Quiz: Historical Golf Clubs

The quiz questions that follow this brief intro are all of the same form: "The modern equivalent of the mashie is the ..." You are asked to select one of two choices for the answer, the correct answer being the modern club (1-iron, 3-iron, etc.) to which the historical club best equates.

Why do we use the word "equivalent" in our questions? It's important to understand that the historical club, Club X, and the modern club, Club Y, would be very, very different clubs. In other words, the historical club that is the equivalent of a 2-iron, for example, was NOT a 2-iron. It was simply the club in use at the time - sometimes hundreds of years ago - whose purpose, form and use most closely resembled those of the modern 2-iron.

The numbering of golf clubs did not begin until the early 20th Century, when manufacturing capabilities reached the point that full, matched sets could be produced.

The golf clubs of old, prior to the introduction of matched sets, were a hodgepodge of often homemade clubs that bore little resemblance to a modern set. But they were the forerunners of modern clubs, and they were clubs whose forms and purposes were built upon over the decades.

By the way, a "cheat sheet" appears on every page in our quiz. It's a list of historical clubs (mashie, niblick, mashie niblick, etc.). If you're stuck, you can click on a link in the cheat sheet and the definition will pop up in a new window (so you won't be taken out of the quiz).

Also, please note that there is some disagreement among golf historians over the proper definitions of historical clubs. We have used the British Golf Museum as our source for the definitions found in this quiz and in our Glossary of Golf Terms.

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