Evening star., 1939-12-13
Increase in Hittinu
Surface Helps 10
Offset 'F|uffs'
Sond Wedge and Steel
BIuded Putter Stoy
Along Old Lines
BY WALTER McCALLUM.

Little changed from their pred
ecessors OF 1899, the streamlined
new golf clubs for 1910 are coming
on the market. There are no revo-
lutionary models and few radical
changes, although one concern car
ries forward the idea Of the short
hosel in iron clubs, thereby con-
centrating considerable weight and
hitting force in the actual club
head.
One of the outfits has moved out
with something new by making
available the four pitching clubs as
one unit, purchasable as a four
club group. This means that the
golfer who hasn't the cash to lay
out for an entire eight-club set can
buy the four pitching clubs and
when he gets the money. can buy the
other four. The pitching unit is
listed as Nos. 7, 8, 9 and 10
Most club sets nowadays eliminate
the No. iron. Few amateurs could
play the distance iron with any de-
gree of skill and accuracy anyhow,
even though it was a pin-splitter
in the hands of such iron masters as
Witty Cox and fine weapon for a
long low shot into head wind.
No Need for No. Iron.
But the No. l iron had to 20.
Modern course construction prac-
tically has eliminated it, for manv
holes nowadays force shot in
the air to the green. The old days
when you could nudge long.
rolling second shot into the green
are gone.
A notable trend in the new iron
clubs is toward greater surface of
sole. A thin blade obviously digs
deeper into the turf than one with
thick sole. Realizing that a large
percentage of golfers are in the
ouf1er class and haven't the ac-
curate hitting ability of good golf
ers, the manufacturers have gone
toward wider soles. This, in non
technical language, means that even
II you hit a couple of inches be-
hind the ball, you still will scuff
1t away in fairly good shape. The
club Will rice along the turf in
stead OF digging in behind the ball
and causing one of those irritating
"fluffs."
Wooden club trends are toward
more shallow faces and more scien-
tlflc weighing. Considerable re-
search has gone into the location
ana anchoring of the lead in wooden
heads, with the idea that some duff
fers may find it easier to cure that
sllce by buying clubs with the lead
located In strategic spot in the
head. Tuberculosis of golf" Gene
Sarazen calls the buffers slice. 1T
gets worse every year, and you have
TO use drastic means to cure it,"
Putter Remains Standard.
For years ingenious inventors
nave striven to make putting easier
by various means. New angles of
grip, new angles of blade and
shafts more or less in the center
OF the head have come out from
time to time. But the old steel
bladed putter remains standard
equipment in the bags of most
players, and even in the kits of
the professional stars. No new
putting gadgets have come out this
year, although the opening of the
spring season at Pinehurst some
times finds something new on putt
ing
The sand wedge. like the auto
mobile. Is here to stay, and all
manufacturers are featuring i'm
proved lines of sand clubs for 1910
Chief feature of the wedge, of
course, is the thick sole which keeps
the club from riding down into the
sand and leaving the ball in the
bunker. That feature and the I'M
usual weight of the club remain in
the 1910 models.
One manufacturer has gone in for
gaudy trimmings on the irons. using
pastel shades in shafts and finishing
touches. But the clubs are good,
and although they seem like some
thing out of the boudoir they are
strong and well made.