19 replies to this topic

[gone_golfing]

I saw an interesting set of irons at a local golf shop. The owner picked these up ina trade and is currently selling them for $50 which includes 2-PW.

Any info on this company would be appreciated.

[Ironmaster Oddities]

This is too cool.  I have been wanting to know about this brand for several weeks. I just never got around to posting.  In the NIles Hoard I bought a few weeks ago, I found a Butchart and Nicholls Wedge in mint condition.  I had never heard of the company; but the club looked great. Very pro shop or special order-looking clubs, imo.  In the weeks since, I have found matching 2.4.6.8 irons , another wedge, and I think, a sand iron. Different back design and stamping fonts than the ones above.
Hopefully I will find the rest of the set. Great looking clubs. they set up to the ball very well for my eye. Dynamic Steel shafts, pro-line grips, etc.  Good chrome.  the reminded me of Power Bilt and also Louisville Golf and Joe Powell. Kind of 1980 +/- look. I will try to add some pics to this string.

I am on the same page with gone-golfing here...any information would be helpful.  They look too cool to be overlooked. inquiring minds want to know.

Uncle Bob

[stixman]

Ironmaster Oddities, on 12 December 2012 - 12:43 PM, said:

This is too cool.  I have been wanting to know about this brand for several weeks. I just never got around to posting.  In the NIles Hoard I bought a few weeks ago, I found a Butchart and Nicholls Wedge in mint condition.  I had never heard of the company; but the club looked great. Very pro shop or special order-looking clubs, imo.  In the weeks since, I have found matching 2.4.6.8 irons , another wedge, and I think, a sand iron. Different back design and stamping fonts than the ones above.
Hopefully I will find the rest of the set. Great looking clubs. they set up to the ball very well for my eye. Dynamic Steel shafts, pro-line grips, etc.  Good chrome.  the reminded me of Power Bilt and also Louisville Golf and Joe Powell. Kind of 1980 +/- look. I will try to add some pics to this string.

I am on the same page with gone-golfing here...any information would be helpful.  They look too cool to be overlooked. inquiring minds want to know.

Uncle Bob

Butchart Nichols Co, Glenbrook CT.
The company was an outgrowth of Cuthbert S Butchart's Golf works in the mid 1920s. Their chief claim to fame was the large number of clubs they sold with shafts of laminated bamboo or a combination of bamboo and hickory. Butchart was a transplanted Scot with a fine reputation as a clubmaker and Pro. golfer.

ref.  Olman's Encyclopaedia of Golf Colllectibles 1985

This should get you started, nice clubs, great pedigree and something of a rarity. Ticks all the boxes!

[ptjn1201]

I think they hung on into the mid-late 60s, and then got bought out -- I'm pretty sure Butchart was long gone by then.  I think somebody was using the name for store-brand clubs in the 70s, but I could be wrong on that score.

[Ironmaster Oddities]

stixman, on 12 December 2012 - 01:31 PM, said:

Ironmaster Oddities, on 12 December 2012 - 12:43 PM, said:

This is too cool.  I have been wanting to know about this brand for several weeks. I just never got around to posting.  In the NIles Hoard I bought a few weeks ago, I found a Butchart and Nicholls Wedge in mint condition.  I had never heard of the company; but the club looked great. Very pro shop or special order-looking clubs, imo.  In the weeks since, I have found matching 2.4.6.8 irons , another wedge, and I think, a sand iron. Different back design and stamping fonts than the ones above.
Hopefully I will find the rest of the set. Great looking clubs. they set up to the ball very well for my eye. Dynamic Steel shafts, pro-line grips, etc.  Good chrome.  the reminded me of Power Bilt and also Louisville Golf and Joe Powell. Kind of 1980 +/- look. I will try to add some pics to this string.

I am on the same page with gone-golfing here...any information would be helpful.  They look too cool to be overlooked. inquiring minds want to know.

Uncle Bob

Butchart Nichols Co, Glenbrook CT.
The company was an outgrowth of Cuthbert S Butchart's Golf works in the mid 1920s. Their chief claim to fame was the large number of clubs they sold with shafts of laminated bamboo or a combination of bamboo and hickory. Butchart was a transplanted Scot with a fine reputation as a clubmaker and Pro. golfer.

ref.  Olman's Encyclopaedia of Golf Colllectibles 1985

This should get you started, nice clubs, great pedigree and something of a rarity. Ticks all the boxes!

