Lesson 1: The Wooden Club
The first golf clubs were carved from wood. A craftsman — often the same person who made bows and arrows — would shape the shaft and the head from a single piece of timber. Each club was unique because each piece of wood was unique.
These wooden clubs were heavy and hard to control. The heads were small and the faces were nearly flat. Getting a good shot required real skill — there were no modern materials to help.
Craftsmen who made golf clubs were some of the most respected people in Scottish towns. A well-made club could last years if cared for properly. A poorly made one would snap on a hard shot.
For hundreds of years, every golf club in the world was handmade from wood. Then, slowly, things began to change.
The first golf clubs were handmade from wood. Each one was unique, carved by skilled craftsmen.
Find three sticks of different shapes and sizes outside. Try hitting a small soft ball or pinecone with each one. Which stick feels most like a golf club? Which is hardest to use? Write in your history journal: what would be hardest about playing golf with only a wooden stick, and what would be fun about it?
The stick experiment makes the limitations of early equipment viscerally real. Children who have tried to hit a ball with an unsuitable stick understand immediately why craftsmen spent years perfecting club design.