Maltby's Lob Slider...is this thing legal?

[Old Tom]

To make a long, boring story slightly shorter and incrementally less boring, I bought one of these (20 bucks at the Golfworks website) and stuck it on the end of an old 7 iron shaft that I chopped down to the approximate finished length of a chipping iron. Played 18 holes with it in my bag on Monday and shot an 81. I scored nine pars and nine bogeys: no doubles.

Now, that may not seem like a remarkable achievement to some of you, but keep in mind that I'm an honest 16 handicap and my last round prior to that was a 94. I was hitting the ball pretty much the same both days, the difference was that with this contraption I was pitching up to the hole and saving pars instead of chili-dipping for double bogey.

I'm not selling these or anything, but for those of you middle-to-high handicap players who have trouble consistently hitting short pitches I would rate this product as worth slightly more than its weight in gold.

I haven't seen anything in the Rules of Golf which would suggest to me this is an illegal club (you'd have to go to the website and take a look...it's pretty hard to describe), but I almost felt like I was cheating by using it.

[Old Tom]

http://www.golfworks.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_1104

There's the link in case any of you are curious. Again, I don't work for Ralph Maltby; I just am pretty enthusiastic about my new "find" and wanted to share it with somebody.

[iacas]

http://www.golfworks.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_1104

I see no reason why it wouldn't be legal. You'll move away from that kind of club as you get better.

[Old Tom]

Well, here's perhaps a better question: assuming that I can in fact score better using the club, would I be better off in the long run to NOT use it and instead learn how to actually hit a lob wedge?

[iacas]

Well, here's perhaps a better question: assuming that I can in fact score better using the club, would I be better off in the long run to NOT use it and instead learn how to actually hit a lob wedge?

Until your skills all around improve, use the club that lets you enjoy the game and score well right now.

But at some point, try to move on. Do it in practice first, then when you develop skill with the "normal" clubs, start using them in rounds. They're more flexible, you'll find. That Maltby wedge looks like you can't do much with it in terms of opening the face and doing things like that.

[Old Tom]

You're correct about that...it's very easy to use, almost mechanical in fact. But it would be pretty near impossible to lay the face open for a "flop" type shot.

I do think for guys like myself, who are struggling with just the short game basics, it would work really well.

Truthfully, I doubt I'll ever become a short game wizard, so this might be a realistic option for me to continue to score a little better and improve my overall attitude towards the game.

It's very frustrating to watch my score melt away due to sloppy shots around the green; with this club I was turning bogeys into pars instead of the other way around.