In The "Christmas In April" Department...

...we have a Long Spoon Hickory Wood...handcrafted by Canadian clubmaker <Kelly Leonard>.

Kelly specializes in pre-1900 style golf clubs...the kind used during the Featherie (1800-1850) and Gutta Percha (1850-1900) eras.

This one is 42.5" long with a 15 degree loft, swing weight of D5, hickory shaft and a hard white maple head.

Too bad you can't see it in person; the pictures don't come close to doing it justice.

Without exaggeration, this is the most beautiful handcrafted golf club I've ever seen, and it's an absolute dream to swing.

Can't wait to get it on the links; I'll use it from the tees and fairways (with my guttys of course).

Thus endeth step 1 of building my pre-1900 Gutty / Featherie playset.

Next up in May will be a Baffing Spoon...

usually 25 to 30 degrees of loft, used like a mashie or niblick

...followed by a Play Club in June.

about 12 degrees of loft, used as a driver from the tees

Let the fun begin.

We're just in time for a happy birthday shout out to #5 son...

this never gets old...

...who somehow managed to grow up when I wasn't looking.

It's your basic miracle, because as far as I can tell, I haven't aged a day...

proving once again "denial" ain't just a river in egypt

...while he's clearly getting up there in years.

Anyway, Happy Birthday to my warrior son...

...thank you for your service to our country, and best wishes for many more happy birthdays!

Love you always.

I see our beloved governor, Wretched Dimwitmer, has a new book out:

how much lip filler does one woman need?

Lacking any significant accomplishments of her own, it appears she's trying to ride the coattails of Oscar winning movie legend, John Wayne:

Newsflash: she ain’t no Rooster Cogburn and has a snowball's chance in you-know-where of anyone confusing her with a great American leader.

Besides, it's pretty embarrassing to have a typo in the title, especially since they'd already printed the first run of 5 copies.

But they rallied the troops - and considering the panic driven timeframe - did the best they could, rushing a correction for the 2nd run:

Really, considering the subject matter - what she's learned in life - it wasn't all that expensive to reprint; it's only 3 pages long, and 2 of those are blank in case you want to doodle or make a grocery list or whatever.

In bookstore now...don't miss it while you can.

(I know...too easy, right?  Like fish in a barrel.)

Looks like we've brought the house down again...

Buster Keaton in the 1928 silent classic, Steamboat Bill, Jr.  That's an actual 2 ton house front falling on him...you'll have to watch the movie to find out if he was crushed or not.

...so we might as well 23 Skidoo:

the launch pad...

...and the landing site.  gaining on it...

nowadays if it's not nailed down, someone's gonna steal it; and wouldn't you know?  right before the eclipse...

That's going to do it for this edition of the AMC and as always, we welcome all positive, encouraging and uplifting comments.

Otherwise keep it to yourself; nobody likes a Negative Nancy.

As you double time it past the security personnel, here's some encouragement from Gods Word:

later, mcm fans...

Happy Easter, Y'all...

...it's the weekend we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Because of what He did on Calvary's cross - 

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

                   - Isaiah 53:5

- we can have peace with God through faith in His Son.

I hope you have experienced that reconciliation in your life, and wish you and yours a very blessed Easter.

I should not be allowed to talk to people sans supervision...

...but more on that later.

Know what those are?

They're called "featheries" and they're the type of golf ball used prior to 1850.

They're made of leather and stuffed with - you guessed it - feathers.  Lots and lots of them.

Then they're sewn shut and "finished" yielding a playable golf ball that's about 1.8" in diameter and between 1.2 to 1.4 ounces.

By way of comparison a modern ball is 1.68" in diameter and 1.62 ounces - and a McIntyre gutty is about 1.7" and 1.34 ounces.

So featheries are a little bigger and a little lighter than modern balls, but about the same weight as a gutty.

They're also mostly, but not necessarily perfectly, round.

How do I know all this?

I talked to the good folks at <hickory lane featherie> -

Denny and Cathy in 1840's garb at their featherie golf outing

- who are very helpful and uber knowledgeable.

