Tiger Woods has returned to Royal Troon for the first time in 20 years and is preparing to compete in this week’s British Open. Woods was injured in 2016 and missed that event, but finished T-9 back in 2004 when Todd Hamilton won at the seaside links.
On Monday, Tiger Woods’ wedges were so covered in rust that it appeared they might have been in his bag back in 2004, too.
While the standard TaylorMade MG4 wedges have a raw steel hitting area, most wedges that you see in pro shops are gleaming and spotless because all the steel has been covered by a chrome plating. Tiger, like many tour pros, opts to use wedges that are made completely with raw steel.
Woods, specifically, plays a TaylorMade MG4 Raw 56-degree sand wedge and 60-degree lob wedge. Both clubs are fitted with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts and have Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord grips. The sand wedge has 12 degrees of bounce and the lob wedge has 11 degrees of bounce, and both are made using 8620 carbon steel.
After raw steel wedges are made, they are immediately wrapped in an airtight plastic coating that is removed before a player starts using them because with exposure to air and moisture, un-chromed steel starts to rust.
Tiger Woods’s wedge was made on May 24 and has rusted into an antique-looking finish. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
While it’s unclear whether the wedges Tiger is using at Royal Troon are prototypes or not, markings on the hosel clearly show they were manufactured for him about within the last few months. Given the level of rust, if they were wrapped up and sealed, it wasn’t for very long because the salt air of Woods’s home state of Florida has done a number on them.
Why is Tiger using a rusty wedge and why do pros like raw steel wedges?
There are a few reasons why pros often request raw steel wedges instead of going with chrome wedges.
First, unlike chrome which shines brightly in the sun, even new raw steel wedges do not reflect light as harshly and reduce glare.
Tiger Woods Monday at the 2024 British Open. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Second, while rust will not massively increase the spin-generating power of a wedge, it has been shown to slightly improve performance in wet conditions by providing more surface roughness in the hitting area compared to chrome.
Finally, the biggest reason why pros often request raw steel wedges is if hand grinding or polishing are needed, raw steel hides the marks created by the grinding wheel. Over time, the sanded area will rust and look like the rest of the club, but if a chromed wedge is ground, the area that comes into contact with the wheel will rust while the chrome area will remain shiny, leaving a mark that most players don’t like.
Is this new for Tiger?
Tiger Woods’ lob wedge at the 2019 Northern Trust. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
This is not the first time that Tiger Woods has arrived at a tournament with rusty wedges. In 2019, senior writer David Dusek photographed Tiger’s equipment at Liberty National Golf Club and captured the images of Woods’s TaylorMade Milled Grind lob wedge. The more Tiger uses the wedges, the more the light layer of rust in the hitting area will wear away. Repeatedly cleaning the wedges and wiping them with a towel will also reduce the rust.
TaylorMade does sell MG4 Tiger Woods Grind wedges for $199.99 on its website.
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