The Best Ball Striker Of All Time

[Stetson884]

I’m a 80’ Baby. So to me, the Best ball striker of all Time to me growing up was Fred Couples. His driver swing appears to be practice swings hanging out by the tee box for his turn and they go 300-350 yards. Iron play and accuracy is legendary. If he had those skills to match up with his putter skills I think he would of won 10 major titles. 
 

Now here in 2021 I believe Rory still is the best ball striker. Even though his wins of late don’t show it., his driver and iron ability is Unmatched. 

 

But my question is this. “Moe Norman” he’s considering the best golf ball striker to ever live. I’ve never saw him play or really know much about him. Ive see his YouTube videos. He claims he hasn’t missed a fairway In 5 years on one video. Sounds to me the stuff of legends is probably exaggerated a bit. Hard to imagine keeping a player that good off the PGA, no matter what he did or only being a Canadian golfer. IMO if your goof enough to, they will get you on the biggest stage, and I. Front of all the to see. 
 

Sorry for the long post. I’m writing f this now because apparently there is a guy that knows everything there is to know about Moe Normans Golf swing. He left all his knowledge to only one man. Only one man knows his secrets and that’s all sounds to me like a money grab. I’ve seen the advertisement and it’s pretty far fetched. 
 

Has anyone used the Todd Graves instruction to hit like Moe? Anyone get online or in person golf lessons? Good? Bad? I’d love to hear your opinions on both the Moe Norman Story, and the Guy Todd Graves, who teaches his golf technique. 
 

please share !
 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hawkeye77]

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/the-story-of-moe-norman-golfs-troubled-genius

 

There's a link to his story, pretty fascinating.

 

Norman was obviously great and a bit of a cult figure and apparently other worldly good at hitting balls very well for what he was doing once he quit competitive golf.

 

But best ever?  Who knows and what is your definition and what are the parameters?

 

Hogan would probably figure into that argument in a very big way. Trevino comes up often.  You almost never hear Nicklaus in that conversation - yep all he did was hit the irons and driver so solid he won everything, so did Snead, so did Tiger.  They were pretty good ball strikers, lol, and I don't care how often they were nice enough to give a nod to someone else (I'll bet Nicklaus and Tiger believe they are).

 

No idea what Todd Graves does or how well, but pretty sure he can't really teach you how to swing like Moe Norman.  Probably shouldn't be the goal.

Edited September 26, 2021 by Hawkeye77

[aenemated]

I honestly don’t get the Moe Norman thing. Not trying to be a troll but it just reminds me of people who say Sonic Youth is their favorite band.

 

Man, no one actually likes Sonic Youth, they just like saying they do.

[miamistomp]

 Hogan , Trevino, Gardner Dickenson,Nick Price, Tiger, Bobby Locke- Sergio too

   Feel free to add to list

Edited September 26, 2021 by miamistomp

[miamistomp]

2 minutes ago, aenemated said:

I honestly don’t get the Moe Norman thing. Not trying to be a troll but it just reminds me of people who say Sonic Youth is their favorite band.

 

Man, no one actually likes Sonic Youth, they just like saying they do.

 Or Tom Morello's guitar playing...

[anth]

3 minutes ago, aenemated said:

I honestly don’t get the Moe Norman thing. Not trying to be a troll but it just reminds me of people who say Sonic Youth is their favorite band.

 

Man, no one actually likes Sonic Youth, they just like saying they do.

Them or Fugazi. LOL

 

Guessing no one has ever said that about Tool 😉

[Quasimoto]

If I had to pick a swing I would take peak David Duval.

[Old Tom Morris]

Jack Nicklaus was probably the best. Right now, it seems as if Collin Morikawa never hits a bad shot.

[dlygrisse]

Byron Nelson in his prime, or Johnny Miller.  For about a 10 year period JM was the greatest iron player ever.  In my opinion. 
 

Moe?  No.  If you can’t get it done in a major, you can’t be on the list.  Sorry. 
 

Hogan, Snead, Jack, Trevino, Tiger, and ironically Tom Watson AFTER he quit winning majors.  Morikawa is such a great iron player now as well. Sergio  can really control his ball, which to me is what makes a great ball striker. 
 

as for Couples, he hit it very pure with power, his game was somewhat one dimensional though, tremendous hand eye coordination, his swing was a bit of a technical mess, but his tempo saved him. His swing was very pleasing to look at esthetically, mostly because of his tempo and grace of movement.  But to me he was always a mental train wreck who underachieved, and whose swing broke down often under pressure. 

[bunta]

Steve Williams (tigers old caddy) once said in all the years he's been on tour, only 3 people he has seen that strikes the golf ball the way its supposed to be struck; powerful and piercing. Tiger, Johnny Miller and Brooks Koepka. 

