have shaped the game. It has now moved a little further in collecting unusual items. So on my Christmas list a few years ago a long nose putter was mentioned.
I had noted on the list Ross Baker was involved in restoring and creating classic golf clubs. Thinking one of his hand crafted long nose putters would look good on the games room wall, right alongside my Top 100 golf ball collection, Santa managed to deliver.
First trial of long nose putter on the practice green
Then the brain went into a little bit of overdrive. How about I expand this and actually play with a hickory golf set. I still enjoy going to the range sometimes hitting the persimmon drivers, surely this would make for a bit of a change, testing the skills also.
So before getting a little bit ahead of myself, I took the putter on my last game to use on the practice green. A scratch marker I was playing with on the day also had a test. He quite liked it with the only drawback having to hit the ball a bit harder.
It sure was a big change from my current mallet style putter, with its large SuperStroke grip. Having a skinny kangaroo hide bound grip, it certainly was unusual to be holding a putter with one hand above the other (current grip is hands side by side). Plus not having any aid alignments was certainly making it harder lining up the put and keeping the club face straight at impact. But Ross must be given credit as this is a fantastic piece of craftsmanship.
Is this now the end of the dream to play a few rounds of golf with a hickory set? No way. Next job is finding a few other clubs making a small set, then go and potentially embarrass myself at the local municipal course. If all goes according to plan, I might just make finishing the Top 100 Golf list playing with a hickory golf set at Cape Wickham. If not it can be a historical piece in the games room.
