Best career with the worst putting?

[elwhippy]

Vijay and Langer. Add in Westwood. Lee would have at least 5 majors if he had a half decent stroke. 

[DLBTide7]

Johnny Miller... 

[Snoop Golfie Dogg]

On 9/17/2020 at 1:32 PM, msd71 said:

Hogan? 

It would be interesting to see putting and ball striking stats from Hogan's era.  I know he was known as a guy who struggled on the greens at times, but I'd be curious to see how bad he was compared to his competition.

[Sonoronsis]

32 minutes ago, Snoop Golfie Dogg said:

It would be interesting to see putting and ball striking stats from Hogan's era.  I know he was known as a guy who struggled on the greens at times, but I'd be curious to see how bad he was compared to his competition.

Hogan is an interesting one too because I thought his putting woes came after his accident due to the damage in his eye. The breakdown of before and after accident putting stats would definitely shed light on whether he had issues his entire career or if it's been an overblown "factoid" about him

[Whereismydivot]

The worst putter was Scott McCarron.  He even double hit a putt at UCLA.  He's better as a senior player now.

[EmperorPenguin]

Any of you guys remember John Adams a generation ago?  Back in the 80's and 90's he ranked very high in GIR, but his putting was almost at the bottom.  I remembered he was Ted Oh's playing partner for the first two rounds of the 1993 US Open at Baltusrol; I recall John was the very first tee shot in the tournament Thursday morning (back then they didn't play split tees).  Ted missed the cut, but John finished tied for 11th, his best showing at a major.  He is my pick because John never won a tournament in his PGA Tour career.

 

I was thinking of George Knudson, who was also a lousy putter, but he won eight times on the PGA Tour.  John Adams won nothing.

Edited September 21, 2020 by EmperorPenguin

[MUNIGRIT]

Ben Hogan is the obvious answer.

[Kentendo]

It has to be Langer.  The guy was the definition of the yips earlier in his career.  He was trying crazy grips and long putters before anyone else.  He made his way through it and dominates now, but those earlier years were rough.

[RobotDoctor]

Ben Hogan.  One of the greatest ball strikers in the history of golf but a less than mediocre putter.

[farmer]

Hogan and Snead were brilliantly good putters during their prime years.  No one wins as much as they did without being a great putter.

[Yuck]

On 9/18/2020 at 10:45 AM, ThinkingPlus said:

Jason Dufner has had some severe putting woes given how good a ball striker he is.  His stroke has been so bad at times that just watching him putt can give you the yips.  Not quite the same career accomplishments as some mentioned here, but still a player that would have won quite a few more events with just average putting.

Kind of like dealing with the Medusa effect, if you only watch his reflection, you wont get the yips.

[Superbrit]

players who i've regularly watched would be -

 

Glover - definitely the worst ive seen from a major winner, ive never seen anyone "shank" a putt before

Duffner - has anyone ever been worse from 4ft, long putting isnt that bad which saved him

 

But worst ever has got to be snead, the guy went side saddle for god sake

 

[Superbrit]

 

[SkiSchoolPro]

On 9/17/2020 at 12:03 PM, Dave230 said:

Scott actually started off a decent putter when he was younger but lost it somewhere along the way.

 

 

Yes, Scott was #2 in Strokes Gained Putting in 2004, the first year they kept the stat. He has been in the top 50 the last few years, but was very up and down 2005-18.

[miamistomp]

Freddy Couples 

 

[Sonoronsis]

On 9/22/2020 at 3:54 AM, Superbrit said:

 

Is there a way to un-see this??? Not sure I'll ever be able to putt again

[Rapidcat]

On 9/18/2020 at 10:14 AM, widow-maker said:

Best ball striker/worst putter title goes to Orville Moody.  I'm not sure it's even close.  

 

Every golfer mentioned in this thread thus far was a much better putter than Moody.  Hogan maybe the only guy mentioned who was a better ball striker.

I think Wild Bill Mehlhorn would give Sarge a run for his money.

 

Hogan considered him to be one of the finest strikers of a golf ball he had ever seen.

 

Mehlhorn won the 1924 Western Open, which back then was considered a major for it's time. He also won 19 other tournaments including the Texas Open (twice), and had 14 top tens in the majors, including runner up to Walter Hagen in the 1925 PGA Championship. 

 

Was one of the early sufferers of the yips, here's a comment about his putting and his temper:

"He was, by all accounts, a nightmare on the green, a clinic for yips, on one occasion yipping a two foot putt into a bunker. Dr. Jeckyll on the fairway, which he usually found, and Mr. Hyde on the green, he once tied his putter to his car bumper to punish it on the way home. Fellow players were terrified of him, and for good reason. He had a lexicon of golfing admonishments unknown to Webster or Oxford, and a voice that could bring down the wrath of Odin. A long hitter, he was a long thrower as well, and while generally amiable toward people, the man could really hold a grudge against a club."

 

Here's him putting, the hole is out of picture to his left so he missed this one:

Sorry, I made that last comment re the hole position up.

