Club Uniforms, Gutties & Haskells

[Bill Gayne]

I'm reading Bernard Darwins book "Golf Courses of the British Isles" and have a couple of questions:

First, at a few of the courses he describes members playing in coats and club uniforms. At Barnton members are even required to play in their club uniforms. Are there any clubs in the British Isles that still have formal uniforms and on special occassions require members to play in uniform?

Second, he often writes of the difference that the Haskell ball has made on playing a certain hole or course. Tom Paul made what I thought was a very interesting point in another thread that the spread of golf in the United States in the 1890s was hampered by the availability and expense of balls. Does anybody know what the cost of the Gutty and Haskell ball in the early 1900s?




Bill

[Alfie]

Bill,

You're delving into the history of the game here, and there is much to learn.

The uniforms were traditionally a "Red" jacket, both worn on the course during play and at functons etc..
The red jackets were recognised by some, but not all, as being the golfers uniform up to the start of the 20th century. I don't know of any Scottish club which still keeps any link with the red jacket tradition ? Perhaps at St Andrews or other ancient places ?

I will e-mail my technology essay to you which might give you an insight to the impact of the Haskell.

A gutta percha ball cost 1 shilling (5 pence decimal) up to 1900. This was variable of course.
A feather ball circa 1848 would cost anything between 2 shillings (10p) and 5 shillings each (25p).  A player sometimes requiring at least 6 for a normal round !

Haskells were sold at 2 shillings (10p) each new and cheaper for remakes.
By 1904, nearly every single professional player was using the Haskell in the Open Champ'.

I'll let you do the conversions, Bill, but this should answer your question.

Alfie Ward.

[lesueur]

Bill
It's still within the club rules at Barnton that members must wear the club crest somewhere on their person while playing. Not everyone adheres to this (some don't even know about it). A few older members still like to wear a tie bearing the crest while they play - others just have a crested ball marker in their pocket.

Richard.

[Bill Gayne]

Alfie and Richard,

Thank you for the replies. Using the currency convertors on Economic History.net (eh.net) the current cost works out as follows:

Feathery ball at 2 shiilings would be 6.24 pounds in 2002 currency (approximately $10.36 US). Even if you got a good deal on the feathery and went through the typical six, the balls alone would set you back quite a bit.

The gutta ball at one shilling would be 3.12 pounds in 2002 currency.

The haskell ball at 2 schillings would be the same as the feathery except hopefully the typical round would not require six balls.

The modern pro-v looks like a relative bargain given the durability and performance characteristics.

Bill

[Brian_Ewen]

BillG
This year I spoke with a member of my home club that had been transferred to London with his work . He talked about playing a golf club on Wimbledon Common where all players had to wear a red shirt/sweater to distinguish themselves from walkers on the Common.

There is a good example of an old Red Jacket/Uniform in Royal Aberdeens clubhouse.

BE