June 2019
We have quite a collection of putters for our back porch putting green. Most have been flea market finds and none have cost more than $5. We probably didn't need any more but there was something about this Alex Taylor putter that said "take me home" - the smooth old leather grip, the shiny blade, the fact that the guy would take $4 for it. We did take it home and what it did was take us on an unexpected treasure hunt.
We thought as first - Taylor, as in TaylorMade. But a search online led us to, of all things, The Classic Fly Rod Forum, where a member had quoted a most remarkable article, "Zzunk" by Brendan Gill from the April 19, 1947 issue of The New Yorker. In his entertaining article, Mr. Gill interviews Alex Taylor, of Alex Taylor & Co., a sporting goods store at 22 East 42nd Street in Manhattan, at the time already entering its 50th year at that location. We hope you enjoy this classic interview, itself the treasure:
In 1897, Mr. Taylor told us, the best sporting goods invariably came from England,
but for the past 25 years, American-made golf clubs, tennis rackets and so on have been
considered as good as anybody else's. "Different sports tend to rise and fall in popularity,"
Mr. Taylor said. "Back in '97, basketball was just beginning to catch on, lacrosse and
fencing were very popular, and golf and tennis, which had been rich men's games, were
beginning to be played by everybody. Now lacrosse and fencing are fairly unimportant,
while skiing, to which nobody paid very much attention in the old days, is one of our major
sports. Styles in equipment change, too. Tennis rackets used to be more rectangular in
shape, and footballs were dumpy. Since 1912, when their measurements were first
standardized, they have lost a bit more than an inch around the waist. Shoe skates were
practically unknown in 1897 and golfing irons were all hand-forged, with wooden shafts.
The rubber-wound golf ball hadn't been invented, so we used "gutty" balls, made of gutta
percha. The gutta was easier to putt with, being heavy and dead and consequently more
true on the green than a modern ball, but you couldn't get much distance with it. Baseballs
were also dead. They got a cork center in 1909, which speeded them up a trifle. It was the
switch from American to Australian yarn in 1920 that made them really fast. Baseball bats,
on the other hand, haven't changed at all. I have a new magnesium bat in my office here,
but I doubt if it'll ever take the place of wood. Just doesn't feel right."
