Golf in Australia

Initially there were no designated courses and golf was played on public land.

Here we see women playing among people going about their ordinary business. In the distance is a rough track and horses drawing carts.

With a golfer required to play the ball as it lies, rut irons were an essential club for early players. The rut iron’s small, rounded head was designed to scoop the ball from tracks or holes left by wagon wheels, pedestrians or stock.

Water irons were designed at the same time as rut irons. They helped play a ball submerged in water by cutting down on resistance. In modern day games, golfers drop the ball beside the water hazard.

Before golf bags appeared in the late 1800s, clubs were carried under the arm of the caddy. Caddies were also responsible for teeing up golf balls, locating lost balls, and numerous other menial tasks.

By 1931 the New South Wales Ladies Golf Union was the largest golf union in Australasia. Renamed Women’s Golf NSW, it later merged with the NSW Golf Association to become Golf NSW.

Founded in 1911, the Australian chapter of the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) is the second oldest in the world. The PGA Provident Fund provided a form of superannuation for retiring professionals.

Golf ball printers were introduced into Australia after the Great War. Golf professionals used printers to stamp players' initials on balls for easy identification. Some players owned hand-held printers which could imprint an entire name.

The big money for pros was in charging golf clubs for trick-shot exhibitions. This trick-shot wood was used by Joe Kirkwood, a brilliant golfer but most famous as a showman touring the world in the 1920s and 1930s.

Following World War Two, sports equipment was scarce so PGA members formed their own company, PGA Mutual Limited, to source golfing supplies such as shafts, iron heads and wooden blocks. The company was dissolved in 1985.

Who better to learn from than champions of the game?

Many golfers released instructional albums. Peter Thomson is considered one of Australia's finest players. He won the British Open five times, including three consecutively.

Slicing, hooking, skying, topping - all are the bane of the golfer. This instructive dial was small enough to fit in a golfer's bag.

Golf swing trainers were clipped onto the shaft. The added weight aimed to slow the swing so the golfer was able to identify any faults which could lead to lack of distance, slicing and hooking.

Golf ball manufacturers continually experiment with ball cores. Designs have used compressed air, mercury, cork and even honey. Steel centred golf balls were introduced in the 1950s but did not prove popular.

Whatever the next best thing to improve players' golf, let's hope it doesn't bring tears to anyone's eyes!