The following is a list of golfing terms used mainly in the late 19th, early 20th century. Some of these terms are still used today. Following the term is a brief description of its meaning.
Baffy:This is a redundant term used to describe what is now the number four club. When it was in use,
the club it refered to was a steeply lofted wooden club with a snall head.
Brassie:The is another old term, whos equivament club is the number two club. The name is derived from the fact that the club had a brass sole plate.
Driver:This is the number one wood, which is the furthest hitting golf club in the golfer's bag. Originally the driver was the two furthest hitting clubs, the play club and the grass club.
Cleek:These days the number one iron, but prior to that, the term was used when referring to the light, narrow bladed iron clubs. The irons were used for putting, and getting the ball out of the sand or rough ground.
Driving Iron:Modern day equivalent is the number one iron, but these driving irons are no longer in use. They refer to the clubs used to for making shots through the green.
Jigger:This refers to a club, similar to the modern day pitching wedge, which is used for chip shots. These were short shafted iron clubs with shallow facesd and moderately lofted.
Mashie:The number five iron is the modern equivalent of this club. It was a lofted iron club, used for back spin and pitching.
Mashie Iron:The number six club would be the modern day equivalent of this club. It was a lofted iron golf club, which was used for driving and for long shots through the green.
Mashie Niblick:The modern day equivalnet of this club would be the number six and number seven golf clubs. The mashie niblick iron clubs were used for pitching.
Mid Iron:The modern day equivalent of the mid iron clubs would be the number two iron. The mid iron golf clubs were more lofte than the driving iron.
Mid Mashie:These iron golf club's modern day equivalent would be the number three iron.
Niblick:The number nine iron is also known by this name. The original niblicks were a steeply lofted club constructed from wood.
Spade Mashie:The number six iron would be the modern day equivalent to the spade mashie. These spade mashie were more lofted than the mashie, and consisted of a deep faced iron club.
Spoon:The modern day equivalent of the spoon would be the number three wood. The spoon got its name from the way the club head was constructed. The loft on early golf club faces was concave (dipped inwards), and gave the appearance of a spoon's bowl. The term spoon refered to clubs that had shorter shafts than the grass driver, and more pronounced graduated lofts.