[rooski]

5 hours ago, bunta said:

Steve Williams (tigers old caddy) once said in all the years he's been on tour, only 3 people he has seen that strikes the golf ball the way its supposed to be struck; powerful and piercing. Tiger, Johnny Miller and Brooks Koepka. 

 

Apparently he's never seen me swing

[Nels55]

I have studied Moe a bit over the years and I have some opinions on him even though I never saw him in person. 

 

Moe had a great swing.  He stood far from the ball with a wide stance, straight knees at at setup and his arms straight out close to in line with the shaft.  He swung back a little flat and then raised the club up on plane and brought it through the ball beautifully.  His sequencing or kinetic chain or whatever was spot on and he had a very good pro swing.  He could do anything with the ball, hit it high, low, draw, fade, slice or hook anything he felt like doing no problem.  He liked to see the ball go dead straight and he was able to hit straight shots in a cross wind which is pretty interesting. 

 

He did say stuff to the effect that he was the only one who knew how to swing his way and others should swing their way.  This is something that I believe to be true and I don't think that setting up and swinging like Moe is a very good idea to for most golfers.  

 

Besides Todd Graves there are a number of others who knew Moe and claim to understand and teach what Moe was doing or the essence of it.  Kirk Junge, Tom Sanders, Scott Hazledine and Jack Kuykendal come to mind.  There is at least one other guy who wrote a book and I think got threatened with legal action by Graves but I don't remember his name... 

 

 

[mah99]

Moe Norman shouldn't even be considered close to one of the best.  All the big names mentioned above:  Nelson, Snead, Hogan, Palmer, Nicklaus, Player, Trevino, Watson, Faldo, Price, Norman, Tiger.

1. It's one thing to hit it good on the range  2. Then hit it good on the course by yourself  3. Then hit it good on the course playing with other people 4. Then hit it good on the course playing in a competition 5. Then hit it good on the course playing in competition under intense pressure.  

If you can get to 5 you can be considered one of the best of all time.  Those guys are all multiple major winners.  What did Moe Norman do, win a couple events in canada?  

[BIG STU]

7 hours ago, dlygrisse said:

Byron Nelson in his prime, or Johnny Miller.  For about a 10 year period JM was the greatest iron player ever.  In my opinion. 
 

Moe?  No.  If you can’t get it done in a major, you can’t be on the list.  Sorry. 
 

Hogan, Snead, Jack, Trevino, Tiger, and ironically Tom Watson AFTER he quit winning majors.  Morikawa is such a great iron player now as well. Sergio  can really control his ball, which to me is what makes a great ball striker. 
 

as for Couples, he hit it very pure with power, his game was somewhat one dimensional though, tremendous hand eye coordination, his swing was a bit of a technical mess, but his tempo saved him. His swing was very pleasing to look at esthetically, mostly because of his tempo and grace of movement.  But to me he was always a mental train wreck who underachieved, and whose swing broke down often under pressure. 

I agree with you mostly about Freddie--- I think his downfall was his back and now days I can somewhat relate to that. He was one of the reverse C guys and my old man told me back when I was young it would cause back problems. Everyone who used the reverse C back in the day ended up with back problems later on except Tom Kite and Colin Montgomerie. If you look both of those have a rymthmic no hurried swing. True Freddie has a smooth swing for the most part so I do not know where his back problem stems from.

IMHO all the great players no matter the era were and are great ball strikers in their own individual way so I will not draw the line. Brendell did say yesterday that Morikawa in his opinion was a great iron player right up there with Tiger. 

[Stetson884]

8 hours ago, Old Tom Morris said:

Jack Nicklaus was probably the best. Right now, it seems as if Collin Morikawa never hits a bad shot.

I agree. I think he’s going to be around a long time and in the mix for a lot of majors over the next 15 years. 

[BigTreble]

I could have a skewed vision of this, but when thinking of ball strikers that can get it done, I kind of think of tiger and go down the wins list.  Wins equate to 4 days  being the best player of the weekend, which is essentially  the best ball striker of the weekend.

 

The only questionable one on that list may be slamming Sammy, since most of his wins came after many of the field got drafted and were serving in WW II

 

[miamistomp]

31 minutes ago, BigTreble said:

I could have a skewed vision of this, but when thinking of ball strikers that can get it done, I kind of think of tiger and go down the wins list.  Wins equate to 4 days  being the best player of the weekend, which is essentially  the best ball striker of the weekend.

 

The only questionable one on that list may be slamming Sammy, since most of his wins came after many of the field got drafted and were serving in WW II

 

 Sam Snead served in the Navy during WW2...

  Did you mean Nelson who had a medical condition that prevented him from serving ??

[BigTreble]

7 minutes ago, miamistomp said:

 Sam Snead served in the Navy during WW2...

  Did you mean Nelson who had a medical condition that prevented him from serving ??