Thanks, Stixman. I hope I can find the rest of this set in the great glacier of clubs.  Laminated bamboo and Hickory shafts...Hmmm.  I wonder how far left I could hit one of those drivers.

[Bella Woods]

Just to add to what stixman posted:

According to Pete Georgiady - Cuthbert S. Butchart was the son of a Carnoustie
club maker who started his own clubmaking business in London in the early 1900s.

After WWI - he took a job as the professional at Westchester-Biltmore Country Club
outside New York City. He apparently made high quality clubs in his day (hickory).
Walter Hagen used his clubs in the 1922 British Open. He later partnered with Gilbert
Nicholls.  

Butchart Nicholls clubs were made and shipped from Glenbrook, Connecticut starting in
1926 (the ones stixman was referring to). They started a company called Swingrite Company
to manufacture the bamboo shafts after being assigned Nicholls patent on them.

The rise of steel shafts cut into their business, but the bamboo shafts were sold into the
1930s.

[xgolfx]

Butchart was  the pro at the Westchester Biltmore  circa 1920. Toney Penna was apprenticed to him. In order to learn, he worked for no pay . His first job was sanding hickory saplings into shafts. Tommy Armour, pro at Congressional at the time, played in a tournament at Westchester. Toney caddied for Armour. They hit it off  resulting in Toney going to Congressional  as Armour's  assistant.

CHARLEY PENNA

[Awsi Dooger]

ptjn1201, on 12 December 2012 - 02:15 PM, said:

I think they hung on into the mid-late 60s, and then got bought out -- I'm pretty sure Butchart was long gone by then.  I think somebody was using the name for store-brand clubs in the 70s, but I could be wrong on that score.

I think that's correct. When I was a teenager in the '70s I sank every putt I looked at and it was with a Butchart-Nicholls putter. I still have it. The model is Stroke Control 2000.

I'm sure my dad bought it for me at a department store. It was certainly readily available. My friend Bruce started borrowing my putter on the practice green at the course near our house. He reached the point he had ultra confidence in my putter and none in his own. So he told his dad he had to have one. Within days, Bruce showed up with the identical model Butchart-Nicholls putter.

Years ago I was in Las Vegas and my dad started tinkering with the Butchart-Nicholls, which was in his closet. He put a new grip on it. Roughly 6 months ago I took the club to the course for one round, messing with a left handed claw grip. Didn't work too well so I abandoned the club after one round. That putter head is very light.

[rex235]

Interesting find....

Most of my experiences with Butchart-Nicholls clubs are older than this one.
This model has the same Scotch Blade style back as the following LH iron models from the early '70s.

Dunlop Bob Charles Professional

Wilson Staff Dynapower

Delta

..it would help to see pictures showing the stamps framing the clubface grooves.....

For example, included are photos of a 1959 LH Wilson Staff Dynapower 9 iron

[Ironmaster Oddities]

Here are some pics of Butchart and Nicholls clubs. 2-iron and 3 wedges, each different from the other, also a putter that has a very familiar look and feel to me...very Armour-like.

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Edited by Ironmaster Oddities, 17 May 2013 - 09:22 PM.

[weeicemon]

Recent Goodwill find.  Driver is in all original condition with a very small, compact head.  The steel shaft still has a mint Butchart-Nicholls shaft band.  The leather grip is in very nice shape and has " Rib Guide" embossed on it in gold.

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[Bella Woods]

Late 1950s (like 1958/1959) golf club weeicemon.

[Ironmaster Oddities]

weeicemon, on 27 January 2013 - 06:44 PM, said:

Recent Goodwill find.  Driver is in all original condition with a very small, compact head.  The steel shaft still has a mint Butchart-Nicholls shaft band.  The leather grip is in very nice shape and has " Rib Guide" embossed on it in gold.

Sure has a definite Powerbilt look about it.
Great looking driver. Right up your alley, Shallowface?

[Shallowface]

Ironmaster Oddities, on 28 January 2013 - 12:21 AM, said:

weeicemon, on 27 January 2013 - 06:44 PM, said:

Recent Goodwill find.  Driver is in all original condition with a very small, compact head.  The steel shaft still has a mint Butchart-Nicholls shaft band.  The leather grip is in very nice shape and has " Rib Guide" embossed on it in gold.

