Lot # 42: TCA2 Published Ernest Spencer's Undaunted Juvenile Driver.

Starting Bid: $250.00

Bids: 4 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "Fall Golf Auction 2019",
which ran from 11/6/2019 12:00 PM to
11/23/2019 8:00 PM



This Undaunted driver was produced under Earnest Spencer's 1897 British Patent No. 24,366. The aluminum sleeve that forms the neck was designed to received both the head and the shaft, each of which is pinned in place with copper rivets.  Because the head of the Undaunted driver is not bored out to receive the shaft, Spencer believed it would be more durable than normal socket head woods. At least, according to the patent, the head is not suppose to be bored out.

On this particular driver, which is the only one known to the auctioneer, there is a third copper rivet/pin that runs through the head just below the aluminum sleeve. I can see no reason for that pin if it does not affix something inside the head. And, of course, the only something that could be would be the end of the shaft.  That would mean the neck on this club was bored out before the aluminum sleeve was put in place. Then, after the sleeve was put in place, the shaft was inserted all the way through the sleeve and into the bottom of the head. Then the shaft was pinned in place at the top and bottom of the sleeve and in the base of the socket.

It might look somewhat plain, but there was a lot of work put into the manufacturing and of both head and sleeve in order to make a rock solid connectiion between the shaft and head.

This particular driver is 36" long and was made for a younger golfer. The grip is an old replacement, but an original nail from the original grip is still visible in the shaft, just below the bottom of the existing grip.  While Spencer did not say that durability was a reason for the metal neck, that idea was probably not lost on the parent who purchased this club for his or her child.

This is the very club pictured in The Clubmakers Art, Second Edition, Vol 2 page 359.  A signed copy of that page is included with this club when sent to the winning bidder.

 

 

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