The Enigma That Is Sarazen's
double eagle 4-Wood

The USGA Museum recently acquired the 4-wood said to be used by Gene Sarazen to make his legendary double eagle at the 1935 Masters. But is it really "the" club?

On Dec. 2, 2008, the USGA Museum came into possession of a golf club with a mysterious history. The club was rumored to be Gene Sarazen's famous double eagle 4-wood from the 1935 Masters. Yet how could the staff of the USGA Museum verify whether this really was the club he used to hit that famous shot? Sarazen died in 1999, and on at least three separate occasions "The Squire" himself gave away a club that he claimed was the club. With Sarazen gone, how are we ever to know the truth?

The sole of a Gene Sarazen 4-wood, first photo above, that was allegedly used to record his famous double eagle at the 1935 Masters. A Golfing magazine ad, second photo, from May 1935 depicts the Wilson 4-wood model used by Sarazen. (USGA Museum)

At the USGA Museum, the attempt to solve this curatorial dilemma, and the inquiry into the history of the club, has become nearly as compelling as the shot itself.

In the 74 years since Sarazen's miraculous stroke that Sunday at the Masters, and his victory in a playoff the next day, scores of news articles have contemplated the fate of the famous club and the hazy facts that have long surrounded it.

As a matter of policy, the USGA requires that donations to the Museum possess a clear provenance and offer a significant contribution to the story of golf in the United States. Though the true nature of the club is unclear, its provenance is solid, and it certainly makes a contribution to the story of golf in America. Sarazen's miracle shot propelled the nascent Masters tournament to the front pages of newspapers across the country and gave the tournament - and golf - a much-welcome boost during the depths of the Great Depression.

Understanding the true nature of this enigma has required some basic detective work from the Museum staff to establish what is clear beyond doubt about the club. This much is known to be true:

• The club is a Wilson TurfRider 4-wood from the mid-1930s and matches the contemporary descriptions of the club Sarazen used to make the double eagle on Apr. 7, 1935. He said so in a telegram to the president of Wilson Sporting Goods on April 8, in an article he wrote for Golf Illustrated in May 1935 and in numerous advertisements that appeared in golf magazines of the era touting the club as the one he used.
• The club now in the possession of the USGA Museum was once owned by Gene Sarazen and used by him in competition at the 1939 St. Paul Open. In a story by Al Wold that appeared in the Minneapolis Star-Journal on July 31, 1939, Sarazen is reported to have given his caddie, Thor Nordwall, his "famous No. 3 wood [sic]" from the 1935 Masters in appreciation for the young man's services. "He's the best caddy I've ever had," Sarazen was quoted as saying.
• Nordwall, not knowing the club's purported identity, actually used the club for some time before discovering, around 1970, the newspaper article from 1939 claiming the 4-wood was actually the famous double eagle club.
• For many years, Nordwall, who emigrated from Sweden to Minnesota when he was a child and who is now in his late 80s, sought a permanent home for the club. He ultimately donated it to the USGA in December 2008.

Based on that provenance, there's a reasonable case to be made that this is the club. The club was owned by Sarazen and used by him in competition four years after the 1935 shot, and there is a newspaper account quoting Sarazen that this was the actual double eagle club. But there is some compelling evidence that calls this particular account into question.

The club itself has two distinctive markings that offer further clues as to the club's true identity. One is the word "Do-Do" inscribed along the leading edge of the brass soleplate. The second is the club's patent number, painted in white on the wooden sole.

First, let us consider the patent number.

On May 19, 1936, the U.S. Patent Office granted Patent 2,041,676 to James P. Gallagher, designer of the TurfRider club. The patent had been applied for on May 9, 1934, almost a year before Sarazen's shot at the 1935 Masters. That proves that the TurfRider sole was in existence at the time, though it does call into question the presence of a patent number of the sole of the club. The patent was not granted until more than a year after Sarazen's shot; the patent number would not have been known in April 1935, nor could it have been on the club at the time of the double eagle. In order for this to be the club, the patent number would have to have been added more than a year after the fact.

