Is this what golf was like in the 90s?

[bscinstnct]

It seems we are in a period of golf with no great players.

 

I mean, there’s some really good players. But nobody who’s “the man” or even anything close. We got like cooky Bryson, watered down Rory, nervous JT, Duh DJ.

 

We got Xander at #5 in the world 🤣. In front of him got CW and Rahmbo. Not a lot of meat on that #3-#5 bone. 
 

Let’s face it. There’s nobody. 
 

You had Jack, Watson picked it up for a while then this period of no greats. Then Tiger. Then Rory and Spieth had some really great play. 
 

Now, some good golf to see for sure but seems half the time the “best” players can’t get out of their own way. 
 

Is this what golf was like in the late 80s and 90s? 

[PZero]

There were baggier clothes, crisp pleats, and lots of visors in the 90's. And the only feature of golf shoes at the time was uncomfortable.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by PZero

[cdnglf]

Number of different OWGR #1's, by decade:

1980s 3 (OWGR started in 1986)

1990s 9

2000s 2

2010s 12

2020s 5 

[Christosterone]

Jack bursted on the pro scene in 1960

Tiger in 1997

37 YEARS1!

 

Sooooooo, the next jack or tiger was born between 2000 and 2009...if it even happened

 

They were once-in-a-generation players...

The next Tiger/Jack will be along in 2034 AD

until then, this game is still awesome... 

 

-chris

Edited April 20, 2021 by Christosterone

[BobMorris]

I personally think the Tour is far too deep these days for someone to be able to clearly separate themselves from the pack for an extended period of time.

[Bigjim1022]

36 minutes ago, cdnglf said:

Number of different OWGR #1's, by decade:

1980s 3 (OWGR started in 1986)

1990s 9

2000s 2

2010s 12

2020s 5 

I think this may help prove the point?  The 90’s and 2010’s there were far more #1’s...2000’s I think we know it was Tiger and DD?   I doubt Jack was a #1 in the 80’s.  Interesting stat.  I was in HS in the 90’s and remember as golfers Payne Stewart, mostly for his outfits and the crash.  Norman was a big name, Faldo to a lesser degree but I seem to recall most of the talk was about Norman.  

Edited April 20, 2021 by Bigjim1022

[grm24]

<deleted>

Edited April 20, 2021 by grm24

[bscinstnct]

7 minutes ago, BobMorris said:

I personally think the Tour is far too deep these days for someone to be able to clearly separate themselves from the pack for an extended period of time.

 

43 year old TW, hobbled and back fused and after not even playing for like 2 years 

 

Tore them all up and got to #5 and ate Rory, DJ, BK, BD, JT’s

 

Masters pimento sandwich and took their spot at the champions dinners 

 

Imagine what TW 1.0 do to these guys? They’d be hiding in their houses consulting a therapy app ; )

 

 

[grm24]

1 hour ago, bscinstnct said:

Is this what golf was like in the late 80s and 90s? 

Until September 1996.

[bladehunter]

1 hour ago, PZero said:

There were baggier clothes, crisp pleats, and lots of visors in the 90's. And the only feature of golf shoes at the time was uncomfortable.

 

 

 

 

I own all of that except the visor.  And I didn’t play in the 90s.  

[wildcatden]

May not have had a dominant player like Jack/Tiger, but man, we had Seve!!!!

 

 

 

[StudentGolfer4]

I’m not sure I follow. Does having a lot of winners mean there is no dominant golfer or that the there are a ton of really good golfers? It’s very possible that having a dominant golfer means the rest of the competition wasn’t stellar. (Different sport but I’m thinking about a team like Gonzaga. Were they amazing or were the other teams lacking? Or a team like Mercedes currently is in F1. Are they world beaters and Hamilton is the best ever or is it because they don’t have a true challenger?) Sure, there may not be a generational talent, but as someone else alluded to we have had 2 of those in the last 40-50 years. To be fair, if Tiger wasn’t around we could/would probably claim Phil as generational. 
 

I’m also not sure you’re giving DJ enough credit for the year he had last year. Masters win, 2nd at the pga, and FedEx Cup. Of his 14 starts he won 3, came in second twice, and had 7 top 10s. 

Edited April 20, 2021 by StudentGolfer4

[cdnglf]

1 hour ago, grm24 said:

VJ was world number one in the 2000's (2004/5). Took the ranking from Tiger playing and beating him head to head in the final round at the 2004 Deutsche Bank. 

