Clubs

First introduced around 1850s, niblicks, the equivalent of today's wedge were the shortest of the iron clubs and generally the heaviest and did not come to prominence until the 1890s. Used to escape from sand and the deepest rough, the faces on these clubs were deep and mostly oval in shape. Many designs were produced with blades thin at the top and thick at the sole.

It is said that they take their name from the Scots "neb", nose or beak and certainly the earliest niblicks (or rut irons or track irons as they are also called) have a hooked face to remove a ball from a cart track or other difficult lie which fits the description. These early irons of the 1850s had very short faces. The evolution of the club first had it flattening out and then, particularly in the 1920s, expanding with "giant", "dreadnought" and "mammoth" niblicks from various makers including Gibson, Cochrane and Lillywhite.