Equipment

From the GolfWRX Vault: The story of the sand wedge

Published

5 years ago

Aug 25, 2019

In addition to continuing to look forward to new content that will serve and engage our readership, we also want to showcase standout pieces that remain relevant from years past. In particular, articles with a club building or instruction focus continue to deliver value and convey useful information well after their publish dates.

We want to make sure that once an article falls off the front page as new content is covered it isn’t relegated to the back pages of our website. We hope that you’ll appreciate and find value in this effort.

Cracking open the vault: In this 2015 piece, Mark Donaghy, author of “Caddy Attitudes,” looks at the game-changing history of the sand wedge, reminding us that “compared to the early days of golf, however, bunker play is relatively easy.”

A taste of Donaghy’s excellent piece…

Prior to the 1930s, the best club for short approach shots was the niblick, roughly equivalent to today’s 9-iron or pitching wedge. The design of this club, however, featured a flat, angled face and virtually no sole, making it difficult to use in sand and other soft lies as it was prone to digging into the ground. Players had to pick the ball cleanly off the sand, which required a good lie. The other alternative for bunkers was the jigger; it was similar to a chipper with a short shaft, but little loft. Less loft prevented the club from digging in too much on soft lies, but the compromise was the low launch angle and it was useless at moving through the sand to dig out a buried ball. The club was also not ideal for approach shots from a greenside bunker, as a chip shot made with this club tended to roll for most of its distance. The club designers in those days were often blacksmiths who offered up all sorts of strange solutions to the bunker dilemma.

The rake iron…was invented by a Scottish optometrist who became fed up of having to remove sand from the eyes of golfers playing at the local links, and created a club designed to cast up less sand when swung.

The governing bodies soon began to clamp down on design and banned many offerings. Spoon clubs offered varying degrees of loft and allowed players to scoop their ball out of sand traps and deep rough. Some had bowl faces, others featured deeply grooved faces, but not all of these designs conformed. Walter Hagen was using a lethal-looking sand wedge in the late 1920s, with a hickory shaft and a smooth concave face with a lot of loft and about a half pound of weight in the flange. This was deemed illegal and soon became outlawed.

It is widely acknowledged that the biggest breakthrough in sand play appeared in the 1930s, and many connect Gene Sarazen with the design of today’s modern sand wedge. The story goes that he dreamed this club up after flying with Howard Hughes, the aviation tycoon, movie producer and scratch golfer. When Hughes’s plane took off, the flaps on the wings came down. We don’t know if alcohol or narcotics were consumed at the time, but Sarazen made a connection between the flaps and the flange you could add to a club that would allow it to slide through the sand and help the ball pop up

Check out the full piece here.

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Whats in the Bag

Michael S. Kim WITB 2024 (April)

Published

2 days ago

Apr 5, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Michael S. Kim what’s in the bag accurate as of the Valero Texas Open.

Driver: Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees, B1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 X

3-wood: Ping G430 Max (15 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD UB 8 TX

Check out more in-hand photos of Michael Kim’s clubs here.

Irons: Titleist T200 (3, 4), Titleist T100 (5-PW)
Shafts: Graphite Design Tour AD IZ 95 X (3), Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour 120 S

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (52-12F), SM10 (56-14F), WedgeWorks Proto (60-L)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S300

Check out more in-hand photos of Michael Kim’s clubs here.

Putter: L.A.B. Link.1
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Tour 1.0P 17

Grips: Golf Pride MCC

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

Check out more in-hand photos of Michael Kim’s clubs here.

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Equipment

TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper: Leveraging 90s nostalgia

Published

2 days ago

Apr 5, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

TaylorMade is leaning in even further to the retro vibes with the 2024 edition of its BRNR Mini Driver.

Patterned after the Carlsbad-based company’s iconic late 1990s Burner driver design, the 2024 BRNR Mini features similar copper styling and a retro version of the TaylorMade logo.

Featuring the same technology as its 2023 BRNR Mini Driver, the 2024 edition continues to play the hits that saw the unique club land in the bag of tour pros, such as Tommy Fleetwood and Jake Knapp.

Why play a mini driver?

In general, TaylorMade finds two types of golfers gravitate toward a mini driver. In the first case, it’s an addition to a standard driver: Players looking for a “fairway finder” driver without giving up too much distance that can also be hit off the deck. Second, TaylorMade recommends giving a mini a go to golfers who struggle to hit 460 cc drivers, particularly choppers. It’s a better alternative than a 3-wood off the tee.

Tommy Fleetwood’s endorsement of playing a mini driver

“For me, if I HAD to hit a fairway, I’m more comfortable hitting a driver than a 3-wood. I would tee the driver down, and I would hit a little cut, or a neck-y cut in the fairway. The 3-wood isn’t for that. The 3-wood, generally, is a pretty hot club that I’ll hit from 270 or 280 in the fairway on a par 5. You get some courses where a 3-wood is not always necessary. [With the BRNR] you put a normal swing on it, and I’m more comfortable hitting it straight. It’s a replacement for a 3-wood, basically.”

Pricing, specs, availability

TaylorMade’s new BRNR Mini Driver Copper clubs will sell for $449.99 in 11.5 (RH/LH) and 13.5 (RH) degree options, and they will be available for custom orders.

See more in-hand photos and read what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.

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Equipment

Coolest thing for sale in the GolfWRX Classifieds (4/5/24): I think I ‘Blacked Out’ trying to love these irons

Published

2 days ago

Apr 5, 2024

Gianni Magliocco

At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals that all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.

It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.

Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, there is a listing for a set of blacked out P770 irons

From the seller: (@hammertime1515): “Just one single iron set up for grabs today. Got these right before they quote selling them at the end of February. Only played 3 full rounds with them and a couple short range sessions. 7 iron shows the most wear and 8 iron has a sandy mark on the toe (ball striking out of winter wasn’t the strong suit) Just not right for me no matter how much I wanted them to be. Price is shipped and OBO……

P770 Black Out irons. 4-PW. —New Tour Velvet Align Midsize Grips —1/2” over TM standard —2 degrees upright —Standard Lofts —Dynamic Gold 105 X100 shafts —PW has never been hit, most of them have been hit sparingly. Tried to capture the wear on the 7 iron and the toe mark on the 8 iron the best I could. Soles have virtually no scratching from use and no bag chatter. -If more pics are needed just ask ——PRICE: $1000 OBO” & Shipped

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Blacked out P770 irons

This is the most impressive current listing from the GolfWRX BST, and if you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum you can check them out here: GolfWRX BST Rules