When Don and I did our first ClubMaking exams way back in the day with Golfsmith we had to shape, cut and shaft a wooden, persimmon club.
The final Master Clubmaker’s exam is very different to a PGA exam, in that we had to actually make a club from scratch from wood. We had to shape the timber, cut out and fill the face, sand, dip and polish the head and then finally we had to “whip” the shaft into place.
Whipping is an art form that is now dead and gone but it brings back great memories looking over how things used to be done.
This is how it works: there were special spools of nylon “twine” that we had to wind tightly around the neck of the head and up onto the shaft so that the tightness around the wooden neck and contact with the shaft held the shaft in place. Sometimes, we would also drill and pin the shaft into place with a small nail, because unlike today the ClubMakers did not have any glue to hold the shaft and head together.
Finishing off the wind was an art form in itself and I remember being shown for the first time how to do it. You cut a small 3” length of whipping into a loop, place it down on the shaft and then wind over the top of the loop, cut and hook the end of the whipping into the loop and then pull it back on itself to secure and tie off the ends.
Here’s the two persimmon heads Don and I made for our exams. We took them out of storage and decided to keep them in the workshop. A nice reminder of how far we’ve travelled in our training as real ClubMakers.
Don Murray Master Club Maker
Derek Murray Master Club Maker
