GENE SARAZEN’S SAND WEDGE

1930s

Sarazen didn’t actually invent the sand wedge, as popular belief would hold, but he did create something that was very much the precursor to the modern sand wedge we recognise today.

He came up with the idea while being taught to fly a plane by eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes. Sarazen noted how the tail of the plane moved downwards on take-off and he began to experiment with adding weight to the sole of his niblick. He found it helped get the ball up and out of sand and he used it to great effect in winning the 1932 Open.