I thought it was a golf club too (and it went along with the shots of them on the golf course) then I thought maybe it would be microphone and that was why ringo wasn't holding it too since he didn't sing on Beatles VI. I soon realized that was not plausible so went back to golf club.
This I knew. I was setting up the picture so that the question would be answered when people looked at it.
I have a large framed poster which is an uncropped version of Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop cover. It was used during an in-store appearance promoting the album at a record store managed by a friend of mine, who got Jeff to autograph it in a bottom corner.
I read in a book years ago that someone thought the theme of that photo was "Life is a bowl of spilled cherries on the road of life". It was not until the Archive Collection book that explained the photo.
Yeah, I didn't especially care for that, either, but I blame the photographer, or whoever actually staged it.
Alternate pose from same location outside Belfast, Ireland 1970 all images (C) Shepard Sherball/Corbis
I was always curious about the "Nevermind" cover - I mean, I know it was a swimming class for babies, but who thought a "dunk your infant underwater" class was a good idea? XD