 

Yes, 2 in the 2000s: Vijay (32 weeks) and Tiger (the rest).

[cdnglf]

1 hour ago, Bigjim1022 said:

I think this may help prove the point?  The 90’s and 2010’s there were far more #1’s...2000’s I think we know it was Tiger and DD?   I doubt Jack was a #1 in the 80’s.  Interesting stat.  I was in HS in the 90’s and remember as golfers Payne Stewart, mostly for his outfits and the crash.  Norman was a big name, Faldo to a lesser degree but I seem to recall most of the talk was about Norman.  

 

Yeah, I wasn't disagreeing with bsc. 

 

Duval was '99. Els, Norman, and Lehman (1 week!) had stints as #1 in 97/98.

Nick Price seems a bit forgotten now, but he had an incredible run in the mid-90s.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_number_one_male_golfers

Edited April 20, 2021 by cdnglf

[cdnglf]

52 minutes ago, StudentGolfer4 said:

I’m not sure I follow. Does having a lot of winners mean there is no dominant golfer or that the there are a ton of really good golfers? It’s very possible that having a dominant golfer means the rest of the competition wasn’t stellar. (Different sport but I’m thinking about a team like Gonzaga. Were they amazing or were the other teams lacking? Or a team like Mercedes currently is in F1. Are they world beaters and Hamilton is the best ever or is it because they don’t have a true challenger?) Sure, there may not be a generational talent, but as someone else alluded to we have had 2 of those in the last 40-50 years. To be fair, if Tiger wasn’t around we could/would probably claim Phil as generational. 
 

I’m also not sure you’re giving DJ enough credit for the year he had last year. Masters win, 2nd at the pga, and FedEx Cup. Of his 14 starts he won 3, came in second twice, and had 7 top 10s. 

 

 

Fun fact: DJ is the only player to win the Career WGC Slam.

[grm24]

24 minutes ago, cdnglf said:

Yes, 2 in the 2000s: Vijay (32 weeks) and Tiger (the rest).

My bad. Not sure why I thought there was another OWGR #1 in the 2000's. Sorry about that.

Edited April 20, 2021 by grm24

[grm24]

8 minutes ago, cdnglf said:

Fun fact: DJ is the only player to win the Career WGC Slam.

Did Tiger ever play in the WGC Champions after it became an official PGA Tour event in 2013? Not sure he did.

 

When it was the HSBC Champions Tiger finished 2nd in consecutive seasons in the mid-2000's Also played in it a couple of times when it had a strange conditional PGA Tour event status in 2009/2010. 

[Raving Shanker]

I say YES to the OP's post.

 

Greg Norman was World No. 1 for about 6 years but only won 20-odd PGA tournaments. That is a lot like now.

[cdnglf]

1 hour ago, grm24 said:

Did Tiger ever play in the WGC Champions after it became an official PGA Tour event in 2013? Not sure he did.

 

When it was the HSBC Champions Tiger finished 2nd in consecutive seasons in the mid-2000's Also played in it a couple of times when it had a strange conditional PGA Tour event status in 2009/2010. 

 

I vaguely remember that... first it was a WGC but didn't count as a official PGA Tour win, then it got even weirder where it counted as a PGA Tour win only if the winner was a PGA Tour member? 

 

Anyway, your memory is spot on... the OWGR site says Tiger played it in 2009 and 2010.

http://www.owgr.com/en/Ranking/PlayerProfile.aspx?playerID=5321&year=2010

Edited April 20, 2021 by cdnglf

[GolfTurkey]

2 hours ago, cdnglf said:

 

Yeah, I wasn't disagreeing with bsc. 

 

Duval was '99. Els, Norman, and Lehman (1 week!) had stints as #1 in 97/98.

Nick Price seems a bit forgotten now, but he had an incredible run in the mid-90s.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_number_one_male_golfers

 

There are so many players around the time who said they used to watch Price watch balls and that his irons made a different sound.

 

But it's also kind of the point, Price had a few stellar years, same for Duval, Singh etc. Nobody owned it for a decade+ like Jack and Tiger

[Superbrit]

The 80's were great, jack was still relevant up to a point, Tom watson won quite a few majors, Faldo was coming good and of course you had Seve at his peak

 

90's Norman pretty much dominated with Price up to a point, but Norman couldn't do it in the majors, then the late 90's came along and you had Tiger, Duval, Els, then from 99 Tiger just took over 

[Ferguson]

Loved the 90's.  Golf clothes featured more cotton and I don't remember any of the players needing an entourage or life coach. 

