Wm Dunn

Description

An uncommon transitional scared-neck driver made by Willie Dunn Jnr of Musselburgh, with beech head (stamped Wm DUNN to crown), and original hickory shaft (stamped with owner’s initials J.C.L.T.), horn insert, lead backweight, loosely wound sheepskin grip with thick underlisting.

The sheepskin grip is distressed but probably original, the shaft is typically thicker on transitional heads and for use with the harder gutty ball, circa 1892.

Willie Dunn Jnr (1864-1952) was born in the clubhouse at Blackheath GC and golf was very much in his genes. He learned the art of clubmaking from his father and brother, Willie Snr and Tom. In 1886 was appointed greenkeeper at Royal North Devon GC, later moving to Biarritz in France, a course that his brother Tom had designed. In 1892, he was invited to America by WE Vanderbilt, who was holidaying at Biarritz and was much taken by the new game of golf. He designed and became professional at Shinnecock Hills, and in 1897 set up his own golf club manufacturing business in New York. He was an early champion of steel shafts and the first pro to use tees. In addition to being an able and innovative clubmaker, a professional and a course designer, Dunn was a highly accomplished player who won the first, unofficial, US Open in 1894, coming second the following year. Willie Jnr was thus an interesting man, and together with his nephews Seymour Dunn and John Duncan Dunn, the Dunn family was responsible for much of the development of early golf in America. This club was probably made in Biarritz, and due to his other interests his clubs are not plentiful. The stamp was that used by his father and Willie Jnr must have used it for some of his own clubs.