Jeff,
The Sand Wedge and Lob Wedge changed alot of things about playing golf.
Think of playing without the benefit of a Sand and Lob Wedge, at Yale and elsewhere.
I tend to think that golf in the 20's was not so democratic with an individual or oligarchy at the helm.
Pat, I used a sand wedge. The problem is that the ball hits the green just after its apex, at about a 10 degree down trajectory as opposed to a 55 degree downward trajectory. Not sure if I could have hit the Phil shot even higher so it would land soft!
I agree golf was tougher back then, although there may have been some compensating factors. In this case, maybe the 1/4" green cut and 6 green speeds of the day might have helped compensate for the lower trajectory of the clubs of the day.
After all, the average score doesn't go down even after years of tech improvement. I am not even sure the average tour score has gone down, even as winning scores may continue to plummet.
As long as the hole remains at 4 1/4 inches, it remains a tough game.