Plus Four Podcast on Hickory Golf

Mungo Park IV: Musselburgh

Between 1832 and 1892, Musselburgh stood at the heart of the golfing world. Five major golf clubs operated there, supported by skilled club and ball makers and caddies. While the game's early elements were rooted in Musselburgh, the codified version emerged in Leith in 1744, later refined when The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers relocated to Musselburgh. The town's fresh-air charm mixed with the gritty realities of coal mining and industrial growth to forge a uniquely Scottish version of golf—both refined and resilient. From this dynamic mix, the modern international game began to take shape. In his new book, Musselburgh: The Cradle of Golf, Mungo Park IV investigates the most significant period of Musselburgh’s golf history in the second half of the 19th century, when the town was arguably the most active center of golf in the world. Mungo trained at Edinburgh University, and set up practice in London with two partners in 1984. Since then he has worked at Hoylake, Gullane, Temple, Sunningdale, Muirfield, Royal Wimbledon and other prestigious locations. U.S. buyers can purchase the book here, via Auld Grey Toun books. He has written on the evolution of the golf clubhouse as a generic building type for the British Golf Collectors Society, of which he is a member. He has contributed articles on golf history and the history of early club makers, including his own family, to various periodicals. His great grandfather Willie Park Sr. won the first Open in 1860 and three others in 1863, 1866 and 1875. His great-great-uncle Mungo won it in 1874, and his great-uncle Willie Park Jr. in 1887 and 1889. He is married to Julia, also an architect, and they have two children, Anna and Jack. Ran Morrissett, co-founder and President of Golf Club Atlas, has a wide-ranging interview with Mr. Park on his brilliant website c. 2017. Elements of Mr. Park's bio above are excerpted from his work.

Stephen Proctor: Matchless

Stephen Proctor has served as a senior editor at The Baltimore Sun, The San Francisco Chronicle and The Houston Chronicle. He is an avid golfer and has spent the past decade studying the history of the royal and ancient game. He is the author of Monarch of the Green (Shortlisted for The Telegraph Sports Book Awards 2020 Biography of the Year) and The Long Golden Afternoon (shortlisted for the Sunday Times 2023 Sports Book Awards for Best Sports Writing, and the USGA Herbert Warren Wind Book Award) and lives in Malabar, Florida. In this episode, we'll preview his 2025 release, Matchless: Joyce Wethered, Glenna Collett and the Rise of Women's Golf. Stephen is a meticulous researcher and scholar, and listeners will gain new insights into the legacy of women's golf, the predominance of early female players from the 1920s, and be concomitantly thoroughly entertained. Few golf historians are as fluid, knowledgeable, and quick witted as Stephen Proctor. Matchless is published by Birlinn books out of Edinburgh, Scotland, and can be purchased outside the United States via Bookshop.org, or in the States (online) at BarnesandNoble.com.

Elmer Nahum: Practical Clubmaker

Elmer Nahum, the author of Practical Clubmaking: A Guide to Long Nose Era Clubmaking, is a retired interventional radiologist who has a passion for traditional woodworking and golf history. Playing Bobby Jones’ home course of East Lake in the 1980s, which served as his college team’s home course, spawned Elm’s interest in golf history. Over the years, he has read a collection of golf books on the early history of the game as well as biographies of notable players. His woodworking focuses on making 18th- and 19th-century furniture, primarily using hand tools with traditional methods. Nineteenth-century replica golf clubmaking is a natural offshoot of these two hobbies, with a club or two fashioned in between other larger projects. The golf bug occasionally finds its way into some furniture manifested as a subtle golf motif. His woodworking knowledge stems from classes, books, the internet, and simply discovering while woodworking. Each attempt at making a replica 19th-century golf club offers a chance to gain new insights into the traditional methods and history of clubmaking and woodworking.

Roger McStravick: Golf Historian

Roger McStravick is a golf historian, writer, editor and speaker, specializing in St Andrews, Old Tom Morris, and golfing legends from 1800 to 1920. His book, St Andrews-In The Footsteps of Old Tom Morris won the USGA's Herbert Warren Wind Book Award in 2015. The author's book, St Andrews - The Road War Papers won the same award in 2020. At The Open Championship in 2016, he was presented with the British Golf Collectors' Society Murdoch Medal - the highest British honor for golf literature. In 2019, Roger became editor of the British Golf Collectors' Society magazine, Through The Green. He enjoys giving talks both formal and informal about Tom Morris and golf history in general. In the last few years he has appeared in numerous TV and film productions including Loopers and St Andrews - The Greatest Golf Story Ever Told, and for documentaries on various networks including BBC and The Golf Channel. In addition to being a contributor to podcasts and articles for papers such as The New York Times, he has also written for various golf publications worldwide including Links and Golf Illustrated. An avid collector of rare books on St. Andrews, he has a deep appreciation and passion for the town. In 2024, McStravick released his newest authoritative biography on the life of golfing great, Allan Robertson (Allan Robertson of St Andrews, King of Clubs, 1815-1859). In this episode, he shares some of the insights into his process for researching and bringing 19th century golf history to life, and to the myriad ways his knowledge of St Andrews and its constant state of change influences his daily life in the global epicenter of golf.

Clark Willard: Hickory Revival

Wisonsinites are known for their kindness, right? Think Bon Iver, Steve Stricker, Gene Wilder—you get the idea. Well, Clark Willard, now the head golf professional at The Lido Golf Club, part of Sand Valley Resort in Wisconsin, has that positive vibe. Though not native, it makes him a great fit for the State. Willard found religion (so to speak) in hickory golf. Like so many, the connection to history and the allure of the game—as it was meant to be played—got its claws into him. Now he's in a unique position to spread the word about the sport, and he's delivering on that mission in spades. Clark set up a hickory golf workshop right in the pro shop at The Lido, and he encourages guests and members alike to have a go with the antique relics of the past. Whether first-timer or semi-pro golfer, all are welcome, and all Willard cares about is opening the gateway to experience a piece of the tradition and history of the game. In this episode, we talk about his career path through several years at Pacific Dunes in Oregon, to its "sister resort" in Nekoosa, replete with layouts from Bill Coore, Ben Crenshaw, Tom Doak, Brian Schneider, David McLay Kidd and others. Sound familiar? Oh yeah...Sand Valley is also owned and managed by the Kaiser family, sons Michael and Chris. Clark talks about his admiration for Old Tom Morris and his recent foray into agronomy and golf course maintenance in the last year, as well as the founding of Hickory Revival, focused on keeping the feeling of hickory golf going. They do this through research, playing, collecting, sharing, and reviving pre-1935 sticks, all part of Clark becoming one of the most well-rounded pros in the game today.