Whoops, Perhaps  I did, I recall  reading something  about this in a book about hogan.  Apparently  my recollection  was off.  Somedays reading comprehension isn't  always  my friend. 😁

 

But I will stand by my ball striking and wins go hand in hand.......i think, until corrected lol

[PJE]

There are too many great players to narrow it down to just one: Nicklaus, Woods, Snead, Nelson, Johnny Miller in his prime, Trevino, Hogan; the list goes on and on. 
But I think two guys had absolute mastery of the ball for brief periods of time: Hogan in ‘53 and Woods in 2000.  

Edited September 27, 2021 by PJE
Grammar

[TheDeanAbides]

14 hours ago, bunta said:

Steve Williams (tigers old caddy) once said in all the years he's been on tour, only 3 people he has seen that strikes the golf ball the way its supposed to be struck; powerful and piercing. Tiger, Johnny Miller and Brooks Koepka. 

The guy's an idiot if he doesn't include Sergio, Rory and Westy on that list. 

[BNGL]

22 hours ago, Stetson884 said:

I’m a 80’ Baby. So to me, the Best ball striker of all Time to me growing up was Fred Couples. His driver swing appears to be practice swings hanging out by the tee box for his turn and they go 300-350 yards. Iron play and accuracy is legendary. If he had those skills to match up with his putter skills I think he would of won 10 major titles. 
 

Now here in 2021 I believe Rory still is the best ball striker. Even though his wins of late don’t show it., his driver and iron ability is Unmatched. 

 

But my question is this. “Moe Norman” he’s considering the best golf ball striker to ever live. I’ve never saw him play or really know much about him. Ive see his YouTube videos. He claims he hasn’t missed a fairway In 5 years on one video. Sounds to me the stuff of legends is probably exaggerated a bit. Hard to imagine keeping a player that good off the PGA, no matter what he did or only being a Canadian golfer. IMO if your goof enough to, they will get you on the biggest stage, and I. Front of all the to see. 
 

Sorry for the long post. I’m writing f this now because apparently there is a guy that knows everything there is to know about Moe Normans Golf swing. He left all his knowledge to only one man. Only one man knows his secrets and that’s all sounds to me like a money grab. I’ve seen the advertisement and it’s pretty far fetched. 
 

Has anyone used the Todd Graves instruction to hit like Moe? Anyone get online or in person golf lessons? Good? Bad? I’d love to hear your opinions on both the Moe Norman Story, and the Guy Todd Graves, who teaches his golf technique. 
 

please share !
 

 

 

 

 

 

While I never saw him play, I have it on good authority Curt Schnell was as good as there ever was. 
 

[ChrisL52188]

Sergio is definitely up there.  His irons are just impeccable. 

Edited September 26, 2021 by ChrisL52188

[mark174ace]

I am surprised no one has mentioned Cal Peete yet. He does not have the resume of some of the others, but his ball striking was spectacular.

[ChrisL52188]

45 minutes ago, PJE said:

There’s too many great players to narrow it down to just one: Nicklaus, Woods, Snead, Nelson, Johnny Miller in his prime, Trevino, Hogan; the list goes on and on. 
But I think two guys had absolute mastery of the ball for brief periods of time: Hogan in ‘53 and Woods in 2000.  

And possibly Greg Norman in 1986. 

[80sFredriksson]

1 hour ago, TheDeanAbides said:

The guy's an idiot if he doesn't include Sergio, Rory and Westy on that list. 

Stenson in his prime was also great with the longer irons

[bscinstnct]

I’ve heard guys who played in Hogans tome say

 

 

Sam Snead ; )

[elwhippy]

Having watched almost every great player since 1979 at a live event.....Nick Price. Greg Norman. Lee Westwood. Retief Goosen. Sandy Lyle. Tiger. Davis Love. Prior to that got to be Jack and Hogan. 

[LukeDonaldsTiger]

18 hours ago, miamistomp said:

 Or Tom Morello's guitar playing...

I DO NOT agree with this! He’s unique and grooves like a mother. Not up there with the best, but definitely one of a kind and wrote some great music. 
Back to regular programming now…

[BrianMcG]

19 hours ago, aenemated said:

I honestly don’t get the Moe Norman thing. Not trying to be a troll but it just reminds me of people who say Sonic Youth is their favorite band.

 

Man, no one actually likes Sonic Youth, they just like saying they do.

I liken Moe to more like one of those trick shot artists that can hit balls from their knees while blindfolded. Except he only has one trick. He hits it straight. 
 

Moe with shot tracer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=os6iiubWJUc

Edited September 26, 2021 by BrianMcG

[Dave230]

In person I thought Matsuyama was amazing of the modern players, the sound and contact. Only for putting he’d have won plenty more tournaments. 
 

Otherwise in modern times Tiger obviously, Westwood, Scott, Rory, Morikawa.