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Let's debate - top 5 ball strikers who have won a major


Schley

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Hogan is hands down a top 5 ballstriker. He believed that Lee Trevino was his only peer to the point that Ben would bring new clubs to Lee to test before bringing them to market. So there's 2. Vijay Singh couldn't putt. At all. And he won 3 majors in the era of Tiger. There's 3. The rest I'm not sure but I know Tom Watson isn't on the list. He became a great ballstriker AFTER he stopped winning majors.

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I'm confused, you mention Monty but his major wins column is 0, so how could you possibly put him in there?!

 

I wanted him to actually have won a major to include him. The guy was a machine.

 

Hogan was a great ball striker by all accounts, however let's not include him because of his majors in an era where most guys didn't even play full time.

 

Those guys played a ton.

Many including Nicklaus, IIRC in his first years worked part time in other professions. It wasn't a full time , year round profession for almost any of them. You couldn't make a living for most until Mark Macormack and Arnie started to get into commercializing themselves with promoting products and getting sponsors,etc.

The top guys could devout more time to the game where the journeyman, which were most of the players had to work in other professions to support themselves and their families.

 

they still played 25 tournaments a year ... their "other profession" wasn't a repairman/insurance salesman ... they were head pros at clubs ...

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I'm confused, you mention Monty but his major wins column is 0, so how could you possibly put him in there?!

 

I wanted him to actually have won a major to include him. The guy was a machine.

 

Hogan was a great ball striker by all accounts, however let's not include him because of his majors in an era where most guys didn't even play full time.

 

Those guys played a ton.

Many including Nicklaus, IIRC in his first years worked part time in other professions. It wasn't a full time , year round profession for almost any of them. You couldn't make a living for most until Mark Macormack and Arnie started to get into commercializing themselves with promoting products and getting sponsors,etc.

The top guys could devout more time to the game where the journeyman, which were most of the players had to work in other professions to support themselves and their families.

 

they still played 25 tournaments a year ... their "other profession" wasn't a repairman/insurance salesman ... they were head pros at clubs ...

 

You sure about that?????? haha "Jack sold insurance — until he made golf his career"

 

https://jack-columbus.pgatour.com/17-going-all-in

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I have to inject Byron Nelson here. He was the only guy from his era that could hit a ball dead straight. His scoring record stood until Tiger beat it. He beat both Hogan and Snead head to head in playoffs. Never lost to either one in playoffs. But he is always overlooked because he quit to ranch. Golf was a means to an end for him not an end in itself. And let's not forget the machine built to test golf equipment and balls was named after him...

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I'm confused, you mention Monty but his major wins column is 0, so how could you possibly put him in there?!

 

I wanted him to actually have won a major to include him. The guy was a machine.

 

Hogan was a great ball striker by all accounts, however let's not include him because of his majors in an era where most guys didn't even play full time.

 

Those guys played a ton.

Many including Nicklaus, IIRC in his first years worked part time in other professions. It wasn't a full time , year round profession for almost any of them. You couldn't make a living for most until Mark Macormack and Arnie started to get into commercializing themselves with promoting products and getting sponsors,etc.

The top guys could devout more time to the game where the journeyman, which were most of the players had to work in other professions to support themselves and their families.

 

“Full time” means they played the tournaments there were to play. They played a lot of tournaments regardless of what some may have done in the off season. Many in the old days had club positions, but when they played they weren’t taking time off ala Jack in his prime.

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I'm confused, you mention Monty but his major wins column is 0, so how could you possibly put him in there?!

 

I wanted him to actually have won a major to include him. The guy was a machine.

 

Hogan was a great ball striker by all accounts, however let's not include him because of his majors in an era where most guys didn't even play full time.

 

Those guys played a ton.

Many including Nicklaus, IIRC in his first years worked part time in other professions. It wasn't a full time , year round profession for almost any of them. You couldn't make a living for most until Mark Macormack and Arnie started to get into commercializing themselves with promoting products and getting sponsors,etc.

The top guys could devout more time to the game where the journeyman, which were most of the players had to work in other professions to support themselves and their families.

but when they played they weren't taking time off ala Jack in his prime.

 

You mean like many tour pros today do to spend time with their families? Jack made a promise to his wife that he wouldn't leave the family for more than 2 straight weeks. So I respect that he was a family man, not take a shot at him for keeping his promise to his most important priority.

 

As for the others, they couldn't afford to as there was no top 125 keep their cards, you had to play your way in for most of the tour Monday qualifying. Guys have to make a living and many couldn't support themselves by being golfers alone, this isn't new news.

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I'm confused, you mention Monty but his major wins column is 0, so how could you possibly put him in there?!

 

I wanted him to actually have won a major to include him. The guy was a machine.

 

Hogan was a great ball striker by all accounts, however let's not include him because of his majors in an era where most guys didn't even play full time.

 

 

 

BTW, Tom Watson became a very good ball striker after he stopped winning majors. When he was winning majors, he was a long but erratic driver, but a great putter. I'm a Watson fan, but I wouldn't put him on your list.

 

 

 

I'm with you. I'd have to question if the OP had ever seen Tom Watson play in his prime from 1975-1984.

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Miller makes fun of how bad Watson hit it

 

IN a conversation with Jim Thorpe one time, we agreed that most US Open courses were too tight for Tom Watson's tee game. He said that Pebble was probably the only Open course that Tom could win on.

