For sale is a vintage 1930s MACGREGOR & DAYTON YARDSMORE A-1 PEERLESS GOLF CLUB DRIVER. This driver is in excellent condition and dates to the very start of the era when gold clubs transitioned from wood to metal shafts. The reason the metal shaft for this club is painted to have a wood tone may have been chosen to help players with the phycology of moving on from their wood shaft clubs. Club measures about 43 inches in length. A great sports collectible that will display well.
In 1897, the Crawford, McGregor & Canby Co. (CMC) of Dayton was formed. Before this formation, the Crawford Brothers owners of the Dayton Shoe Last Company manufactured wood shoe lasts. After the new partnership, the company started making new products, including golf clubs. Around the turn of the century, the game was still new to the United States but John McGregor, a native Scot, was convinced it was about to become big business in the U.S. and he lobbied his partners to steer the firm towards golf club manufacturing. This made the company the second in America (after Spalding) to manufacture golf clubs. This proved a good choice as the company became the world’s largest producer of golf clubs.
In the mid-20th century, golf associations allowed the use golf clubs with steel shafts used in tournaments. The golf shafts in the 17th and 18th centuries were not yet made of hickory, but rather from ash and hazel or whatever hardwood was available locally including wood from trees such as danga wood, ironheart, purpleheart, greenheart, bloomahoo and bulletwood. By the early 1890’s, hickory was the primary wood used in golf shafts. In 1931, Billy Burke won the US Open and was the first golfer to win using steel shaft clubs.
