Hello Leo, If the clubs are extremely rare and deemed to be of value, attempting to clean or restore them may affect their value. However, unless there has been some recent change in the market, old hickory clubs without notable provenance and chain of custody documentation have not typically been widely sought after. Since the oldest known document about golf resides in a Brussels city records office and predates the earliest Scot document by nearly a century, every indication is that golf began in your homeland and If you are able to find clubs from the 15th century, as shown in Flemish book of hours illustrations such clubs ought to have particular value, especially in The Netherlands. If value is your priority and you have typical old sticks, you may be best advised to donate them to a museum and take a charitable donation tax deduction, if that option is available to you like it is in the USA. If esthetics are your priority, perhaps restoring them and displaying them in your home or office will bring you pleasure. Best of luck,-Davy.
From: [email protected] Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2015 11:21:35 +0200 Subject: ShopTalk: Restoring old clubs To: [email protected] Hello all, Yesterday I had the opportunity to buy some rather old (and neglected) golf clubs with wooden (hickory ?) shafts. (see https://goo.gl/photos/Yzp2FM1D4G6cuGWQA) I should like to hear any opinion on the relative value of these rather bad looking clubs, but more importantly I would love any advise on how to clean them up without damaging them more. I dont dare touching the bad leather wrapped grips as I have no idea whether they are restorable or that they need to re-gripped. (Which would not improve the authenticity of the clbs of course) Thanks for your suggestions :) Leo Noordhuizen - The Netherlands
