Most things in life change. The golf swing is no exception. Today’s golfer has space age equipment compared to our forefathers. Swings have changed; equipment has changed. The spirit of the game however, has endured.
If you could somehow enter a time machine to find yourself on a golf course 400 years ago in Scotland, the birthplace of modern golf, you likely wouldn’t recognize the game you were playing. Modern materials have completely changed the game. From the clothes and shoes golfers wear, to their bags and the clubs in them, very few similarities exist between today’s amateur and professional golfers with those of royal and upper crust standings so many years ago.
As the equipment has changed and become better, faster and stronger, so have golfers themselves. In those earliest days, the shafts of golf clubs were made of wood. Ash, lemon wood, blue mahoo were all eventually replaced by then, state of the art, hickory. The hard and durable shafts allowed the best players of the day to swing with full force through their shots. Previously, some level of restraint was generally required due to the fragility of the shafts, and their tendency to break on the downswing.
