#Mashie May 15

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In May 2025, many of us have decided to participate in the 30-Day Golf Coach4aday Challenge. Each day the goal is to share something about a particular golf course, golf equipment, or to actually get on the course and play a few holes. Golf is the only sport where you can be furious, humbled, and ecstatic—all in the span of one hole, and still call it “relaxing.” It’s a game where you are cajoling and chasing a tiny ball into a gopher hole. For many it becomes a lifelong obsession and an excuse to buy outrageous pants and the latest driver.

Today my golf observation is on an antique golf club called a MASHIE.

This challenge will not be for everybody but there are plenty that enjoy the game despite not being anywhere close to playing at a high level. That includes me.

Golf 30-Day Challenge Guidelines

As with previous challenges, participants are encouraged to adapt the guidelines to fit their own circumstances. If you can, commit to getting out on the golf course—but if that’s not in the cards, share a story about a favorite course or a piece of gear you love (or love to hate).

1. Record something about your day on the course or talk about a golf course or piece of equipment.
2. Share with a challenge partner if you have one.
3. Join the conversation by posting on social media with the hashtag #Coach4adayChallenge

Day 15-Mashie

Yesterday I reminisced about my Uncle Jack Bourke who lived in Far Hills NJ giving me and my brothers a set of golf clubs in the early 1960’s. That set had clubs that were called a Mashie. The club had a metal head attached to a hickory shaft with leather grips.

The mashie was a popular iron club used in the early days of golf, roughly equivalent to today’s 5-iron. It was typically used for approach shots, offering a good mix of distance and loft to get the ball onto the green from the fairway.

The club would look something similar to what you see below

The USGA began encouraging the standardization of golf club numbering in the 1930s, as manufacturers shifted away from traditional names like mashie, niblick, and brassie. The move toward numbered clubs—such as 3-iron, 7-iron, etc.—was largely driven by equipment makers for consumer clarity and consistency, and by the late 1930s to early 1940s, the numbered system had largely replaced the old names in the U.S.