George Nicoll famously produced an iron with a leather face insert, though he never received a patent granting him the exclusive right to produce such a club. That hardly mattered, as a cleek with a leather insert only appealed to a small number of golfers. For this reason, only a couple other producers were known to have produced an iron with a leather face insert.

Offered here is the rarest such club - the Willie Park leather face cleek. How rare is this club? When Jeff Ellis wrote his legendary book on golf clubs, The Clubmaker's Art, he knew that this club existed, but did not know where to locate it. The Clubmaker's Art (2nd Ed.) by Jeffery B. Ellis, page 392.

Ellis' vague knowledge of this elusive Willie Park cleek stemmed from a reference in a 1991 Sotheby's Auction Catalog. Well, it turns out that this mysterious club was purchased in that auction by famed collector Jaime Ortiz-Patino - the owner of Valderrama Golf Club in Spain. This Willie Park cleek with a leather face insert remained in the Patino collection until his death a few years ago.

To our knowledge, this is still the only surviving example of this club. 38 3/4". Very Good condition. Original shaft is marked "Wm. Park."