 

Ole' Wild Bill....great golf folklore. Look him up, interesting dude.

 

[dlygrisse]

Vijay?

Rory

AS

Snead wasn’t great, but him and Hogan weren’t as bad as many think when younger.  They both got yippy later in their careers. 

[dlygrisse]

On 9/21/2020 at 10:09 AM, RobotDoctor said:

Ben Hogan.  One of the greatest ball strikers in the history of golf but a less than mediocre putter.

The damage to his eye after the accident cause his putting to deteriorate. Hogan was a good putter in his younger days. 

[Rapidcat]

I'm expecting a few on here would have watched broadcasts of Shell's Wonderful World Golf series matches from the mid 1960's. Fantastic to see the greats of the time's swings but their putting........mind you, the greens of the day were like PGA Tour event fairways now so a lot more wristy putting actions used at the time.

 

This match between Hogan and Snead is a good example - I think Snead may have been worse than Hogan at this time, looks like he would miss almost every short putt but in general what a horror show of putting technique:

 

[MtlJeff]

3 hours ago, dlygrisse said:

Vijay?

Rory

AS

Snead wasn’t great, but him and Hogan weren’t as bad as many think when younger.  They both got yippy later in their careers. 

 

I watched a ton of golf between like 2003 and 2008, way more than i do now, though i still watch a lot

 

Vijay had some days where i swear i was a better putter than him LOL. And he had one of the best year's ever during this time period. He wouldn't look confident, he switched putters a lot etc...

 

Definitely would have had a few more big wins. 

[jonflesh]

On 9/19/2020 at 7:49 AM, DLBTide7 said:

Johnny Miller... 

surprised this one wasn’t mentioned more. Even if you don’t count the period where he had the tips he was never a good putter

[farmer]

Young Snead and Hogan were superb putters.  No one hits it close every time.  Snead was awful late in his career, but great early on.

[farmer]

1 hour ago, jonflesh said:

surprised this one wasn’t mentioned more. Even if you don’t count the period where he had the tips he was never a good putter

I saw a WWoG or maybe just an exhibition with Jack and Johnny at Olympic.  Johnny was almost tearful at how bad he putted.

[trackcoach13]

On 9/18/2020 at 9:10 PM, mark174ace said:

I do not know about best career, but Nick Price would have had an all time great career if his putting was better. His ball striking was so good he could win tournaments just sticking flags and making 5 footers for birdie.

 

In spite of his putting he won 3 majors (2 PGA's, 1 Open Championship), 2 Canadian Opens, a World Series of Golf, and a Players Championship along with other wins. The dude was Ballstriker Skywalker and people tend to forget about him. Loved his swing and he is a first class dude.

 

On 9/18/2020 at 10:34 AM, mn723 said:

In the early/mid 1990's Tom Lehman was an elite ball striker and hit a ton of greens, but he couldn't putt.  He was at the top of the leader board near the end of a few US Opens and Masters, but his putter let him down.  He only won 1 major, but could have been a few more if he was even an average tour putter.

Came here to post both of these guys. If either could put they would have won a ton more.

[MattyO1984]

Surprised that there is only one mention of Monty in here. If he putted in majors like he did in the Ryder Cup, he would have won a handful of majors. Heck, he won 7 European Tour Order of Merit’s in a row (back in the days when the best European’s spent the majority of their time in the Europe) by basically ball striking everyone else into submission.

[Frankensteins Monster]

Mickelson

 

/Thread

[nosedive32]

I'll second Phil Mickelson.

 

He became a great putter in his 40s from abut 2012-2018 after the rest of his game started to fall off and it added a few wins (including an Open) to the total, but the majority of his career he was a terrible putter.

 

If Phil had putted as well has he did from 2012-2018 for his entire career career he would have had a career competing with Tiger and Jack. 

 

Phil lost 0.87 strokes per round putting in 2004. Thats 3.48 per tournament.

 

If Phil Mickelson putted 3 strokes per tournament better in 2004 (still a half shot below tour average per week) putting then he would have won all 4 majors outright that season. 

 

2004 was one of his most consistent years all around. He only won the Bon Hope and the Masters. Take 3 strokes per tournament off putting and instead he wins:

 

Bob Hope

Torrey Pines

Masters

New Orleans

Quail Hollow

US Open

British Open

PGA Championship

 

And were talking about the greatest season in the history of golf. Strokes gained data doesn't go back further than 2004 and I could do this for a bunch of other years from 2005-2011 and get more ridiculous results (just not to grand slam proportions). I can also guarantee if we had strokes gained data pre 2004 the numbers would be very similar.

 

If Phil were a tour average putter from 1991-2011 he may have 70+ wins and 10+ majors as a conservative estimate.

 

 

[m d g]

Watson? But maybe that showed up later in his career.

 

I went through a stage when I couldn't make a 3-footer for all the money in the world, and even I had a hard time watching him putt the short ones...

 

It was painful.

[Forged4ever]

Sam

 

Cheers🍻

RP