Can we win the FIRST EVER OPEN using HICKORY clubs?!

We take on the first Open Champion venue, Prestwick, in its original 12-hole layout to see what we would have scored at the 1860 Open… and, to make things even fairer, we’re using hickory clubs!
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[@andycartergolf]

Please don't judge my 1st couple of holes lol! it took a while to adapt !!!

[@RudiGels]

obviously... 😜

[@rossmccarthy3092]

Put that putter in your bag😂

[@BucsGolf]

At least you didn’t dig up any tee boxes

[@johnjutton103]

I've used a putting cleek myself Andy and I can tell you as well you know they are not the most reliable putters in the world. I've also used woods and irons from the 50s but there steel shafted god knows what hickory is like. Were you using modern balls or replica balls from the 30s it's hardtop tell on camera. Great effort from you both.

[@bigtone9480]

You have been judged 😆

[@Cornish_Maid]

That was wonderful, thank you Pete and Andy, and everyone at Prestwick that made this happen.

[@peterfinchgolf]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@skapunkchristmas]

As others have said, these clubs are considered "modern hickory" and were in play from 1900-1935. Most of the clubs I saw are at least 60 newer than 1860. I'd love to see a video like this where you guys talk about the clubs and club makers in way that isn't just about how hard they are to play. You should collab with @thehickoryhacker and he can show you what 1860s featherie golf was all about.

[@stephenjones9840]

Cool vid! I'm pretty sure the ball they would have been using would fly quite a bit shorter than a modem ball.

[@steventhompson8585]

Perhaps the best collaboration video of the year. After the initial tee shots I thought it was going to be a disaster, so glad I watched it to the end. Definitely worth watching. Big thanks to Prestwick Golf Club for making this possible.

[@jonstacey7416]

Great to see carter back. Two mates back together playing great fun golf 👍🏻👏🏻

[@andycartergolf]

Always fun with finchDog

[@HillbillyJedi88]

Thank you Andy and Pete for doing this! Dressed to the nines and with the hickory clubs was something special. I knew the video was gonna be good straight off the 1st tee! Loved every minute!

[@rmiller1041]

This was so fun! You just keep improving content! The banter between Andy, the club pro/caddy, and yourself was so fun. Such a fun and classy video. Well done!

[@bubba2k10]

this is the best vlog i've seen in a while! just wonderful boys. My first set of clubs in 1959 was a set of hickory sticks my dad bought at the clubhouse for $5 ,,,, BRINGS BACK MANY GREAT MEMORIES...

[@evanwilliams3211]

29:40 love the fistpump from david

[@davidmcdowell1570]

Love watching you two guys playing together the banter never stops plus there's some good golf thrown in as well

[@alastairmckain4623]

Brilliant stuff both yourself & Andy very entertaining & the club Pro deserves special mention 👍

[@andycartergolf]

Thanks Alastair

[@englishiguana4304]

The amount of fun you have on this channel makes my freaking day!

[@prestonk827]

Such a fun video. Was a joy to watch. That’s some childlike fun right there

[@owenhughes1833]

Some great golf, but most importantly, that looked like a right laugh!!

[@naderzein2435]

One of the best videos I've seen you and Andy do. Well done guys.

[@digginghistory7]

that first Tee off was legendary Pete! :D

[@joshramirez7]

Pure class, gentlemen. The finest of golf videos. The three piece suit of golf videos in fact.

[@Alandale45]

And the bunkers look like craters on the surface of the moon. Great video and fun to watch. Thank you Peter, Andy and Course staff.

[@emilwestgaardhenriksen1715]

Never played golf in my life, but I gotta say, hickory golf seems to just be the superior way to play, it just looks class! Well played boys!

[@peterguildford2133]

That was just brilliant. I enjoyed that so much. Probably one of my favorite you tube videos ever. And how good was young Tom. Thanks for that it made my day.

[@sparks6057]

😂😂😂😂😂 brilliant well done guys great entertainment and one hell of an achievement !!!

[@21jimmey]

Never seen Peter look like he is enjoying a vlog this much!

[@stephenkean4748]

How is this man still on 500k subscribers? This is by far the best golf channel coming out of the UK in my opinion!

[@andycartergolf]

I’d love to be stuck on 500k 😂

[@stephenkean4748]

@@andycartergolf 😂😂👏

[@cocko1135]

That was so damn enjoyable to watch. Thank you guys and also all those at Prestwick for making this happen. So good.

