Evening star., 1937-01-05
ELIMINATES SKILL
IN BUNKER SHOTS
Mel cod, Master of NibIick
in Sand, Would Rule Out
Wider implement.

BY w. X McCAAAAUM.
g A ND now if they'd only bar
n the automatic bunker shot
~ they'd be getting some
4 a where"
Fred Mcleod, premier bunker player
Of the Nation with the old-fashioned
niblick, curled his lip and spoke
scathingly Of modern bunker play
with the sand wedge. He'd just been
told Of the edict of the United States
Coli Association limiting the number
OF clubs to a. That's q darned good
move" said Freddie. But they should
60 further. Personally I don't see
why they allow more than IL clubs,
and any good golfer could get along
with 10. But that sand wedge" (and
Fred shook his head), that darned
thing has made us a nation OF sissies -
Words hardly can express the scorn
he put into his voice when he COM
mented on the sand wedge.
Wedge Eliminates Skill.
WHY there isn't any penalty any
w more for getting into bunker.
And skill doesn't count in getting out.
These players who use the sand wedge
Just take out the automatic bunker
club, let it fall on the ball and there
It is-up against the hole. These
Isn't any skill to bunker play any
more. The club does the work Wish
they'd bar the darned thing and bring
Aarly ciyi11 81 I,,,.
No man Is equipped to talk about
bunker shots like Fred Mcleod For
20-odd years before the invention of
the sand wedge, Freddie's bunker shots
were the envy of his brother pros.
With little thin-edged mashie-nib-
lick Freddie waded down into the
sandy wastes, planted his No. 8 bro
gans firmly in the yielding sand, took
q full swing and-plop- came the
ball with terrific backspin to sit down
against the flag.
It was and is shot of skill. for the
club itself doesn't play the shot, and
any man can buy q mashie-niblick.
But few can play it as Freddie plays it.
And does Freddie, as a concession to
modernity, carry sand wedge In his
bag? He does not, nor would he were
1t made into an automatic holer-out.
To show you how he can handle
this old-fashioned club we saw him
one day in an 11-hole stretch, get into
eight bunkers around the greens. Eight
straight times he knocked the ball out
close enough to hole the putt for a
par, and he was level par for IL
straight holes.
SaraZen Admits It's Easy.
Tive Sarazen back the old sand
~ clubs, put him in eight bunkers
and he'd be lucky to get two one-putt
greens. But Gene admits that with
the sand wedge Of today he would just
as soon play from . bunker close up
to the green as to play q short pitch
from the fairway.
Down at Pinehurst during the p. G..
"A. tourney we sat near the seventeenth
green with Bill Tryon, co-inventor Of
the newest thing In putters. It's q
tough sole surrounded by traps, and
most Of the boys were finding the sand.
Three times in a row Bill bet me that
leading pros would get down in one
putt from the sand. playing the wedge.
Bill took an unfair advantage, for they
did it three times in a row and paid
off-sadder and wiser. Given a fair
lie in the sand any first-class golfer
can lay a ball close to the cup with the
wedge, all of which pains Fred Nc
Leod immensely.
Wonder what they'd do if they
had to play those shots with the nib
1irk ." he roYnrnentS.