[bladehunter]

7 minutes ago, Ferguson said:

Loved the 90's.  Golf clothes featured more cotton and I don't remember any of the players needing an entourage or life coach. 

90s in general were great.  It’s getting to be considered fact that human evolution peaked somewhere around 1998-2000.   It’s all been going faster off the cliff since the.  
 

I blame 460cc drivers and plastic spikes. 

[Bigjim1022]

5 hours ago, cdnglf said:

 

Yeah, I wasn't disagreeing with bsc. 

 

Duval was '99. Els, Norman, and Lehman (1 week!) had stints as #1 in 97/98.

Nick Price seems a bit forgotten now, but he had an incredible run in the mid-90s.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_number_one_male_golfers

I actually did forget about Price for until you mentioned him.  I had to look up when Duval was #1.  Vijay had an incredible run in the 2000’s but came at a time when Tiger was at his best.  
 

Looking at the list of #1’s I, Norman spent a lot of weeks at #1 and was talked about a lot in the 90’s-for good and bad things in the course! 

[StudentGolfer4]

25 minutes ago, bladehunter said:

90s in general were great.  It’s getting to be considered fact that human evolution peaked somewhere around 1998-2000.   It’s all been going faster off the cliff since the.  
 

I blame 460cc drivers and plastic spikes. 

“It’s getting to be considered fact”, any proof/sources to this comment? I haven’t heard this before but I’m very interested in it. 

[pinhigh27]

7 hours ago, bscinstnct said:

 

43 year old TW, hobbled and back fused and after not even playing for like 2 years 

 

Tore them all up and got to #5 and ate Rory, DJ, BK, BD, JT’s

 

Masters pimento sandwich and took their spot at the champions dinners 

 

Imagine what TW 1.0 do to these guys? They’d be hiding in their houses consulting a therapy app ; )

 

 

in one tournament. 

[pinhigh27]

6 hours ago, StudentGolfer4 said:

I’m not sure I follow. Does having a lot of winners mean there is no dominant golfer or that the there are a ton of really good golfers? It’s very possible that having a dominant golfer means the rest of the competition wasn’t stellar. (Different sport but I’m thinking about a team like Gonzaga. Were they amazing or were the other teams lacking? Or a team like Mercedes currently is in F1. Are they world beaters and Hamilton is the best ever or is it because they don’t have a true challenger?) Sure, there may not be a generational talent, but as someone else alluded to we have had 2 of those in the last 40-50 years. To be fair, if Tiger wasn’t around we could/would probably claim Phil as generational. 
 

I’m also not sure you’re giving DJ enough credit for the year he had last year. Masters win, 2nd at the pga, and FedEx Cup. Of his 14 starts he won 3, came in second twice, and had 7 top 10s. 

Yes as fields get deeper you naturally have less separation. 

 

The reason no one will win 18 majors nowadays is because they have to compete with insanely deep fields in every major, not just 5-10 guys that can win the tournament like when jack did. Jack was great but he was certainly helped by relatively weak fields. 

[braincramp52]

7 hours ago, grm24 said:

<brain cramp>

Yes? 

[dlygrisse]

52 minutes ago, Ferguson said:

Loved the 90's.  Golf clothes featured more cotton and I don't remember any of the players needing an entourage or life coach. 

Greg Norman liked to fly to events in a helicopter. David Ledbetter and Bob Rotella always seemed to be hanging around. 

Edited April 20, 2021 by dlygrisse

[dlygrisse]

Just now, dlygrisse said:

Greg Norman liked to fly to events in a helicopter. Davis Ledbetter always seemed to be hanging around. 

 

8 hours ago, bscinstnct said:

It seems we are in a period of golf with no great players.

 

I mean, there’s some really good players. But nobody who’s “the man” or even anything close. We got like cooky Bryson, watered down Rory, nervous JT, Duh DJ.

 

We got Xander at #5 in the world 🤣. In front of him got CW and Rahmbo. Not a lot of meat on that #3-#5 bone. 
 

Let’s face it. There’s nobody. 
 

You had Jack, Watson picked it up for a while then this period of no greats. Then Tiger. Then Rory and Spieth had some really great play. 
 

Now, some good golf to see for sure but seems half the time the “best” players can’t get out of their own way. 
 

Is this what golf was like in the late 80s and 90s? 

It’s similar. You had Faldo, Norman, Price, Couples, Stewart and Langer. Olazabal and Els were the young guns. A dominant player is coming someday. He’s just not here yet.