[@carlr2837]

Back when I was child, my parents had a closet full of wondrous things, including some very old hickory shafted golf clubs. I learned that a set could include a play club (driver), a brassie (3 wood?), a spoon (5 wood?), a baffie (7-wood?), a cleek (1-iron), a mashie (5 iron?), a mashie-niblick (7 iron?), a niblick (9 iron), a chipper or jigger (used for pitch and run shots) and a putting cleek. Sadly my parents disposed of them at some point, probably 50 years ago. If I still had them, I would definitely take them out and have a go with them. ;) As a child, I also learned that hickory shafts have a "whip" to them, and that you need to swing slowly, with a bit of pause at the top of the swing to achieve harmony with your club. Peter and Andy mastered that art extremely well, after a few errant shots. I enjoyed this video very much.

[@alpistor]

I very much enjoy watching you play hickory clubs. I'd also like to see you play pyratone shafted clubs and those from the 50s and 60s. Keep 'em comin'. Thanks.

[@timdench2583]

Best video for ages. Very enjoyable. Thanks

[@duncanajpv8]

A joy to watch, thank you both 👍edited to add: And thank you to the lovely staff!

[@chrisjeffers7300]

That was so enjoyable thank you and the Prestwick, I wish I had that opportunity, caddie and fore caddies !

[@alexwade3631]

What a video - I would say probably one of the best golf videos I have ever watched. Loved the outfits and the clubs - just great lads

[@andycartergolf]

Wow great comment Alex 🙌🏽

[@conorpaulmccafferty2767]

There wasn't a slope there, there was a slooop! 😂 great video, great threads and great banter 👌

[@peterfinchgolf]

Thanks 😁

[@michaelkemp8895]

Absolutely loved it, thanks folks. I played Old Prestwick as a leaving gift from my team at ‘the Gannet’ and it was a privilege 👍

[@jonnyjay2804]

Pure class Pete. You and Andy look money!!

[@lexxwhite747]

Love the video, seemed like it would have been a fantastic day out. Not gonna lie I'm a big fan of the vintage dress too.

[@3dcpsolutions381]

IIt is my favorite golf course for history and authenticity. I had the pleasure to play Old Prestwick and it was a day to remember. I think every Golfer should play Old Prestwick to get a feeling of how Golf used to be. Will never forget it.

[@kevinmontgomery1054]

Absolutely LOVE the outfits! Especially Peter's shoes. I agree with Carter - I don't know how anyone played golf in a suit jacket. Maybe that's where the term "sports coat" came from!

[@chrishartman5383]

Such a great video! Great content from both of you guys, and well done by Pete's crew.

[@Justanoldfart]

So great, enjoyed every minute. What a feeling that would have been. 👏👏👏

[@justinlemon8326]

An absolutely stellar round gents. It is incredible how good the original players of the sport were. Great vid!

[@andycartergolf]

They were amazing weren’t they!!

[@pot10]

right, greens and fairways nowhere near as well kept as they are now, and beating two very good golfers that scrambled as a single. It's wild to think about.

[@winstonsmith11]

I absolutely loved everything about this from start to finish ❤️

[@andycartergolf]

It’s Great video tbf Winston!

[@warrenlange3358]

Brilliant, absolutely loved it. The banter between Pete and Andy was fantastic. More please ⛳

[@tonypapas9854]

Great video. A lot went into this, and despite the cool weather it looks like you lads had a great time!

[@davemorris579]

Best video ever. Peter, your first and last shots were legends.

[@swift8821]

Absolutely proper lads giving the last putt to young Tom.

[@phbmh]

Superb. Smiled the whole way through!

[@JonathanBrazil1]

Brilliant, guys. Great video. Highly entertaining and oddly informative about history too!

[@christofferhansen2864]

That was just a lovely video. Thanks Andy & Pete - That was pure class!!

[@danmichalak6622]

That was pure class, and entertainment. Pete and Andy, thanks for a blast back to the past. Always love the content you come up with Pete. Shout out to the club pro, great edition to this great video. Keep up the great work!

[@nickmcginnis7643]

Amazing. One of my favorite videos so far. Well done and keep up the fantastic content

[@tstack7174]

Possibly the most fun to watch, I cheered, I laughed, I cried. Great video Pete and great to see Andrew back. So we'll done, cheers to both of you. Looked like smashing fun. Didn't want it to end,....like a great movie that your sad when it's over.....but you watch it again. 🥂

[@martinclarke2312]

Best one so far! Loved the banter, and the outfits. What a club to facilitate that match 👏

[@mickstick5112]

This feels like real golf to me. Amazing how you both adapted! This was one of the best yet.

[@Alandale45]

Mark, you are correct. This the real thing. Most courses were designed for these type of golf clubs. 👍

[@kennedygolfhead4356]

I love it!! I love all about it! Love the comradery of the community too!! How awesome!

