“Texas wedge” is an old, humorous term for a golf putter. The golf courses in Texas were bare and didn’t have much grass, so a putter was often used. The courses have changed from the 1950s and the term is mostly historical today.
Listening to America
by Stuart Berg Flexner
New York: Simon and Schuster
1982
Pg. 276:
Texas wedge does not refer to a wedge at all but is a late 1950s humorous American term for a putter when it can be used for a short approach shot over very flat, rather bare ground, as might be found in Texas.
About.com: Golf Terms
“Texas Wedge”
From Brent Kelley,
Definition: The putter, when it is used to putt from off the green. The term was popularized by Ben Hogan. Texas golf courses had a reputation, back in the days of Hogan and earlier, for very hard fairways. A player might have to land a ball short of a green to allow it bounce up onto the green. And when a player’s ball stopped short of the green, the putter might be a better choice for the shot because of the hardness of the fairway and collar and the shortness of the grass. So a putter would be used rather than a wedge.
Texas’ golf courses have come a long way since then, but the term stuck. A Texas wedge is the putter when used from off the green, or the shot that results.
14 March 1954, Florence (SC) Morning News, pg. 3B:
Dave Neiman loves the “Texas Wedge” shot and usually can pull off some interesting shots with his putter over many types of terrain, but he added a new twist this week.
23 February 1955, Galveston (TX) News, pg. 11 photo caption:
[Mike Souchak—ed.] is shown using a putter, called “Texas wedge” by the pros.
26 May 1957, Chicago Daily Tribune, pg. A4:
Disdainful of a wedge, Joe elected to play it out with the Texas wedge—the putter.
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Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
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