Sure has a definite Powerbilt look about it.
Great looking driver. Right up your alley, Shallowface?

I know it's contrary to my name, but truth is I like deep faced drivers.

Fairway woods and irons are a different story.  

I did have a lot of success with one of those early TaylorMade drivers 30+ years ago.  Like a driver and 3 wood in one club!

[jtbrown248]

Well here is some fodder for the fire.

I picked up a set of Butchart Nichols "John Letters" Scotland Irons (3,4,5,6,7,9 no 8) from a local Goodwill Store last year that I have yet to find any real info on. I have not seen any comments or images anywhere on the Web so I am posting some pics here in hopes that someone knows something about them.

The coolest part is the name "John Letters on the iron's back face along with a stamped inprint of a duck in flight. Also on the sole the word "Scotland" is imprinted and on the hosel there seems to be and stamped image of an old stone bridge.

Any info on these would be appreciated.

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[stixman]

1972 saw Butchart Nichols trying to make an impact on the Pro only market in the US with this X1 model of stainless steel heads and lightweight shafts. Exceptionally they got the old established club making business of John Letters to make this set for them.
John Letters used an image of the Swilcan Bridge(St Andrews) as a cleekmark. My first set of clubs was the excellent Fred Daly (Northern Irish Open Champ. 1947, beating Frank Stranahan by a shot) Master Model c.1950 with this mark. The goose emblem relates to John Letters internationally famous Golden Goose center shafted putter.

[jtbrown248]

stixman, on 23 February 2013 - 12:20 PM, said:

1972 saw Butchart Nichols trying to make an impact on the Pro only market in the US with this X1 model of stainless steel heads and lightweight shafts. Exceptionally they got the old established club making business of John Letters to make this set for them.
John Letters used an image of the Swilcan Bridge(St Andrews) as a cleekmark. My first set of clubs was the excellent Fred Daly (Northern Irish Open Champ. 1947, beating Frank Stranahan by a shot) Master Model c.1950 with this mark. The goose emblem relates to John Letters internationally famous Golden Goose center shafted putter.

Thanks for that info and I suspected both of your facts that John Letters of Scotland was somehow involved in making these clubs and that in fact the stone bridge was a impression of the on at St Andrews.

Which brings me to ask, how rare are these and also to their collectabilty?

[stixman]

jtbrown248, on 23 February 2013 - 02:58 PM, said:

stixman, on 23 February 2013 - 12:20 PM, said:

1972 saw Butchart Nichols trying to make an impact on the Pro only market in the US with this X1 model of stainless steel heads and lightweight shafts. Exceptionally they got the old established club making business of John Letters to make this set for them.
John Letters used an image of the Swilcan Bridge(St Andrews) as a cleekmark. My first set of clubs was the excellent Fred Daly (Northern Irish Open Champ. 1947, beating Frank Stranahan by a shot) Master Model c.1950 with this mark. The goose emblem relates to John Letters internationally famous Golden Goose center shafted putter.

Thanks for that info and I suspected both of your facts that John Letters of Scotland was somehow involved in making these clubs and that in fact the stone bridge was a impression of the on at St Andrews.

Which brings me to ask, how rare are these and also to their collectabilty?

Can't help you there. How many golfers on here have heard of John Letters, let alone collect his stuff is open to question. Whether they should is beside the point. I would buy a set of 1950s Fred Daly Autographs at the right price for reasons of nostalgia and sentiment. Most people in the US would buy Acushnet Cntre shafts ahead of Golden Gooses.

[Wriggles]

I have an old putter, pyratone shaft, long leather grip Butchart Nicholls Model 83.  Dot punched face, probably dates from the late 1930's.  I used to have a like new huge brown staff bag also by Butchart Nicholls.  Donated it for a church auction.  Looked like it dated from the 1980's.  Both items were bought at the local Goodwill.

[jtbrown248]

Wriggles, on 21 April 2013 - 06:12 AM, said:

I have an old putter, pyratone shaft, long leather grip Butchart Nicholls Model 83.  Dot punched face, probably dates from the late 1930's.  I used to have a like new huge brown staff bag also by Butchart Nicholls.  Donated it for a church auction.  Looked like it dated from the 1980's.  Both items were bought at the local Goodwill.

Long Live Goodwill....,the Golfer's Vintage Haven