c.1905 A. Tooley Honor Oak Reg. Design 448649 Straight Driving Iron
Many of you have not held this club, or perhaps have even seen it. Before you is a top example of the very rare A. Tooley Straight Driving Iron that there is said to be single-digit survivors of. Two integrated spherical weight masses for then state-of-the-art heel-toe weighting. A. Tooley, professional and club maker at Honor Oak Golf Club, patented this unique club in January of 1905 as the British design registration 448,649 indicates. Tooley wanted to eliminate pulling or slicing the ball. The Straight Driving Iron takes the heel-toe weighting quite literally, with two rounded bulges on the backside of the head. There were other iterations of this concept employed, including for putters. According to Clubmaker's Art author Jeff Ellis, less than 10 A. Tooley double ball back irons are known. There was an example in his 2007 Sotheby's collection auction and it is detailed in his aforementioned title on p.571 of Volume II. The face shows hand-punched dots, while the "money shot" remains the first photo, with the legible stampings 'A. TOOLEY - HONOR OAK - REG. DESIGN 448,649' in between the dual protruding hemispheres. Seventeen photos of the club from different angles and distances are taken to best portray the condition of this lot that doesn't surface. The forged iron head measures 3 3/8 heel to toe. Ralph Martin acquired this from Tom Reekie Clubmaker in Elie Fife, Scotland in approximately 1985 as he notated in his records. Here is likely your one shot at this club. 34"
Ralph H. Martin Collection
Highly accomplished business professional Ralph H. Martin started as a rocket scientist for the US military, then being an officer with the Naval Reserve in WWII prior to going on to be an engineer and executive. He was deeply passionate about golf with six holes-in-ones to his name and the astute collection with focus categories of antique golf clubs, silver, prints and books. The High School Valedictorian Martin was a member of more than five golf clubs including: the Willoughby Golf Club of Stuart, Florida and The Ridge Club of Sandwich, Massachusetts, with previously holding memberships at the Ocean Reef Club, Key Largo, Florida; the Card Sound Golf Club, Key Largo, Florida; the Hartford Golf Club, West Hartford, Connecticut; and the Canoe Brook Country Club, Summit, New Jersey. Shooting his age on several occasions, he was a member of the Southern Seniors Golf Association and had a fine eye for patent clubs and the equally coveted 'long-noses' dating back decades into the 19th century. It is with The Golf Auction's honor that we share Martin's collection of hand-chosen pieces with the collecting public, such as the one in this lot.
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