Plus Four Podcast on Hickory Golf – Details, episodes & analysis

Stephen Proctor has served as a senior editor at The Baltimore Sun, The San Francisco Chronicle and The Houston Chronicle. He is an avid golfer and has spent the past decade studying the history of the royal and ancient game. He is the author of Monarch of the Green (Shortlisted for The Telegraph Sports Book Awards 2020 Biography of the Year) and The Long Golden Afternoon (shortlisted for the Sunday Times 2023 Sports Book Awards for Best Sports Writing, and the USGA Herbert Warren Wind Book Award) and lives in Malabar, Florida.

In this episode, we'll preview his 2025 release, Matchless: Joyce Wethered, Glenna Collett and the Rise of Women's Golf. Stephen is a meticulous researcher and scholar, and listeners will gain new insights into the legacy of women's golf, the predominance of early female players from the 1920s, and be concomitantly thoroughly entertained. Few golf historians are as fluid, knowledgeable, and quick witted as Stephen Proctor.

Matchless is published by Birlinn books out of Edinburgh, Scotland, and can be purchased outside the United States via Bookshop.org, or in the States (online) at BarnesandNoble.com.

Elmer Nahum, the author of Practical Clubmaking: A Guide to Long Nose Era Clubmaking, is a retired interventional radiologist who has a passion for traditional woodworking and golf history. Playing Bobby Jones’ home course of East Lake in the 1980s, which served as his college team’s home course, spawned Elm’s interest in golf history. Over the years, he has read a collection of golf books on the early history of the game as well as biographies of notable players.

His woodworking focuses on making 18th- and 19th-century furniture, primarily using hand tools with traditional methods. Nineteenth-century replica golf clubmaking is a natural offshoot of these two hobbies, with a club or two fashioned in between other larger projects.

The golf bug occasionally finds its way into some furniture manifested as a subtle golf motif. His woodworking knowledge stems from classes, books, the internet, and simply discovering while woodworking. Each attempt at making a replica 19th-century golf club offers a chance to gain new insights into the traditional methods and history of clubmaking and woodworking.

Kevin McGimpsey is the British Golf Collectors Society’s Murdock Medal winner of 2004 for his seminal book, The Story of the Golf Ball. A former Captain in the Parachute Regiment, Kevin traded his red beret for a career in antique and collectible golfing memorabilia. In May 2003, Kevin was appointed the lead golf expert at Bonhams1793 auction house. Responsible for their prestigious golf sales in both the UK and the USA, he oversaw the insurance valuations for renowned Golf Clubs, including Carnoustie and Royal Troon. His most recent publication resulted from a trip to the Los Angeles Golf Country Club. Kevin was there to catalogue their golf ball collection. As he completed the assignment, he uncovered previously undocumented golf balls. This inspired Kevin to embark on three years of research which culminated in The Collectible Golf Ball Directory 1845-1945.

Collecting golf balls is a robust pursuit in the sport. In this podcast, we discuss why this area of collecting inspires so many people, why they seem willing to part with so much money to compile their collections, and how the evolution of the golf ball revolutionized the game of golf, and still does so today.

Click here for a link to my article (with photos) on the private collection of Mr. Dick Estey.

Alastair J. Johnston has traveled a long way from Glasgow since his days as a lad. One might say that he has had a knack of being in the right place and the right time, but he might caution—to some degree—that one makes his own luck. In this episode, we learn about Johnston's magnanimous and unprecedented recent donation to the R&A of the entire contents of his 34,000-volume golf book collection; of his unrivaled relationship with Mr. Arnold Palmer, to whom he served as representative at IMG, the global agency in entertainment, sports and fashion; and of the origins of the PNC Championship, held annually in December in Florida—Johnston's brainchild honoring the unique connection the game of golf provides to generations of families, and the bond it nourishes between parent and child.

Of the donation, Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A, said, “We are very grateful to Alastair for this generous gift. We are excited to continue his vision and support his desire to display this collection in its entirety in Scotland. I can think of no more appropriate place than St Andrews to create the world’s most comprehensive library of golf books."

