Evening star., 1938-05-18
LOW SCORES LAID
TO HEAVY N|bL|CK
Chicago Open Tourney With
Club Barred Suggested to
Prove Contention.
By FRANCIS J. POWERS.

CHICAGO, May 18.-Reason for the
increasing low scoring in golf tourna-
ments, finally and with good reason,
has been laid to the expertness with
which professionals use the heavy,
flanged niblick that goes under various
proprietary names of sand wedge,
dynamiter, sand-iron, ETC."
Tommy Armour, the Chicago pro-
fessional, who learned his golf in Scot
land, where old-fashioned niblick play
was an art. was telling the other night
of the uncanny skill the modern pro
has with the sand wedge and the
strokes saved by that implement He
detailed a yarn about one very famous
professional who on single round was
bunkered seven times and in the rough
five, yet finished with subpar score
of 70.
Professionals skilled in using the
sand niblick no longer fear traps
When an expert golfer is bunkered
even to the extent of having the ball
buried, or it happens to land in a heel
print, he no longer expects to lose
strokes. In fact, he is very much dis
comforted if he fails to land the ball
less than feet from the cup.
Bunker Play Now Mechanical.
The sand wedge has made bunker
play purely mechanical gesture for
the professional. Before advent of the
wedge, and in the days of the thin
bladed niblick, trap play was one of
the most skilled features of the game.
The player who could consistently
bring his ball out of the sands and
near the cup rated high as an artisan.
Now the player merely swings his
wedge and the ball comes out with
tremendous backspin and is the great
est stroke-saver ever introduced into
the game.
The first sand wedge was a concave-
raced implement which was outlawed
by the U. S. G. A. on the grounds that
the ball actually was struck twice
But the concave wedge was not nearly
the aid as is the current straight-faced
weapon. With the concave-faced club
1t was almost impossible to get back
spin and even the professionals found
1t difficult to hold the ball on the
green. But watch professional of the
class OF Harry Cooper, Gene Sarazen
or Horton Smith; they use the wedge
with much the same skill that a ma
rine handles a rifle.
Unfortunately. the wedge is no great
help to the duffer class player. The
club takes a lot of knowing and must
be Sed with certain finesse or else
the shot Mag SA.a miserable failure,
and often the ball may Into the
next county. (The guy should o.~
after sowing Cook County, Ill.,, with
new and valuable golf balls)
Many Expect Ban on Club.
In the opinion of many close OBJ
servers of golf it would not be sur
prisfng to see the U. S. G. A. or Royal
and Ancient eventually take action to
outlaw the sand wedge, even as the
ribbed irons were barred, after Jock
Hutchinson made his mashie do tricks
at St. Andrews, where he won the
British open in 1921.
1t will be suggested to the Chicago
District Golf Association that its S..
600 open this summer be played with
out sand wedges. 1t is doubtful if the
Chicago association will adopt the idea,
but it would be an interesting expert
ment and prove the extent profession
ais depend upon the club to save shots.
The low scores are pressing prob
lem to golf associations. Par is being
rldiculed at every turn, but it is too
expensive a matter to reconstruct golf
courses against the increasing subpar
scores. If an experiment proved that
the sand wedge was responsible for the
stars going around in next to nothing,
the matter could be adjusted by throw
ing out the wedge; although the pro-
fessionalS would tear their hair if such
q suggestion ever receives any serious
consideration.