Tom Stewart Maker Push Iron

Length: 38 ½"
Shaftflex: Not measured
Loft: 25°
Swingweight: D1
Grip: Fresh black cowhide, rough side out

Restored to playable condition: Yes

Push irons were created to more easily accomplish a shot favored byamong some top British players. The loft and weighting are important parts of its design. Vardon describes the "Push shot" in the Complets Golfer, first published in 1905. The shot calls for a midifeid cleek, two inches shorter than standard. Most of the known Stewart examples fit this description well, with the exception of slightly more loft in the production models. Seymour Dunn also describes the shot in his book, Golf Fundamentals. Dunn says, "Push means tostrike the ball in such a manner as to depress the ball's trajectory, making it fly low yet with a lot of under-spin on the ball so that it will drop dead when it lands. It was further described as being particulary useful for shots into the wind. If executed properly, this technique put considerable backspin on the ball for more bire on the green. The resulting trajectory was very low and and it was suggested that it was used primarily for downwind shots. It is a very difficult shot that only the best players could accomplish. It is reported that some players used this swing as their standard. Braid could even accomplish the push shot with a driver. The push shot, as known then, is far different from the modern usage of "pushing" a shot, or sendingg a ball errantly off to the right.

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