[@mikeferrannini712]

This was a Classic!!!! Loved every bit of it....some awesome putts made...and I could see improvement in hitting the hickory sticks along the way....looking great in those suits also!!

[@TheRonHockman]

Peter. Andy. This was incredible. The outfits, so close to Halloween, were the critical element. Brilliant stuff.

[@GoldChump]

Technically you were using modern clubs/ball vs 1860 equipment. In 1860 they would have used feathery balls, long nose woods, with smooth face irons. Forgan was a main producer of these clubs in that time period. Your clubs were more like early 1900 equipment. "EDIT:" The putter was a Tom Stewart version ( Pipe Stamp) of the Bobby Jones Calamity Jane which he ( Bobby Jones) started using around 1922-23 :)

[@golfeducationencounters-go8394]

Wrong - they used Gutty Perch Balls since 1850

[@GoldChump]

@@golfeducationencounters-go8394 You assume the golfing public, which was very limited, just ran out and bought the latest greatest thing as they do today. The growth and popularity of the game did coincide with the gutty around that 1850/1860 time frame no doubt. I'd suggest there would be two equal groups of people in the time around 1850-1870 decade. One group traditionist, One group new comers. The game ultimately evolved and got more popular new technology winning out. Same sort of transition from metal shafts to graphite or wood heads to metal. It took the Big Bertha in early 90's to make the metal head take off. They had aluminum (metal) going back to early 1900's. Feathery balls were likely still a very popular majority of players choice until the late 1800s.

[@user-vu4xg5ez2i]

Nope Gutty took over very fast because the Cracks 'Pro Golfers/Caddies' like every golfer in the first British Open A. Could not afford new Featheries and B they had already gone by the wayside as even Allen Robertson the man at St Andrews and Old Tom the best featery makers had abandoned them and started to make Gutty Balls. I can back this up with many publications from experts on this subject but in the book by Stephen Procter - Monarch of the Greens Page 15 it states "Gutties were so cheap that within a few years the feathery was dying out. By the time Tommy was born, it was virtually extinct and even Allen had taken to making gutties. Golden I would humbly ask you to join us at Golf Heritage Society as we have all sort of articles spanning back 51 years in our publication 'The Golf' with even more articles about the Gutta Percha and it's rise to popularity. The reason we have this great game today is almost solely because of this invention - it really is that important. Page 15 also talks about how far a long hitter like a Tommy Jr or Willie Park could hit one - which was comparable to a new featherie but they were not used in the British Open by 1860. The longest drives ever recorded with the gutty and the feathery were of comparable length. A typical drive with either ball flew 200 yards or less. Distance aside however, the gutty was a far superior golf ball. Unlike the feathery, it could withstand the pounding of iron clubs, which would radically change how golf was played. BTW Tommy Jr was not a crack he was actually one of the first truly 'Professional Only players during that time along with a few 'Gentlemen' from money who also played in the Open like Davie Strath - @@GoldChump

[@GoldChump]

@@user-vu4xg5ez2i Golf history is very speculative and nothing moved fast in the mid 1800s. I'll try to dig out an old book I have on teaching the golf swing from 1877 I think. In it the English golfer complains the Scots copied the game from them. I'd suggest the game started to exponentially grow from the timeframe the gutty was invented, but not because of the gutty. I go farther and say outside of the developing "professional game" many players of the time just kept on using the feathery.

[@user-vu4xg5ez2i]

Well Tommy Jr was born in 1851 and by then the Feathery basically was not being made anymore by the lead makers of the ball. Robertson and Morris were the Top makers and the Park family they had all switched to the Gutty by then so who would be making a ball that the Cracks of the time had stopped using. In regards to the fellow from 1877 the truth is there was hardly any golf being played in England during the St Andrews/Musselburgh years. There was actually only a few dozen course and most if not all of these prior to 1850 were in Scotland. Since Tom Sr and Jr and especially Jr given his talent were followed by the press and everything was covered by them because of the betting that took place in England. This was like Las Vegas for them and there was a tremendous amount of coverage on all things Tommy Morris Jr. So much so he ended up controlling all the purse money and his people held on to it and determined how much his cut was before it was paid out or he would not compete. Courses and the number of them grew from a few dozen during the feathry era to several thousand including the US all of the UK and India BECAUSE of the Gutty ball and it's affordability and ability to make them in mass quickly. This is very documented information, which proves this is truth. Again in this book by Stephen Procter - Monarch of the Greens Page 15 it states "Gutties were so cheap that within a few years the feathery was dying out. By the time Tommy was born, it was virtually extinct and even Allen had taken to making gutties. This book also has an Appendix, Bibliography & Chronology on Tommy Jr. Basically ALL info was backed with facts from the local newspapers from back in the day as these events unfolded. I would encourage you to buy the book as you obviously have questions and concerns. I know you would love it. @@GoldChump

[@scottwitman7285]

Excellent video today !! Superb play from both of you, especially with hickory clubs.