But that's not the only thing that had to be added. The existence of the phrase "Do-Do" engraved on the sole both adds to the story and confuses it.

In a telegram dated Apr. 8, 1935, Sarazen referred to the shot at Augusta National as his "dodo," a reference to the legendary, and long extinct, dodo bird. If, on a golf course, a birdie is somewhat rare, an eagle rarer, and an albatross rarer still, then Sarazen's "Do-Do," the double eagle that helped him win the Masters, would truly be the rarest of bird in golf. But Sarazen said that the "TurfRider woods made possible that dodo" - not that the "Do-Do" wood made the shot possible. Fifty years later, in an interview with Furman Bisher at the 1985 Masters, Sarazen said, "I took the four-wood. It was a new club which was called a 'Dodo.'"

The 1935 Wilson equipment catalog does not feature the TurfRider wood in its product line, nor has "dodo" ever been a euphemism for a wooden club -- like spoon, baffy, brassie, or driver have been throughout golf history. The first known graphical connection between Sarazen and the TurfRider club is in an advertisement from May 1935, touting Sarazen's great shot and the new TurfRider clubs. Fortunately, there is an image of a prototype of the club, but that image differs in two dramatic instances from the club now in the possession of the USGA Museum.

First, the club has the words "Pat. Pend." on the sole. This would be consistent with the May 19, 1936, granting of the patent. Second, where "Do-Do" is on the purported double eagle club, we find instead the words "Wilson Brassie."

Thor Nordwall, 87, cradles a Wilson 4-wood given to him by legend Gene Sarazen in 1939 for caddie services. It is believed that Sarazen used this club for his double-eagle 2 on the 15th hole of Augusta National G.C. at the 1935 Masters. (Photo courtesy of Warren P. Ryan)

It is difficult, given the lack of evidence, to make a compelling argument that the phrase "Do-Do" could have been engraved on the sole of the club before Sarazen made his double eagle. The "Do-Do" engraving and post-dated patent number create a classic case of post hoc ergo propter hoc , the logical fallacy where subsequent events cannot be the cause of an event itself.

Adding further confusion to the story is the existence of as many as a dozen replica clubs that were made by Wilson in the late 1930s. Not enough is known about the production of these clubs to draw any real conclusions. However, the replica clubs could very well have had the patent number on the sole if they were made after May 19, 1936. And the phrase "Do-Do" could certainly have been engraved on the sole of these special replica clubs, whether they were used exclusively by Sarazen or employed by Wilson Sporting Goods to promote its connection to one of golf's pivotal shots.

The mystery surrounding Sarazen's double eagle club endures, and the true nature of the USGA Museum's Sarazen club remains unclear. There is no conclusive proof that this is the club. But the USGA Museum staff has not come across any evidence that conclusively disqualifies the club, either.

Baseball has Babe Ruth's "called shot" in the 1932 World Series. Football has Franco Harris's "Immaculate Reception" in the 1972 NFL playoffs. Both were pivotal moments in their day, but the mystery surrounding them - did Ruth really point to the spot of his home run? Did Harris really make that amazing catch? - allows these bits of sporting folklore to endure long after the moments themselves fade from memory, long after they are surpassed by more dramatic home runs and more spectacular catches.

It was Sarazen's miraculous shot, not the playoff victory, that mattered, just as Ruth's home run and Harris's catch live on when we forget whether the Yankees won the World Series or the Steelers eventually won the Super Bowl. It was the mystery of the moment that counts. The moment is why people watch sports - to say you were there when something dramatic happened.

Visitors to the USGA Museum for generations to come will now have the opportunity to look at the Sarazen club and wonder if it is really the club that struck that historic shot at a Masters long ago.

David Normoyle is the Assistant Director of the USGA Museum. Contact him with questions or comments at dnormoyle@usga.org . For information about visiting the USGA Museum in Far Hills, N.J., including hours of operation and travel directions, visit www.usgamuseum.com .