Is Rory the worst putter ever among great players?

[Dave230]

You may argue that Rory is not a great player yet, but only Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have won more majors than him in the past 20 years, and he is the 4th longest World Number 1 in history.

 

But he is a poor putter. He has missed 3 putts between 3-5 feet in two rounds this week. He had a 5-putt and a number of three-putts at Pebble Beach. This is not a blip like some of Jordan Spieth's putting, Rory was an average putter when he first came out on Tour. The best he's ever been is an ok, slightly better than average putter, and then he was able to win lots of tournaments. But even then, it's never just because of his putting, it's always because he strikes the ball amazingly. Over the past year or two, it's been poor way more often than it's been good.

 

I am curious as to whether there has ever been a worse putter than McIlroy among the top-level players? I know Sam Snead went side-saddle after struggles with the putter, Hogan wasn't a big fan of putting and Watson eventually got the yips. But has anyone else won consistently and played at a high level while underperforming that much on the greens?

[Sean2]

He is averaging 28.73 putts per round. In GIR his putting average is 1.779. His overall putting average is 1.596. On the European Tour he is ranked second in scoring average: 69.68.

 

Yes, he has always been a bit erratic with the putter, but it's not like he is THAT bad.

[redfirebird08]

Vijay

[dlygrisse]

No. But he isn't near as good as he used to be. Reminds me of Sergio. Johnny Miller comes to mind as well.

[redfirebird08]

No. But he isn't near as good as he used to be. Reminds me of Sergio. Johnny Miller comes to mind as well.

 

Funny enough, I remember Johnny saying at the 2011 U.S. Open that Rory's putting stroke was possibly better than Tiger's. Seemed like a pretty big exaggeration at the time, but the comment looks even more ridiculous today.

[sonnygolf]

Sergio (young version),Vijay and Adam Scott (before the broom) were worse. Rory is not bad bad. He used to be good but now he is below average.

[Hankshank]

Good Putters like Crenshaw, Stricker, Spieth and Jacobsson will never have putting slumps. They seem to putt good all trough their careers. Even when everything else was falling apart in Seves game, he still lead the putting statistics in the European tour.

And then there are a couple of Bad Putters, that yips all the way through their careers, with maybe a little exception in the beginning of their careers, players like Sergio, Westwood and pre-broomstick Langer. Few of the top 10 best americans seem to be bad putters for some reason.

 

But most of the top players, Tiger and Phil inlcuded. And Rory. seem to be up and down. My fellow countryman Stenson is an excellent example. And Rory was putting great a few years ago. Tiger was not deadly even in his best years, he just had that ability to sink them when it really mattered. He won most the tournaments tee to green. Rory will come back putting strongly. If he hasn't got fed up with golf. Sometimes seems so.

[JonnyKrasnodar]

90% of his putts missed in the last three years miss low it seems. For someone who always says he's spent 3 months working hard on his putting/wedges the results are awful. To make it worse today he wasn't even reading break in the putts, just hitting them as hard as he could and hoping for the best.

 

Putting is probably the easiest part of the game to improve. Regardless of how bad his wedges are if you can do no worse that 2 putt most greens then you're always giving yourself a chance.

 

It really just looks as though he isn't focused, isn't really doing the reps when he's got time off and isn't going to improve any time soon.

 

On a side note, how easy does his caddy have it? Not really giving yardages, only club he hands Rory is putter, doesn't talk him out of silly decisions.

[redfirebird08]

Good Putters like Crenshaw, Stricker, Spieth and Jacobsson will never have putting slumps. They seem to putt good all trough their careers. Even when everything else was falling apart in Seves game, he still lead the putting statistics in the European tour.

And then there are a couple of Bad Putters, that yips all the way through their careers, with maybe a little exception in the beginning of their careers, players like Sergio, Westwood and pre-broomstick Langer. Few of the top 10 best americans seem to be bad putters for some reason.

 

But most of the top players, Tiger and Phil inlcuded. And Rory. seem to be up and down. My fellow countryman Stenson is an excellent example. And Rory was putting great a few years ago. Tiger was not deadly even in his best years, he just had that ability to sink them when it really mattered. He won most the tournaments tee to green. Rory will come back putting strongly. If he hasn't got fed up with golf. Sometimes seems so.

 

Spieth is putting horrible right now. You should go look up the strokes gained putting stats in Tiger's prime. The stat only goes back to 2004 so it doesn't even include some of his best years on Tour. You might be surprised at how consistently good he was with the flat stick. He wasn't just making them "when it really mattered."

[Night train]

He’s a great player and a proven Champion...........he’ll overcome this.

[exitlowandleft]

Johnny miller and Vijay Singh...yikes

[Golfnutgalen]

Good Putters like Crenshaw, Stricker, Spieth and Jacobsson will never have putting slumps. They seem to putt good all trough their careers. Even when everything else was falling apart in Seves game, he still lead the putting statistics in the European tour.