[@peterfinchgolf]

Thank you so much 😀

[@garydavis8213]

That looks like so much fun. Love it.

[@timothybevis6095]

That was a lot of fun to watch. So good. You guys looked great to. Pete those shoes are glorious. Thanks guys

[@mikesander9223]

Great vid! I’m glad you were brave enough to tackle the course with the hickory sticks! I enjoyed that immensely. Thank you.

[@randallknight8575]

Great video, guys. Loved the celebration on #11.

[@eggy68]

You were like little lads running away from your misdeeds on that first tee! Hahaha!

[@LifeCaptured_byBec]

Awesome Video guys, Love seeing Hickory clubs being played, Such respect to the legends of the game, definitely do more Hickory or 1930_1980s persimmon and forged blades clubs

[@csteve25]

Absolutely awesome chaps. Love this concept. Keep it up.

[@stevewillis7684]

Absolutely loved this video. Well done to you both. Looked like you had a great time and I suspect the pressure on the last was intense

[@ABooker14]

Quite possibly the best vlog I’ve ever seen!! Love all your content Pete! Cheers!

[@keithward.504]

Lads, Honestly this is my favourite thing I've ever see on youtube 🤣 top class golf and banter this had everything 👏👏👏

[@richdarlowgolf]

Brilliant vid chaps, I was hanging onto every shot like I was watching the actual Open!

[@ianrobertson1647]

Like a couple of excited schoolboys. What a fantastic experience and just a great video. Well played.

[@olisnell1287]

Badass video this. Such great banter too

[@saint_leonard74]

David might be the best club pro, he also might be in more KZbin videos than any other too.

[@andycartergolf]

He's an absolute legend.

[@huhaman]

Awesome idea for a video. GJ to Peter and the crew.

[@notdrivingaminimetro]

Dave Edmondson, Prestwick Head greenkeeper is from Preston!

[@bumpkini30]

Brilliant video, loved every minute of that!

[@adamevans9644]

What a laugh. Thank you both!

[@jonvano09]

Absolutely awesome video. Was laughing more than I should while watching golf. Could really feel the tension towards the end too. Great stuff, keep it up.

[@musicboy16]

Looking quite dapper, Peter!

[@mybrandnewsocks9724]

What a video boys!! Just great 😂

[@garydavis8213]

Just finished the video. Absolutely brilliant stuff.

[@jaffa7515]

Absolutely hilarious that last putt! Well done guys, cracking to learn about the history of our great game!

[@lewisdon1800]

Class video! Well enjoyed that.

[@neilward7275]

Mr Finch aka Del Boy in that coat😂 great vlog

[@alexwhittlegolf]

Awesome video! Pretty damn good playing in those conditions, suits and hickorys!

[@marklee2748]

Very much enjoyed this. I’m sure it was an amazing experience! 😊😊😊

[@santadude91]

One of the best videos ever on this channel. Really enjoyed it! Love the banter between you guys ;-)

[@davidbouchier7688]

Absolutely Epic video lads!!! Thoroughly enjoyed that!!👌💪👍

[@TOPFIVEFIT]

Great play, and LOVE the clothes!

[@michaelgulik5846]

Absolutely stunnin’ love the vid! 🥰💚

[@ncb2734]

Brilliant video and round... 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@danieljackson3442]

You have one of (if not) my favourite swings to watch out of any youtube golfer.. I love effortless looking swings!

[@xXcharliegoonerXx]

One of the best on the channel, was cracking up the entire time ❤️

[@heyoted8910]

That ending is just perfect! hahaha

[@jaylisted9714]

Wow, I don't think Pete's face could have been any more red after that first tee shot. 😳

[@davidafleming6336]

Terrific Video! Great spending time with you both. Pete- The1st tee has now been re- turfed!!!! Best Wishes David Fleming

[@BUMHEAD1100]

Hell of a video that one ! Thanks

[@paulsturmey28able]

Love this vlog. Proper ballers in the day. Great to see Carter back in the uk glad his little one is doing well.

[@martinbillington4800]

Fantastic video had me smiling the whole way through, just goes to show how talented those players were back in the day

[@bajanboi68]

Great video, I'll definitely be making use of the next speed ramp that I encounter 😂😂

[@melabshier5812]

Loved it. Well done. 🏆