This is one of my favourite clubs, extremely rare (I think – tell me if you have half a dozen in your attic, it does happen!) and hard to part with. At any one time I restrict myself to two clubs for the house which I won’t sell and this French immigrant has just been removed from that position by a longnose putter made practically next door to me in 1870.

I think I saw one before at auction and thought it mentioned Cockburn had patented it but now, as I cannot find a record of it, I am beginning to doubt even that one’s existence and certainly can find no record of a patent.

What is it? A short pregnant brassie might be one description. A highly lofted club, you could call it a wooden niblick but a shaft length of 34” is even shorter than the standard niblick. It is called “The Bombé”, French for domed or convex and has a lump on the sole, covered with a brass soleplate as with a brassie, towards the striking face. I suppose the thinking is to increase the mass at the sweetspot. The face itself has a triangular fibre insert secured by four hickory dowels and cobbler’s nails.

Although it is from before the First World War it has a real art deco feel to it, abetted by the black leather grip (probably a 1920s replacement) with red leather at top and bottom where some decorative whipping has been applied. This look is further boosted by the hosel repair where whatever happened to the lower part of the shaft has been remedied by entombing it in a copper sarcophagus. A unique approach, unorthodox, to be sure, I think it looks great and, if you know Scotland, looks like the art deco copper cladding on the Douglas Hotel in Aberdeen.

The persimmon head is stamped “The Bombé” (in script) with “B H H Cockburn Le Touquet) in a double oval above.

One of a kind, a great golfing gift, especially to yourself!

Price $460.00 Reference: S285