Club class

Few golf fans have heard of Don White, yet he has 14 majors to his name – or, at least, his handcrafted irons do

Words by Farhad Heydari

Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman used Don White’s handmade irons. He is still grinding clubs at National Custom Works

Mention the name Don White to even the most learned golf enthusiast and you’re likely to be met with a quizzical look. Only a select few hundred of golf’s global cognoscenti would be able to regale you with tales of the dexterity, devotion and discipline of his craft: hand-forging golf clubs. For while much of today’s top-end golf equipment is high-tech, the appeal of White’s irons is that they are produced in pre-industrial fashion, by hand.

When people talk about “custom golf clubs”, they usually mean the best off-the-rack options. But White, whose clubs have 14 majors to their credit, courtesy of names such as Nicklaus and Norman, isn’t handing you a clubhead and shaft combination: the master craftsman is grinding it for you by hand, much as he did for discerning low-handicappers for all those years at the MacGregor golf company.

Some of his beautiful early creations, which were fashioned using only a lathe, can be found for sale if you take a deep dive into online golf forums – but be warned, they’re not going for a song. Alternatively, you can find him honing his craftsmanship at National Custom Works, where he brings a new level of meaning to the concept of “custom”.

Every NCW iron starts as a blank slab of metal before White and Jeff McCoy, a fellow master club-maker, get their hands on it. After taking into account each customer’s preferred look, sole shape and ball flight, they set about sculpting some of the most balanced, softest-feeling forged irons on the market today.

This level of personalisation is usually reserved for adept golfers with a keen aesthetic sense. The clubs are not inexpensive, and won’t arrive promptly – the lead time is between two and 10 months – but if you want the hands that built Jack Nicklaus’s irons to make yours, this is the only game in town.

NCW also fashions putters using 3D printing, with the one-off specimens handcrafted to the discerning shapes, sizes, specs, finishes and demands of White’s clients. Unexpected? Yes. A beautiful collectible? Certainly, although NCW doesn’t provide any assurance that you’ll drain a knee-knocking six-footer on purchase. nationalcustomworks.com.