That 1-Iron...

[Ole_Tom_Morris]

One wonders:  a club gone missing for 30 years turns up?   How do you identify it?   How would its owner identify it?   Serial numbers?   Were SNs ever checked?   Did the club have a SN?   Did it have a special designation that it was made specially for the owner?    A unique specification?     Identifying marks, keeping in mind the club was missing 30 years and the owner would have been in his 70s when it was returned?

A letter from the man himself to the USGA settled it -- for the USGA.   That's sufficient provenance.  Or maybe not.  Here's a good piece of journalism from Jon McCarthy:  http://www.torontosun.com/2013/06/11/digging-up-the-truth-about-ben-hogans-famous-1-iron--maybe

Here's what the USGA museum says: http://www.usgamuseum.com/about_museum/news_events/news_article.aspx?newsid=114

Was it the club that was lost?   And if it was, was it the one hit on 18 at Merion in 1950?    The man was on record contradicting himself on things he plainly considered nobody's business.   We still don't know if he was naturally right-handed or left-handed;  he told different stories at different times.

What I find most interesting is the wear mark, not on what is regarded as the "sweet spot" at the center of the face, but more toward the pocket where the face meets the shank.   Definitely where you'd want to hit a club like that, and where you would consistently if you were an expert.