Lot # 31: Spalding Lard Shaft Cleek

Starting Bid: $350.00

Bids: 17 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "Fall 2021",
which ran from 11/4/2021 11:00 AM to
11/20/2021 8:00 PM



Lard shafts are exceptionally visual collectibles with hundreds of holes hand drilled in a six sided steel shaft.  Because they were one of the earliest steel shafts commercially produced,  Lard-shafted clubs are also quite historic.  Spalding sold these clubs 8 years before the USGA ruled that steel shafts conformed to the rules of golf.

Complete with its original leather wrap grip and original whipping atop the hosel, this cleek is among the rarest of lard shaft irons.  Mashies and Mid-irons are the typical fare, and their shafts are not nearly as long as the 39 3/4" shaft in this cleek. There is even pitting over the entire head, but all the stamps on the back of the head and the sole are still readable.

This perforated shaft was covered under two patents issued in 1916 and 1917 to Allan Lard. Spalding offered the club in its 1918 and 1919 catalogs. Spalding promoted Lard's metal shafts as a substitute for the best hickory shafts, which were in short supply. Drilling out the metal to create the hundreds of holes in the shaft was necessary to bring the shaft to a decent weight. Ironically, a shortage of steel during World War 1 interrupted the production of Lard's steel shaft.

TCA2 Vol 2, p 658-659

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