And then there are a couple of Bad Putters, that yips all the way through their careers, with maybe a little exception in the beginning of their careers, players like Sergio, Westwood and pre-broomstick Langer. Few of the top 10 best americans seem to be bad putters for some reason.

 

But most of the top players, Tiger and Phil inlcuded. And Rory. seem to be up and down. My fellow countryman Stenson is an excellent example. And Rory was putting great a few years ago. Tiger was not deadly even in his best years, he just had that ability to sink them when it really mattered. He won most the tournaments tee to green. Rory will come back putting strongly. If he hasn't got fed up with golf. Sometimes seems so.

 

Spieth is putting horrible right now. You should go look up the strokes gained putting stats in Tiger's prime. The stat only goes back to 2004 so it doesn't even include some of his best years on Tour. You might be surprised at how consistently good he was with the flat stick. He wasn't just making them "when it really mattered."

 

For sure. Tiger Woods was ranked behind only one players in Strokes Gained Putting in "Every Shot Counts" which had data from 2004-2012. Woods tied 2nd alongside Baddeley and Faxon (+0.64) while Luke Donald (+0.70) placed first.

[sonnygolf]

Good Putters like Crenshaw, Stricker, Spieth and Jacobsson will never have putting slumps. They seem to putt good all trough their careers. Even when everything else was falling apart in Seves game, he still lead the putting statistics in the European tour.

And then there are a couple of Bad Putters, that yips all the way through their careers, with maybe a little exception in the beginning of their careers, players like Sergio, Westwood and pre-broomstick Langer. Few of the top 10 best americans seem to be bad putters for some reason.

 

But most of the top players, Tiger and Phil inlcuded. And Rory. seem to be up and down. My fellow countryman Stenson is an excellent example. And Rory was putting great a few years ago. Tiger was not deadly even in his best years, he just had that ability to sink them when it really mattered. He won most the tournaments tee to green. Rory will come back putting strongly. If he hasn't got fed up with golf. Sometimes seems so.

 

Oh boy - guess you have not watch him play this year LMAO! 2 missed cuts already thanks to bad putting.

[bladehunter]

Vijay

 

Yep is Vijay putted as well as tiger he’d be top 10 All tim players. He hits it that good.

[RBImGuy]

You may argue that Rory is not a great player yet, but only Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have won more majors than him in the past 20 years, and he is the 4th longest World Number 1 in history.

 

But he is a poor putter. He has missed 3 putts between 3-5 feet in two rounds this week. He had a 5-putt and a number of three-putts at Pebble Beach. This is not a blip like some of Jordan Spieth's putting, Rory was an average putter when he first came out on Tour. The best he's ever been is an ok, slightly better than average putter, and then he was able to win lots of tournaments. But even then, it's never just because of his putting, it's always because he strikes the ball amazingly. Over the past year or two, it's been poor way more often than it's been good.

 

I am curious as to whether there has ever been a worse putter than McIlroy among the top-level players? I know Sam Snead went side-saddle after struggles with the putter, Hogan wasn't a big fan of putting and Watson eventually got the yips. But has anyone else won consistently and played at a high level while underperforming that much on the greens?

 

when your able to hit one drive and be happy out of 12 each round you got to figure out your coach isnt doing you a service.

Rorys own words btw.

Putting is the easy part of the game and putting gurus are not so good at their jobs actually.

come on Rory you can find me

[redfirebird08]

Do we include Hogan among this group? He hated putting so much he wanted to change the rules to make it a half stroke instead of a full stroke.

[ebrasmus21]

No. But he isn't near as good as he used to be. Reminds me of Sergio. Johnny Miller comes to mind as well.

 

Funny enough, I remember Johnny saying at the 2011 U.S. Open that Rory's putting stroke was possibly better than Tiger's. Seemed like a pretty big exaggeration at the time, but the comment looks even more ridiculous today.

 

I remember that exact line - they had a close up of Rory's putting stroke zoomed in showing only his hand action and Johnny was goo goo gaga over it.

 

I've thought about Johnny saying that a lot in the current struggles of Rory.

[redfirebird08]

No. But he isn't near as good as he used to be. Reminds me of Sergio. Johnny Miller comes to mind as well.

 

Funny enough, I remember Johnny saying at the 2011 U.S. Open that Rory's putting stroke was possibly better than Tiger's. Seemed like a pretty big exaggeration at the time, but the comment looks even more ridiculous today.

 

I remember that exact line - they had a close up of Rory's putting stroke zoomed in showing only his hand action and Johnny was goo goo gaga over it.

 

I've thought about Johnny saying that a lot in the current struggles of Rory.

 

Rory is the definition of a streaky putter and player in general. When he's on, it's phenomenal stuff. Every fairway (and super long), every green, makes everything inside 10 feet. When he's off, it can get very ugly in a hurry. The recent 5-putt at Pebble is a good example. The ugly misses from 3 feet where he doesn't even catch the edge of the hole.

