Definition: The "pitching niblick" was the historical golf club (wooden-shafted, pre-20th Century) whose short shaft made it the club of choice for chipping and short approaches. In the way it was used, the pitching niblick was most equivalent to today's wedges.
That doesn't mean the pitching niblick was necessarily a high-lofted club, however. With antique golf clubs, loft could dramatically differ from set to set among the same clubs. That's why you'll sometimes see this club also compared to a 4-iron under its alias, the "jigger."
It's sometimes not the loft of an antique club that is used to equate that club to modern ones, but how the club was used. And the pitching niblick - a k a jigger or lofting iron - was used to approach and chip.
Source: British Golf Museum
Also Known As: Jigger, lofting iron