They should be, because they make each of their featherie golf balls by hand, just like the old masters from 200 years ago.

As I said, they're playable balls; in fact, they're one of only two brands that are approved for play in the National Hickory Championships (pre-1850 "featherie" era).

devotees of the featherie era putting on a "green".  note the marked difference between greens back then - a place on the course where a hole was located - versus today's well defined, super manicured, smooth as glass versions.

So...what does any of this have to do with my 1920's era hickory golf hobby?

Funny you should ask, since that's the subject of this week's blog entry.

And it's a bit of a tangle, so first, a golf history lesson:

From the 1700's through 1850 or so, the featherie ball ruled supreme, and clubs were predominantly long nosed woods with names like "play club", "long spoon" and "short spoon":

Around 1850 the gutta percha ball was introduced...

...its main advantage being that of its hard shell durability and some increased distance.

Clubs retained their basic long nose spoon shape, but became sturdier and heavier.

Also, irons like the "smooth face lofter" (about a 7 iron) and "rut irons" or "track irons" (used to get balls out of wagon tracks that often criscrossed public land golf courses)...

...started popping up.

By 1900 the gutty was being pushed off the stage by wound core balls due to vastly improved distance, and club makers once again adapted.

The long nose spoon shapes morphed into the driver / brassie woods that you see in my bag (above) and irons became much more common.

Finally, due to the advent of metal shaft clubs, the hickory era ended around 1935.

And that, of course, was the end of golf as we know it.*

So...why does any of this matter?

Because my hickory playset is comprised of 1920's era clubs, but I hit gutta percha golf balls from the 1850-1900 era!

I know; I'm scared, too

Ok, this may not be as big a crisis as say, running out of your favorite sedative just before The View comes on, but it has stuck in my craw for a while now.

And as it happens, when I was procuring a driver from a fellow hickory golf enthusiast, he mentioned he'd participated in a <featherie golf event> last year...

video taken by <The Hickory Hacker>

...raving about how relaxed it was and how much fun everyone had.

Thus began my journey that so far involves purchasing a couple of Hickory Lane featheries...

...and committing to building an historically accurate gutty era playset (which has the benefit of working for featheries as well).

My new playset - which, Lord willing, should be complete by July or August - will consist of a long spoon (from the tees), short spoon (from the fairway), and smooth face lofter (around the greens), all supplied by <Kelly Leonard>, a clubmaker extraordinaire from Canada.

He specializes in gorgeous 19th century clubs from the featherie and gutty eras; I purchased this putter from him back in 2017...

...when I was just getting started with hickory golf.

Kelly even supplied the period correct clubs for the award winning movie Tommy's Honour:

Worth a look if you haven't seen it yet.

What all this means is I will soon be able to play historically accurate golf from the 3 best eras of golf:

Featherie, 1700-1850, using Hickory Lane featheries

Gutta Percha, 1850-1900, using McIntyre Park guttys

Vintage Hickory, 1900-1935, using a modern, low compression ball (like Callaway Super Softs)

It's uncertain if this personal realignment of my hickory golf equipment will yield a significant improvement in cosmic harmony and therefore usher in an unprecedented age of world peace and universal prosperity.

If it does not, at least I'll feel better about assuaging my CDO:

As I said to begin this segment, I should not be allowed to talk to people unsupervised because I end up doing stuff.

*opinions expressed in this blog do not always reflect reality

Ok folks, time to 23 Skidoo, and last one out's a rotten egg:

rotten /rŏt′n/

adjective

1. Being in a state of putrefaction or decay; decomposed.
2. Having a foul odor resulting from or suggestive of decay; putrid.
3. Made weak or unsound by rot.

Sounds unpleasant, so better get a move on...

a friend from work attended the Monster Jam recently...

...he's the one with the ball cap on

taken with my reto 35mm from our backyard...can't wait for some leaves on those skeleton trees

more from the backyard golf course

That, dear reader, brings us to the end of another excitin' foray into the world of blogging excellence:

Don't act so surprised; someone had to win it, and Cousin Jed said hands down we had the best bribe blog.

So take that.

later, mcm fans...