12 USGA JOURNAL: June, 1949 No Change in the Wedge By JOHN D. AMES

CHAIRMAN, USGA IMPLEMENTS AND BALL COMMITTEE

Clubs of the general type popularly Con known as "wedge" have been under Herbert Jaques has dealt with the rather intense consideration by the matter periodically for nearly two dec- USGA Executive Committee during the ades in USGA committees and is an ad- last year. vocate of modifying the club. He has At its recent spring meeting, the Com- said: mittee decided to take no legislative ac- "The feature which makes it a 'self- tion aO"ainst the wedge. Thus this playing implement' is the angle of the trouble °club rem1nins "legal" -and prob- trailing edge of the sole which extends ably a lively topic for conversation until below a horizontal plane, measured another flurry of criticism brings it from the leading edge, when the line of under scrutiny again. the (not the shaft itself) is per- That has been the periodic pattern pendicular .to the plane." He suggested for the wedge ever since its modern leO"islation which, he felt, would do the ancestor, a concave-faced niblick with following: a heavy, rounded-and-flanged sole, made "1. Eliminate the automatic up-lift its appearance in 1930. The. USc.A E:<- or ploughin.j-out action of the present ecutive Committ~~ then lost lIttle tIme III sandwedge. legislating against it-in January, 1931, "2. Take care of either flat or rounded it was barred. The report of Herbert soles. Jaques as Chairman of the Implements "3. Not make obsolete the present and Ball Committee then said: "Repeated cluhs, which could be ground down to tests proved conclusively that from grass meet the proposed specifications. a ball could strike the club face at two "4. No limitation on width of the sole different points in the same stroke." is necessary to eliminate the up-lift or. This resulted in adoption of the follow- ploughing-out action." inO" reO"ulatio:l: "Club faces shall not Tommy Armour has remarked sub- e~hod; any degree of concavity or more stantially as follows: "The present club than one angle of loft." should be outlawed because it is of in- The concavity of face in the original estimable benefit to the expert hut of no sandwed;-e was' the badc reason for its particular help to the average player abolitio'-;. But since then there have because he doesn't know how to use it been developments in the sale of wedge- properly." type cluhs which have caused many Francis Ouimet has said he feels the lo\'ers of the game to press for modi- club "has no place in the game, and I fication. would like to see it declared illegal. I Criticism has originated from belief realize, however, that it has given much that the wedge is a sort of foolproof club consolation to a great many golfers." which takes awav much of the need of Pro skill in playing' shots from sand and Various shades of opinion IHlve heen short pitches to the putting green. expre:,sed hy various CSGA Committee- There haH' been honest differences of men. One said: "There should be some opinion, even among those who should specifications to limit the cluh~ but some know the subject. Following are some sort of wed!!e similar to those in use to- opinions~ and their diversity .reflects day should Lbe legal. I believe the club the scope of the problem wInch has helps the dul, more than the top pro in confronted the l'SGA Executive Com- spite of the latter's proficiency with it. mittee. and it would be a shame to bar all USGA JOURNAL: June, 1949 13

Original Wedge JOURNAL welcomes the views of golfers on this and related subjects. Bulges on Club Faces A convex bulge from top to bottom on the face of any club, including , has been approved by the Executive Committee. The present Rules are not clear on the point, and their phrasing will be changed next year so as to em­ body the new interpretation. Note concavity of face in illustration at left, and flanged sole at right. Radioactive Ball The Association has been asked whether it would approve a wedges. I am sure that many of the in combination with a radioactive sub­ sandwedges are far from foolproof; at stance—an invention said to relate to least, I know mine isn't, judging from a ball which may be located when lost the numerous frightful shots 1 have hit by means of a detector sensitive to with it." emanations from the ball. The detector Another view: "The wedge is more used would preferably be a small hand- helpful to the duffer than to the pro. carried Geiger Counter, it is said. The pro can get out of a bunker and After consideration, the Executive down in one putt quite regularly due to Committee did not feel it had enough in­ the wedge; the duffer can at least get formation, one way or another, to make out with this club, where with the old a decision, and thought it best to let the niblick he used to take a number of matter develop further so that everything strokes before achieving the result." involved in such a golf ball could be Still another was torn between consid­ taken into consideration. There was eration of the average player and a de­ a good deal of conversation about the sire to minimize the work done by the advantage of one player over another club at the expense of playing skill. if only one could afford the Geiger Coun­ "Most courses," he said, "cannot afford ter, about any harm to human beings or to keep their traps raked perfectly, and animals which might come from prox­ for the average golfer it is almost es­ imity to such a ball, if any, and whether sential to have a very heavy wedge to or not it would make any difference in extricate oneself from a deep footprint the manufacture or flight of the ball. or a very heavy lie." The matter has been left in an in­ In any case, the wedge is still with us definite state because a decision now, —and, probably, so are the problems based on insufficient knowledge, might which it has created. The USGA have to be reversed later.

Lightning Protection

The USGA recently re-issued its poster the necessity of calling off matches be­ on "Protection of Persons Against Light­ fore the storm is near enough to be haz­ ning on Golf Courses." Copies have ardous, the cases of multiple injury or been sent to all USGA member clubs, death among players and spectators and others are available from the USGA, could be eliminated." free. The same material is contained in Mednes Only the USGA booklet. Whenever we go down to play golf In checking the text of the poster, The ladies are so numerous they crowd the National Bureau of Standards point­ us olf. ed out: Thank goodness Wednesday "If golf clubs could be impressed with Is the mednesdav. —PUNCH