Steel Shaft History Told by First to Play Steel in Open by HERBERT C

Steel Shaft History Told by First to Play Steel in Open By HERBERT C. LAGERBLADE ROBABLY most of the records con- The first of our shafts were made of cerning- the development of that revo- thin strip steel folded into a tapered tube Plutionary development in golf club con- and hydrogen brazed by a new method struction, the steel shaft, have been lost General Electric had perfected. Horton or destroyed. More of the history of the paid two royalties for a number of years; steel shaft may get lost as many who one to Knight and another to G. E. for were active in the earlier stages of the use of the brazing process. shaft have passed on or have retired from The first production shafts were made the golf business. about June of 1921 after hundreds of I call on my memory for some of the experiments. Everything about the braz- high points in the steel shaft's first chap- ing as well as the heat treating, size of ters as the only material historical item I shaft, weight determination, etc., was new. have convenient is an old newspaper clip- Crawford, MacGregor & Candy Co., was ping. Who wrote the story and where it our first customer. Then very soon came apeared I don't know. Wilson and Hillerich and Bradsby, after The newspaper piece tells of the sand them was Spalding who had been experi- wedge being under question by the USGA, menting with Allen E. Lard of Washing- then refers to the Schenectady putter, and ton on a steel shaft with torsion but could finally to the steel shaft. The writer com- not get the idea into a shaft. ments: Barred in 1923 "I was just crawling out of bed in a Sales of the steel shaft began in earnest room at the Oakland Hills Country Club, in 1922 and we thought we had the world the first day of the National Open cham- by the tail when wham!, the USGA early pionship of 1924, when I heard the starter in 1923 barred the shaft from official play chanting: on the basis that it might be a mechanical " 'Herbert Lagerblade, using the first aid. Until proved otherwise the shaft steel-shafted club ever swung in the Na- could not be used in USGA champion- tional Open championship.' " ships. With that reference and my long as- Through the cooperation of Joe Graffis sociation with the Horton Mfg. Co. among we immediately got in touch with the my credentials, I'll testify. Western Golf Assn., and Albert W. Gates, The shaft originally was patented in president; and "Gus" Allen, secretary, of 1910 by Arthur F. (Bill) Knight, a Gen- the Western arranged for tests to be made eral Electric Engineer who also invented at the Edgewater Golf Club in Chicago. the Schenectady putter which Walter J. I'll never forget the great help Chick Travis used in winning the 1904 British Evans and Bob MacDonald gave us at that Amateur. Why a man named "Arthur F." time. The friendliness they and the West- was called Bill is still a mystery to me. ern Golf Assn. officials showed us and In 1920 the Horton Mfg. Co. bought the their attitude of research to help the game patent on a royalty basis when the patent was most heartening. had seven more years to run. Knight had been unsuccessful in trying to make the Three Slices No Aid shaft. Up to that time no thin wall tub- One of the testers was the new pro at ing of the required strength and lightness Edgewater, Allan Gow by name, who had had been made in this country. arrived from Scotland that spring. He First Shafts Were Brazed stood on the first tee and promptly sliced I knew Mr. Knight and some other of- three balls over the fence, definitely con- ficers of G. E. and C. E. Treadway of vincing the Western committee that the Bristol, so in 1921 was asked to join the steel shaft was not a mechanical aid. At Horton company in the development and any rate, the WGA quickly approved the promotion of the shaft—the "Bristol" we steel shaft for tournament play. called it. In 1923 I had the pleasure of playing 52 Golfdom HOST TO WESTERN AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP, JULY 19-25 In the beautiful clubhouse of Broadmoor GC at Seattle, Wash., the contestants in the 52d Western Amateur championship will celebrate their joys or forget their defeats, during the week of July 19-25. Pro George Howard's shop is in the basement of the building, behind the 18th green in the foreground and to the left is one of the most interesting practice putting greens on which many lively competitions are played. steel-shafted clubs in the Western Open we had exerted to produce so many favor- at Memphis, the first big tourney in which able letters. steel shafts were allowed. Then, early in 1924 the USGA approved Many pros were a bit antagonistic to the steel shaft and I had the happy ex- the steel shaft at first, being afraid it perience of being announced as the first might cut into their club business but they user of steel shafts in a major champion- soon learned that it helped business. There ship. In that event which Cyril Walker is no doubt the steel shaft was largely won, I must have proved that the steel responsible for the introduction of shaft, if a mechanical aid, certainly didn't matched sets as with hickory shafts aid my game enough to have me scoring matching sets of clubs was an extremely among the leaders. difficult problem. As I recall "Wild Bill" Melhorn used steel shafts in his woods in that Open We advertised in the Saturday Evening championship and Bill finished third; a Post that we would present a steel-shafted stroke behind Bob Jones. club to anyone making a hole-in-one if they would send us properly attested Shot Heard 'Round the World cards. This one ad brought us more than When I hit my first drive in that cham- 700 attested cards. pionship I felt as though the whole future When the USGA barred the shaft we of the steel shaft depended on that shot. I wrote to these golfers asking them to still have a nervous memory of my knees write the USGA their opinion of the shaft knocking together and barely being able as the governing body of U. S. golf had to see the ball. I said a little prayer and announced it would seek the opinions of lo and behold, the ball went out straight golfers on the steel shaft. and far. So the business was saved. An amazing response was accorded our After the USGA approval the steel letter. My recollection is that more than shaft rapidly displaced wood. It is a shock 600 complied with our request. The as- for a veteran to realize that golfers such sociation wrote us asking what influence as Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan probably never used wood shafts, except, possibly, The Jaycees Show Golf How in an occasional putter. To Get Work Done In 1927 the Union Hardware Co. came By DON L. NEER out with a steel shaft and in 1928 the American Fork and Hoe Co. produced its ROM BANGOR, ME., to San Diego, True Temper shaft. A few years later the F Calif, and from Wenatchee, Wash, to Heddon company produced their shaft. Starke, Fla., the energetic young civic leaders, the Junior Chamber of Commerce It's my memory, subject to confirmation members, are building golf courses or or correction by whoever has the official staging some of the nation's best-run data, that the Royal Canadian Golf Assn. PGA tournaments. approved the steel shaft in 1923. We went up to Canada shortly after the Western These promoters of community progress tests and approval and received a most are age 21 to 35 when they won't take interested and pleasant reception. "no" for an answer. The Jaycees, as they The Royal and Ancient approved steel are best known, make the tough jobs look shafts in November, 1929 with the state- easy. Among their tasks this year are the ment: "The Rules of Golf Committee have financing and reception of the PGA cham- decided that steel shafts, as approved by pionship in St. Paul, Minnesota July 21-27 the Rules of Golf Committee, are declared and keeping in circulation throughout the to conform with the requirements of the country 100 prints of LIFE-PGA's excel- clause in the Rules of Golf on the form lent film "Keep 'Em In the Fairway." and make of golf clubs." With their far-flung membership of Early in 1930 we sent them a steel 200,000 in 2,700 communities, the Jaycees shaft which was promptly approved. have built their junior golf tournament From that time on steel shafts became into one of the world's greatest golfing standard equipment. events with a starting field of over 20,000 entrants. This year's 9th annual Inter- PAGES 77-78 ARE THERE TO HELP national finals will bring together North US SERVE YOU BETTER. USE THEM! 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