Q1: DOES RUST CREATE MORE SPIN?

This is from Gary Wellington of Oxford, UK.

This is the first of our ASK-KR series, where our subscribers send us a question and we try to answer it, or give our best opinion.

To answer any question, we ask our industry colleagues, delve into the research and / or conduct tests. So, let’s see if rust affects spin rate of a golf ball….

Received this from a colleague? 🧑🏻👩🏼‍🦲👵🏽👳🏾‍♂️👧🏿

WHY THE QUESTION?

On our search for the answer, we came across an article on golfwrx forum, and one of the respondents summarised the reason for the question better than we ever could:

“To me, raw wedges seem to come with so many theories, and to me, I have no idea what is the truth. Some folk intentionally rust their wedges; others say that harms them. Some folk say you get more spin; others say don’t be stupid….”

Goddamitt, What is the truth?

THEORIES:

Here is the logic.

Rust is essentially a coating of iron oxide that has formed on the face of the club. Extra material, even if it is on the micro-scale, affects the tribology of the club and creates roughness. This roughness alters the interaction between the club and the ball, with the expectation that it induces additional friction, which in turn induces more spin.

More spin = more control (for the low handicapper).

So, the logic makes sense but does it translate into reality?

Here are our thoughts based on conversations with industry experts (including previous employees at the R&A testing centre), our own tests in a lab, and thoroughly researched articles published on the web.

WHAT IS THE TRUTH:

Let’s get straight down to business.

We have found zero evidence that suggests that rust consistently induces more spin. However, Raw Wedges do!

Raw wedges, such as the Callaway Jaws Raw Face Chrome Wedges, are engineered without a plated finish on the face of the wedges. Plated finishes have been around for years and are a consistent factor in wedge selection, but only recently have raw wedges become popular.

More on raw wedges later.

WHY DOES RUST NOT CREATE SPIN:

There is an easy way to explain why rusting doesn’t work (caveat please: all of the time; we do recognise that rusting can occasionally increase spin but it is not consistent).

The interaction of the ball on the club face is macro (1-2mm), rather than micro (0.05-0.5mm). Macro interactions govern around 95% of spin rate and in this case marginal (micro) gains rarely make a difference. The major features that can control the spin rate are:

• Face angle & path

• Face material, shape and design (inc. bounce and grind)

• Groove design

• Ball outer cover material, shape and design

• Ball mantle (& other layers inc. the core)

These major features (and I am sure our avid readers will point out a few more that we have missed) we estimate contribute to 95% of spin rate.

Think about being in the wet rough. Macro features such as grass and moisture are going to dictate the spin much more than having rust on the club face.

Furthermore, rust is random and it is destructive. All of that hard work by the club designer on the groove design can be wiped out in an instant by rust. It changes depth, edge consistency and sharpness of grooves.

So, unless you live in a super-dry state, and you strike the ball cleanly, and you can control the rust pattern (making it uniform along the grooves), it is pretty impossible for rust to improve your game.

Could this be an idea in the future though - controlling rust or graded coatings at various points along a face? Who knows, let’s see.

Now onto Raw Wedges

PROS & CONS OF RAW WEDGES

We have seen consistent data (unpublished) that raw wedges do induce more spin; in the order of 20 to 30%. Here is what Taylormade say for example:

“Tour players have long preferred raw wedges. When our team brought them chrome or PVD plated wedges to test, their feedback was often the same. They felt as if the ball was sliding up the face, particularly in wet conditions seen during morning rounds or inclement weather.

This feedback spurred our engineers to dive into the performance benefits of raw to better understand how and why the material impacted short game shots. Initial testing showed that in dry conditions raw marginally impacted spin and launch, and, ultimately, the results were very similar when pitted against a chrome-plated wedge. However, when testers added water to the equation, the variance in performance was staggering.

With chrome wedges, the data showed an approximate 50% reduction in spin on wet shots. With raw, there was only about a 25% reduction – showcasing a significant improvement.

In addition, testing showed that chrome-plated wedge shots could experience a 6°-8° increase in launch going from dry to wet, while a raw face would only result in a 2°-3° increase.

“Through these series of early tests, we were essentially able to validate what Tour professionals could feel,” says Product Development Engineer Paul Demkowski. “We knew that raw wedges perform better in wet conditions.””

This appears to be consistent across all manufacturers.

But why?

Well, those grooves that we spoke about earlier that are ruined by rust, are in their purest state when raw. The designer doesn’t have to worry about errors in manufacture like over-coating and under-coating. The designer can sharpen those grooves to a knife-edge. Metal is naturally pitted or porous (well, compared to coating it). This means…

Raw wedges are better in wet conditions.

So, if you are thinking of new wedges, then consider raw wedges if you have a low handicap, play in wetter environments and are a bit OCD with cleaning your wedges (avoid RUST!).

SOME RAW WEDGES TO LOOK AT:

• https://www.callawaygolf.com/golf-clubs/wedges/wedges-2022-jaws-raw-chrome.html

• https://www.taylormadegolf.eu/clubhouse/158640-raw-face-wedges-why-they-work-and-tips-for-adding-rust.html

• https://www.vega-golf.com/products/vega-vwy-raw-wedge

• https://www.golfsub70.com/sub-70-286-forged-wedge-raw.html

• https://www.vokey.com/product/WM137.html

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Dr Bryan & Peter

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