Your host wishes to thank Michael Morrison (author and historian), first, for tweeting an image of The Chronicles of Golf: 1457 to 1857, Johnston's 700-page chronology of the earliest legacies of the game. That tweet led me to discover Mr. Johnston's published works, including The Clapcott Papers, which is discussed in the episode; and Seattle-based golf book dealer, Peter Yagi, for making the connection for me to contact Alastair for the podcast.

As is mentioned in the pod, the Johnston library collection—I submit—represents a true legacy gift to golfers forevermore. 100 years from now, serious students of the game will wish, as many of us do today, that they could thank those (like Alastair) who so thoughtfully and carefully stewarded the tradition and history of the game in their time, for we are all better for it. Well played, Mr. Johnston.

Sometimes in life, you meet a kindred spirit. Peter Grunwell, co-owner of Fine Golf Books of St. Andrews, is just this person. He, along with his wife, Anke Bruxmeier, have been in the golf world for more than 55 years, combined. Peter was a British PGA professional and a member of the United States Golf Collector's Society. Anke, a native of Germany, was a PGA professional as well for over 25 years.

Together, they are living the modern-day dream. They live in St. Andrews, collect antique, rare, and new golf books as well as memorabilia, play golf in the epicenter of the royal and ancient game, and have unending opportunities to meet golfers and golf collectors nearly every day of their lives.

Fine Golf Books does more than just sell books—they also deal in authenticated autographs, support the independent publishing of important titles, sell varying valuable works on paper, and the occasional golf-related collectible. In this episode, host Robert Birman speaks with Peter about his journey to building one of the leading sites for antiquarian and rare golf book buyers, and his observations about the field, its avid collectors, and the variables that face book lovers, dealers, and publishers today.

The R&A World Golf Museum is a 'must-see' destination for every first-time visitor to St. Andrews. The modern-day successor of the former British Golf Museum, it raises its ambition to play a pivotal role in delivering on one of the R&A of St. Andrews' core objectives—to be a leading body within the world of golf that engages and supports activities to ensure golf is a thriving sport for all on a global scale.

Following three weeks of hickory golf throughout Scotland, podcast host Robert Birman had an opportunity to tour the Museum's newly-reimagined exhibitions, which were extremely impressive, and to speak with the longstanding and visionary director of the R&A World Golf Museum, Angela Howe.

This episode recaps the final week of our 21-day visit to the Glasgow are, Ayrshire, the Mull of Kintyre, the Highlands, Moray, Aberdeen, and St. Andrews, and highlights Ms. Howe's creative work leading the Museum and overseeing the collections of the R&A since 2009.

images used with permission courtesy of the R&A World Golf Museum

In 1887, Robert Finlay became a benefactor and founder member of the Nairn Golf Club. He was President from 1911-1929. Horace Hutchinson, who won back-to-back Amateur Championships at St. Andrews and Hoylake in 1886-87, is associated with Nairn. The Nairn Golf Club archive has helped to trace back the details of Hutchinson’s link, which involved affiliations with Scottish national politicians.

FA (Frank) Fairlie was Captain of the Nairn Golf Club in 1901-02. Fairlie was fourth son of James Ogilvie Fairlie, the man who enticed Tom Morris from St. Andrews to Prestwick in 1851 a crucial factor in the establishment of the Open Championship in 1860.

Many hands have shaped Nairn golf course and in 1887 Andrew Simpson Keeper of the Green at Royal Aberdeen laid out the original design. In 1890, Old Tom Morris revised the course and extended it westward over the Earl of Cawdor’s property. Twenty years on, and the most prominent impact on the layout of the Championship course was from the five-time Open Champion James Braid (and the first to break 70 at Nairn with a 69 in 1901) altered tees and bunkers before creating new greens of singular subtlety. Then in 1920, new holes at Delnies were designed by the irrepressible Ben Sayers of North Berwick before, once more, Braid returned to contribute his expertise. And in 2018 the Club undertook a large renovation project of the Championship course from renowned Architects Mackenzie and Ebert.

