Golf's Greatest Economist

Levi and I played our playoff two ball match with Peter and Paul, and once again, it was a tight match neither of us going more than one up in the match until fifteen. It was then that Peter hit a slick bump and run up a bank from under a tree on the left side of the green to about eight feet. Paul drained the putt and they went one up.

On the next hole I hit a stinker with my recalcitrant 54 degree Callaway wedge from about 80 yards. It finished fifteen yards short of the green. I was thoroughly disgusted, because I was in a perfect position to possibly get it close and win the hole. But, when you can't hit a green with a wedge you might want to consider playing horseshoes instead. That 54 degree wedge has cost me money in the past and will now be relegated to the trunk of my car where I will hopefully have enough sense to leave it. I don't know whether it's the 12 degrees of bounce, or if it's just in my head, but that wedge needs to be gone from my arsenal. If you don't trust a club, it's best not to hit it.

Peter and Paul won that hole, went up dormie with two to play, and finished us off on the next hole when Paul hit a brilliant second shot from about 150 yards to about four feet from the pin. As is almost always the case, however, it really boiled down to the short game to decide the match despite Paul's tremendous iron play on the back nine. That up and down on fifteen was brilliant. On sixteen, it was followed by another brilliant chip by Peter that was nearly holed and ultimately was good enough for them to win the hole.

Bobby Jones called the wedge "the greatest economist in golf." And, especially in the hands of Peter, it really was in this match. It's more often than not a wedge that turns three shots into two. Over the long haul, give me the guy who can chip and putt over the ballstriker any day.