 

Baltusrol would have been his other best course, and he did contend there in 1980.

 

His other best shots were surprisingly at Oakmont and Olympic where we was runner up. Those were two of Seve's best US Opens as well.

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I'm confused, you mention Monty but his major wins column is 0, so how could you possibly put him in there?!

 

I wanted him to actually have won a major to include him. The guy was a machine.

 

Hogan was a great ball striker by all accounts, however let's not include him because of his majors in an era where most guys didn't even play full time.

 

 

 

BTW, Tom Watson became a very good ball striker after he stopped winning majors. When he was winning majors, he was a long but erratic driver, but a great putter. I'm a Watson fan, but I wouldn't put him on your list.

 

 

 

I'm with you. I'd have to question if the OP had ever seen Tom Watson play in his prime from 1975-1984.

 

I base it on his career not a 10 year period. He became a great ball striker later in his career for sure at one point Johnny Miller and Curtis Strange said, "you can talk about any golfer in the world tee to green, Tiger Woods or whoever, and you won't find anyone better than Tom Watson." When was this? When he was in his late 50's. He was wild off the tee younger comparatively, however he was a great iron player and long enough. Here are his ball striking ranks. He lost his putting in his 40's, but his ball striking got better and even himself admitted he was hitting the ball more solid in his Champions Tour career than his prime; it was his putting that had left him.

1980-5

1981-52

1982-5

1983-43

1984-84

1985-42

1986-1

1987-9

1988-20

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I'm confused, you mention Monty but his major wins column is 0, so how could you possibly put him in there?!

 

I wanted him to actually have won a major to include him. The guy was a machine.

 

Hogan was a great ball striker by all accounts, however let's not include him because of his majors in an era where most guys didn't even play full time.

 

 

 

BTW, Tom Watson became a very good ball striker after he stopped winning majors. When he was winning majors, he was a long but erratic driver, but a great putter. I'm a Watson fan, but I wouldn't put him on your list.

 

 

 

I'm with you. I'd have to question if the OP had ever seen Tom Watson play in his prime from 1975-1984.

 

I base it on his career not a 10 year period. He became a great ball striker later in his career for sure at one point Johnny Miller and Curtis Strange said, "you can talk about any golfer in the world tee to green, Tiger Woods or whoever, and you won't find anyone better than Tom Watson." When was this? When he was in his late 50's. He was wild off the tee younger comparatively, however he was a great iron player and long enough. Here are his ball striking ranks. He lost his putting in his 40's, but his ball striking got better and even himself admitted he was hitting the ball more solid in his Champions Tour career than his prime; it was his putting that had left him.

1980-5

1981-52

1982-5

1983-43

1984-84

1985-42

1986-1

1987-9

1988-20

 

Lesser ball striker Tom Watson: 8 majors

 

Super ball striker Tom Watson: 0 majors with 1 very heart breaking miss

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Lesser ball striker Tom Watson: 8 majors

 

Super ball striker Tom Watson: 0 majors with 1 very heart breaking miss

 

Putting with yips - very heart breaking miss

 

As Paul Harvey would say...... and that is the rest of the story........................

 

BTW

 

Age 46 - #5 ball striking rank

Age 47 - #9 ball striking rank

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He may not be top 5 all time, but during the mid 90's Tom Lehman may have been the best ball striker. If he could've putted at all he would have won more than one major.

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With all due respect to Moe Norman and others who didn't pull it all together for a major....... Here are my top 5 ball strikers, which is code for best tee to green golfers of all time. My top 5 that have won a major:

 

1. Tiger Woods

2. Jack Nicklaus

3. Johnny Miller

4. Tom Watson

5. Greg Norman

 

I wanted to put Colin Montgomerie in here so bad as he was like a machine in his 15 year prime. Some honorable mentions are Ben Hogan, Phil, Trevino. Palmer/Player perhaps. Really to win a major you have to be solid tee to green and hopefully had a good week putting, which is why there are so many major champions that are great ball strikers, but not necessarily great putters. You can borrow a hot week putting if you are a good ball striker and win a major, so average/slightly above average putters i.e. Norman, Palmer, Watson won major championships.

 

This is easily a hotly debated topic for most major champions were great ball strikers.

 

LOL... How embarrassing

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I would take Tiger off your list as well. He won with recovery, short game and putting.

The greatest iron player of all time you mean? He also had great recovery, short game and a tremendously consistent clutch putter yes. However,that is like saying Michael Jordan was a great scorer and discounting his defense, which he was the defensive player of the year one year and first team all defensive team multiple times as well as being the best offensive player of all time.
I think the only real complaint that you can have about Tiger’s ball striking is that he’s always been a bit inconsistent off the tee.
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You mean like many tour pros today do to spend time with their families? Jack made a promise to his wife that he wouldn't leave the family for more than 2 straight weeks. So I respect that he was a family man, not take a shot at him for keeping his promise to his most important priority.

 

As for the others, they couldn't afford to as there was no top 125 keep their cards, you had to play your way in for most of the tour Monday qualifying. Guys have to make a living and many couldn't support themselves by being golfers alone, this isn't new news.

but they were still attempting to play 25 tournaments a year ... they weren't "part timers" playing 12 tournaments a year and going off to work sales at a dept store ...

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