Names for golf clubs

"I think I'll take my Cleek here Parkinson"

I'll be honest I'm a bit of a patchy golfer (dazzling and abysmal within the space of two strokes). However, a brief conversation last night reminded me of one of the things I love about golf. The old-fashioned musty fuddy-duddyness of it all, especially epitomised by the old names for clubs...

Woods:
Play Club: Driver
Brassie: 2-Wood
Spoon: Higher-Lofted Wood
Baffing Spoon: Approach Wood

Irons:
Cleek: 2 Iron
Mid Mashie: 3 Iron
Mashie Iron: 4 Iron
Mashie: 5 Iron
Spade Mashie: 6 Iron
Mashie Niblick: 7 Iron
Pitching Niblick: 8 Iron
Niblick: 9 Iron
Jigger: Very low lofted iron, shortened shaft
The Mashie Niblick was not a wedge.

The traditional set of irons was invented by Archibald Barrie and were used from 1903 up until about the 1940s. The introduction of the standardized numbered iron set produced by the Spalding Sporting Goods Company in the early 1930s caused the traditional set of irons to gradually give way to numbered convention more's the pity.

The traditional irons varied greatly in loft (+/- 5 degrees). The shape of the head determined some of the playing characteristics of the club; most traditional heads were roughly egg-shaped.

Heathen Golf on a Sunday
Sunday or Sabbath sticks were the golf enthusiasts' answer to the Church of Scotland's discouraging golfing on Sundays. Clubs were disguised as walking sticks, the club head comfortably fitting in the palm of the golfer's hand, until feeling unobserved, the stick was reversed and a few strokes were played.