Following Canada's acceptance of the American standard "large
ball" size in 1948, ball manufacturers in Canada were quick
to produce balls that met the new standards. The Eaton's catalogue
of 1948 offered "Campbell high compression" golf balls
in the new size for $1.05 each, and the new size "Blue
Goose" for 80 cents each.
Until the First World War, club-making in Canada consisted only
of the finishing of club components imported from Britain or the
United States. When Spalding opened their Brantford factory in
the 1920s, they manufactured their steel-shafted Kro-flite clubs
on site. Wood-shafted clubs manufactured in the United States
and Canada for department stores were sold by the thousands to a
society that was golf-hungry in the 1920s and 1930s.
The use of steel-shafted clubs was legalized in the United States
in 1924 and the rules of golf were changed in May 1925 to permit
their use in Canada. In Scotland, these clubs were not considered
legal until 1929.
The Eaton's catalogue of 1949 offered Canadian golfers a choice
between an expensive set of American-made "Sam Snead"
Signature golf clubs, "exclusive with Eaton's in Canada"
or a cheaper set of Canadian-made steel-shafted MacGregor
"Pacemaker" golf clubs.
The early to mid-1950s era is generally regarded among collectors
as the "Golden Age" of club manufacturing. It was a
time when craftsmen fashioned by hand clubs - incorporating
intricate inlay work, sometimes with ivory and coloured inserts -
that have come to be known as "fancy-faced clubs."
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