We sat down during the 2022 World Hickory Open to speak to the newly appointed archivist at Nairn, Hugh Sutherland, about the collection, its importance, and the ways in which it informs the membership.

The first podcast from our 21-day journey in Scotland features week one in Glasgow, Ayr, and Campbeltown, getting to know golf on the west coast of Scotland. This episode features conversations with the archivist at Prestwick Golf Club, Mr. Andrew Lochhead, just prior to the official 150th anniversary of the first Open on October 17, 1860. It also includes information from the archivist at Western Gailes Golf Club, Mr. Turner Bone, who's course boasts a decidedly different path towards becoming one of the great links in the nation.

Playing Prestwick and Western Gailes was enough of a joy for any man, but to sit and bear witness—particularly in the case of Prestwick—to the volumes of paper archives the Club has retained since 1851, including most (if not all) of Tom Morris' receipts for his wages, and an original set of clubs he made personally for one of the early members was a life-changing experience. In this episode, both stewards of their Club's pasts share insights into their collections, each club's history, and some of what resonates with them most. Seeing these 19th century links has proven to me that golf was an adventure sport, pure and simple. Their is a boldness and audaciousness to both layouts, as well as the others mentioned in this audio postcard, namely Dunaverty, Machrihanish, and Irvine Bogside.

Some of the documents discussed at Prestwick can be seen in Geoff Shackelford's blog, here. There is also a great piece from Golf Illustrated here on the Prestwick Golf Club and it's legacy. You can click on the image of Mr. Lochhead to watch the Cookie Jar Golf film about the famed and beloved club.

The World Hickory Open returns in October 2022, after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19. A group of ten intrepid hickory golf enthusiasts from the Pacific Northwest are making their way to this year's event at Royal Dornoch, Nairn, and Castle Stuart, following a 21-day itinerary that begins on the Glasgow coast at Western Gailes and ends with six nights in St Andrews, with rounds every single day and— often— twice per day for those who are up for it.

Host, Robert Birman, outlines the itinerary for this journey and provides a sneak peek into some of the special interviews arranged during the epic trip-of-a-lifetime, including visits with archivists of numerous courses in Scotland, the owner/operators of Fine Golf Books in St Andrews, and the Director of the R&A World Golf Museum.

Courses on this trip include: Irvine Bogside, Western Gailes, Prestwick St Nicholas, Prestwick, Shiskine, Dunaverty, Machrihanish, Machrihanish Dunes, Fortrose & Rosemarkie, Traigh, Brora, Boat of Garten, Golspie, Nairn, Castle Stuart, Royal Dornoch, Cruden Bay, Cullen, Fraserburgh, Stonehaven, The Old Course, New Course, Eden, Jubilee, Renaissance Club, North Berwick, and others TBA.

Precision is a word that aptly applies to Dr. David Brown, owner of McIntyre Golf Company, the leading manufacturer of replica golf balls in the world. (He even plays Nicoll Precision irons from the mid-1910s.) An orthopedic surgeon by training, specializing in knees and overall sports medicine, he meticulously crafts gutta percha balls, brambles, mesh pattern and small dimple balls appropriate for play with pre-1935 clubs. And like his predecessor, Chris McIntyre, he brings a relentless curiosity and scientific rigor to the process, from sourcing raw materials to creating the perfect systems and processes to replicate these precious items for thousands of players from here to Japan.

Brown is an avid runner and bicyclist, and frequent guest at tournaments throughout the U.S. and British Isles. He has represented America at the International Hickory Cup (now Freeman Cup) and is an enduring presence at the Hickory Grail tournaments, held every other year in a true Ryder Cup format; it's Europe vs. America for hickory Golf. He's one of the true gents in the gentlemen's game, and is quietly helping new generations to experience the sport we all love with a touch of the past.

Brown is a member of the Nebraska Hickory Golf association, one of the leading regional groups in the United States, and the only one that boasts a hickory golf Hall of Fame. In this episode, we'll explore the wide range of products that Dave oversees and travel vicariously through his exploits in the game.