There seems a debate about if allowing a raw or oilcan type wedge to rust, adds any noticeable spin or not? Theory being the rust leaves a rougher surface which spins the ball more. Some believe it's only an extra couple hundred rpms, others thousands. Seems logical and makes sense to the average person in the 19th, but doesn't always mean it's right.

Supposedly raw wedges without a chrome finish will spin slightly more anyway even without rust. Bret Wahl of Taylormade said chrome can affect the groove edges, reducing spin by as much as 200rpm.

Some argue that whatever gain of spin you get, will be outweighed by the increased wear on the grooves which will reduce spin more quickly. Bob Vokey states chroming can prolong a club by nearly 50%.

I was suprised no-one had done a launch monitor test with chrome vs raw vs rust to settle the debate. However, in another forum someone posted a golf.com article, which suggests hardly any difference between chrome vs raw, but rust add nearly 3000rpm. No real detail was given of the tests.

Although I think someone from Scratch Golf who make wedges, disputed the results. Comfirmed what Taylormade said that raw will spin slightly more than chrome plated due to the affect chrome has on the grooves. But said their testing doesn't show rusting a wedge spins more. Especially one that has 3-season worn grooves as used in the golf.com test. They seemed to feel brand new fresh grooves will spin the ball more than anything else.

If they do its hardly anything compared to good technique and a soft ball

This is what Frank Thomas (former USGA technical director) thinks on the subject:

"If you increase the coefficient of friction of the clubface, you increase the potential for spin. Anything that can "grab" onto the ball will increase spin. So it is possible that rust could increase spin, but only by a very minimal amount. The poor esthetics of a rusted club far outweigh any very minor benefit of increased spin."

It is not possible to get more spin spin from rust versus an optimised CNC milled surface designed for spin. It just doesn't make any sense.

poor esthetics of a rusted club far outweigh any very minor benefit of increased spin

I think this is a matter of personal preference. I bought a second hand Vokey rusted wedge on ebay (for a song - it had been labelled as 'rusty second hand club') and I think it looks attractive. For anyone who hasn't seen one, it just looks like an attractive matt brown/bronze sort of colour. Forget all thoughts of rust as in rust on a badly-maintained car.


As for whether rust improves spin, there are a lot of potential parameters. Not least is how rougher the metal mix goes as it rusts. In theory, you could get a lot of spin from a rusted surface(more than from spin milling) but it would be down to specific conditions. But under normal conditions, I suspect the principal benefit is psychological.

Another issue, if rust on the face really did have an effect and increased spin, would it become non-comforming?

Mike

No, just as the the grooves cannot be considered as non conforming if they got that way from normal club usage.

I carry 3 Vokey Oil cans - 58/54/50 , find the face never really carrys alot of rust and are alway fairly clean and sort of dull silver .... how ever there performance is great .

the rust goes when you clean them anyway

Love my Rusty Cleveland gap wedge, spins like a dream compared to my other "normal"Clevelands. Initially sceptical at first but as it rusted over time the extra spin became very noticible.

Easy to clean every couple of months with wire wool

Had my 56 cleveland rtg wedge for maybe 5 years, absolutely love it. However im skeptical if it actually gives me any more spin than my other wedges, 52 vokey and a 61 ping zing 2 copper lobber.

Going to change my wedge formation, as with 4 wedges i have to choose between my 2 iron and 4wood.

As far as I believe, I don't think there is any noticeable difference between a risty wedge and a chrome one, or a black oxide or any other type - like for like - for that matter.

However, black oxide, or rusty wedges do have an advantage of not glaring so much when it's sunny, which is why some Tour pros prefer them...and that's how they came about being in the first place. I was at the Orlando show in 2000 reporting for this site and Golf Weekly at the time and Cobra's chief was explaining why their trusty rusty's were proving popular with the likes of Van de Velde and Norman...because they don't glare at you when the sun is so strong.

Also, black oxide seems to frame the ball nicely when the club is at address. As for increasing spin, I don't think it's noticeable, but there are other benefits over chrome such as softer feel and better performance when the sun is out...which is not often right now, eh!