Tom Stewart 3rd Mashie

An unusual Mashie no 3 which is similar to a standard Mashie

Length: 37,5 "
Shaftflex: Not measured
Loft: 37°
Swingweight: D2
Grip: Fresh black cowhide rough side out

Restored to playable condition: Yes

MASHIES 1 TO 6

The 1 - through 4-mashies could have been produced for four - mashie, sets, or to provide a player with a second or third mashie. The mashie 5 and 6 were produced for eight - and nine-club numbered sets starting in the mid 1920s. It can be fairly concluded that numbers below the club name indicate it was part of a full set.

First appearing in the late 1800s, the mashie helped facilitate the iron club revolution.

It’s head shape is shorter and deeper than a cleek or iron heads and has more taper from heel to toe, giving it a hatchet-like shape. The mashie was highly valued for approaching shots, from it’s maximum full swing distance, down to the shortest pitch shots. A number of notable players would carry two mashies in their bags. A second mashie could offer the player a different playing characteristic, either filling a gap in loft progression of the set or providing a different trajectory or shot profile.

3-MASHIE

The consistent placement of stampings on known 3-mashies indicate that a fixed stamp was made as it would have been otherwise impossible to achieve such a high degree of placement consistency. The logical inference is that sufficient quantities were produced to warrant making a stamp. The number of known examples is very low and does not reflect a very high output of clubs. On some clubs the number is stamped by free hand. Clubs in this later group were probably meant to be the third club in the iron set, while the fixed-stamp clubs were part of a matched group of mashies similar to the 1-4 iron group, or the 1-4 jigger group made in the Hilton pattern as offered in the 1929 Stewart Catalogue.

From the book on Thomas Stewart Jr, Golf Cleek and Iron maker, St. Andrews, Scotland by Ralph S. Livingstone III