A clue in the Sarazen 4-wood mystery

Last week in Press Tent we reported the USGA’s acquisition of what appears to be the 4-wood Gene Sarazen used to jar a double-eagle en route to victory at the 1935 Masters. The club was donated by a Minnesota man who said he received it as part of his payment when he caddied for The Squire in 1939. Thing is, no one can prove it’s the actual 4-wood.

Enter Mike Bishop, the vice president of operations at Chateau Elan Golf Club outside Atlanta. When Chateau Elan hosted the Sarazen World Open in the mid-1990s, Bishop forged a relationship with Sarazen. The two grew so chummy that one April, The Squire invited Bishop to dinner at Augusta National during Masters week. As they strolled through the clubhouse, they came upon a display case housing a replica of the storied 4-wood. Bishop asked Sarazen if that was the club. 

“No,” Sarazen said. “I gave it to a guy that used to caddie for me.”

“That was his exact quote,” Bishop said today by phone. This anecdote certainly doesn't close the case, but it’s another clue indicating that the Sarazen 4-wood at USGA headquarters is indeed the history-making club. 

Thanks for the call, Mike.

USGA acquires Sarazen’s famous 4-wood. Or did it?

The USGA’s museum scored a sacred piece of golf history this week by acquiring the 4-wood that Gene Sarazen used to hole his famous double-eagle at the 1935 Masters—only no one can be sure it’s the actual 4-wood.

The hallowed club was donated by Thor Nordwall, a Minnesota man who caddied for Sarazen at the 1939 St. Paul Open. Nordwall says Sarazen, clearly not a hoarder, threw in the 4-wood and one other club as part of his payment, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

What's the mystery? It seems that while Sarazen told a Minneapolis newspaper reporter that the club he gave Nordwall was the real thing, he apparently told a couple other people he was giving them his club, too. So the donation is actually the latest chapter in the club's lore.

Squire, you prankster, you!    

[Years later] Nordwall offered to return the club to Sarazen and wrote him a letter proposing a reunion. He never heard back. What he did hear, however, was that Sarazen’s family thought he gave the club to someone in Japan. And Augusta National Golf Club was also at times reporting it had the real club.

The USGA says it plans to present the club as a “curatorial dilemma.”