[scratchswinger]

If you ranked each current players ball striking and putting on scales of 1-10 Rory's ball striking is 9 and putting is 2. I think it would be hard to find any player on tour with that much variance between the two numbers.

[ebrasmus21]

No. But he isn't near as good as he used to be. Reminds me of Sergio. Johnny Miller comes to mind as well.

 

Funny enough, I remember Johnny saying at the 2011 U.S. Open that Rory's putting stroke was possibly better than Tiger's. Seemed like a pretty big exaggeration at the time, but the comment looks even more ridiculous today.

 

I remember that exact line - they had a close up of Rory's putting stroke zoomed in showing only his hand action and Johnny was goo goo gaga over it.

 

I've thought about Johnny saying that a lot in the current struggles of Rory.

 

Rory is the definition of a streaky putter and player in general. When he's on, it's phenomenal stuff. Every fairway (and super long), every green, makes everything inside 10 feet. When he's off, it can get very ugly in a hurry. The recent 5-putt at Pebble is a good example. The ugly misses from 3 feet where he doesn't even catch the edge of the hole.

 

Rory has a way of making himself look very human on the greens.

[Jagpilotohio]

Do we include Hogan among this group? He hated putting so much he wanted to change the rules to make it a half stroke instead of a full stroke.

 

I’m with hogan. I despise putting. I would enjoy the game more I think if I just picked it up once I hit the green. Always the worst part of my game. My whole life, even when I was a +2 club pro years ago, I never putted very well.

 

I Still average 13 greens per round in regulation and I am happy just to break par now and then. Pathetic. And it isn’t for lack of practice or drills. Some people just don’t see the lines as well as others.

 

It Just got worse when I started wearing glasses for distance 2 years ago. Absolute Misery.

[ebrasmus21]

Do we include Hogan among this group? He hated putting so much he wanted to change the rules to make it a half stroke instead of a full stroke.

 

I’m with hogan. I despise putting. I would enjoy the game more I think if I just picked it up once I hit the green. Always the worst part of my game. My whole life, even when I was a +2 club pro years ago, I never putted very well.

 

I Still average 13 greens per round in regulation and I am happy just to break par now and then. Pathetic. And it isn’t for lack of practice or drills. Some people just don’t see the lines as well as others.

 

It Just got worse when I started wearing glasses for distance 2 years ago. Absolute Misery.

 

Sometimes putt seems like it should be so easy compared to other facets of the game. Easy it is not.

[ode1]

No. But he isn't near as good as he used to be. Reminds me of Sergio. Johnny Miller comes to mind as well.

 

Funny enough, I remember Johnny saying at the 2011 U.S. Open that Rory's putting stroke was possibly better than Tiger's. Seemed like a pretty big exaggeration at the time, but the comment looks even more ridiculous today.

 

I remember that exact line - they had a close up of Rory's putting stroke zoomed in showing only his hand action and Johnny was goo goo gaga over it.

 

I've thought about Johnny saying that a lot in the current struggles of Rory.

 

Really no different than talking about how good someone's swing looks. Harvey Penick talked about this in his Little Red Book....Beware?

[Jagpilotohio]

Do we include Hogan among this group? He hated putting so much he wanted to change the rules to make it a half stroke instead of a full stroke.

 

I’m with hogan. I despise putting. I would enjoy the game more I think if I just picked it up once I hit the green. Always the worst part of my game. My whole life, even when I was a +2 club pro years ago, I never putted very well.

 

I Still average 13 greens per round in regulation and I am happy just to break par now and then. Pathetic. And it isn’t for lack of practice or drills. Some people just don’t see the lines as well as others.

 

It Just got worse when I started wearing glasses for distance 2 years ago. Absolute Misery.

 

Sometimes putt seems like it should be so easy compared to other facets of the game. Easy it is not.

 

Agreed. But it actually IS easy for a small percentage of people. I have a good friend that just started the game 7 years ago. Very busy ER doc. Maybe plays once a week. He’s a 6 handicap now.

 

The BEST natural putter, chipper, and pitcher I’ve ever seen....and I taught for 6 years. Drains 15+ footers multiple times a round. Gets up and down from EVERYWHERE. He’s incredible. I call him the Wizard. I actually made him a custom ball mark for Christmas and on the front it says “See the Line” and on the back it says “Fear the Wizard”.

 

Some people just have the gift. I wish I did. I’m very jealous.

[Big Ben]

Rory is a very streaky player when he's on tough to beat but when he's not doesn't seem to stay focused. BB

[KrazyTrain18]

Adam Scott would disagree

[littleinjunp]

Dustin Johnson is pretty bad, too. Horrible technique.

 

You accelerate *to* the ball, not through it. He does everything wrong.

[bandrz]

He’s a great player and a proven Champion...........he’ll overcome this.

 

100% agree with you.

[ChillyDipper]

I heard Old Tom Morris wasn't great with a putter, but was a dab hand with a mashie niblick.

[Jake0331]

Ben Hogan