Thoughts on the best golfer ever. I don't know how to
make the comparison. Have you ever seen the equipment
that Bobby Jones used back in the 20's? How did he shoot
those scores with that primitive stuff? Sumbitch shot 285
at St Andrews with those wooden handled crowbars and lug
wrenches they used to use as clubs. Anyway, I don't know
who the best is, but I can tell you who should be in the
group, because each era had a dominant star. In the
20's, Hagen and Sarazen had to defer to Jones, and they
amassed their big professional win totals in a small
Jonesless field. In that period there was no Masters, and
Jones couldn't play in the PGA, but in the span from 1922
to 1930, he finished first or second in the US Open 8
times in nine years, including four wins and two playoff
losses (each loss by only one stroke over 36 hole
playoffs). He also won three British Opens in a five year
span.
The 30's were a bad time for golf, which barely
survived the great depression. The forties and early 50's
had some greats, but again even Snead, with 81 tournament
wins, and Nelson, with his famous streak, had to concede
that Hogan was the man once he got rid of his hook.
Hogan's career was capped by his 1953 comeback when he
won three majors. Most people don't realize it, and the
golf writers never seem to mention it, but Hogan actually
won the virtual Grand Slam that year, because the PGA's
dates conflicted with the British Open, and he could not
enter both.
Palmer ruled golf in the span between Hogan and
Nicklaus. Once Jack arrived, he was cock of the walk from
1964-1976, eventually racking up 20 majors (or 18
depending on your definition). Tom Watson took over until
the early 80's in a career capped by five British Open
titles. Tiger is the reigning king. The only really
debatable period was the decade between Watson and Woods.
In that period, Norman was probably the best, but not so
convincingly that you couldn't argue for somebody else.
So there are your two threesomes: Watson, Palmer,
Jones, Hogan, Woods, Nicklaus. What a dream it would be
to bring them all back with their best skills intact and
watch them battle it out with equal equipment on courses
of equal length. And ya know what? I don't have any idea
who would win. The question is not who has the best
record. Based on the record, Nicklaus was not merely the
Babe Ruth of golf, as Lawdog claimed, because even Ruth
has Williams and Mays to challenge him. No, Nicklaus is
the frigging Secretariat of Golf Records, lapping the
field. But the question is who would win, and I don't
know. I think Watson might be a bit out of his league in
this group. He got zero votes in the poll, and is
probably not as great a golfer as some guys off the list,
but I'm not convinced on that point, and he was clearly
the best for about a decade.
How'd ya like to watch Hogan and Woods play in a
twosome one-on-one. Could Hogan's precision overcome
Woods' driving and putting? I don't think Hogan could
beat Woods on a very long course, because there are no
par fives for Woods, but I have to tell some Hogan
stories.
My favorite Hogan story. He successfully executed
an impossible shot into Hogan's Alley twice in
once day at Carnoustie, back in the days when
they played 36 on the last day. The alley is a
little area in the middle of nowhere that allows
one to short-cut a 520 yard par 5. Nobody in his
right mind would even try to hit the ball there
in tournament play, because it is like hitting a
drive and making it stop on a miniature golf
green. You have to hit the ball into the Scottish
winds directly through the OB left (and directly
at the crowd, if you're in a tournament), and
stop it in a little area between the OB and a
fairway bunker. Hogan not only got there twice in
one day with a driver, hitting a fade both times
(which was not his natural shot), but the fans
said his drive in the afternoon round was in his
divot from the morning round, despite swirling
winds! Oh, yeah, and he was 40 at the time. That
was Hogan in his prime - completely identical
shots, time after time.
My second favorite Hogan story is one I saw with
my own eyes, in 1967, when he played in his last
Masters. There was a little man who only came up
to my chest and weighed all of 130 pounds, coming
up on his 55th birthday but looking even older
and dressed in the clothing of another era, and
so badly hobbled by the pains in his legs that he
couldn't even putt without agony. It was
gut-wrenching to watch him try to find a
pain-free putting stance on every putt. Anyway,
he made the cut at Augusta and then shot 30 on
the back nine of the third round. Let me tell you
about that stretch. According to Dan Jenkins, the
gallery just yawns when he sticks a seven iron
six feet away on number 10, because Hogan always
gets a seven iron within ten feet, but this time
the putt falls. Then he sticks it a foot away on
#11. On the treacherous #12, site of many a
triple bogey, he lasers it within 12 feet and
sinks it. And now everyone is aware that this
little old ghost just went birdie-birdie-birdie
on possibly the toughest three hole stretch of
the greatest golf course on the planet. Even the
frigging golf announcers stop talking about
botany for a couple minutes, when they finally
realize that Hogan is a bigger story than the
magnolias. So with everybody watching him, the
little old geezer comes to the par five 13th and
he has no intention of playing for a fourth
birdie. He's playing for eagle. He sticks his
second shot 15 feet away, and the crowd goes
nuts. Two holes later he again refuses to lay up
on another par five, and this time gets it within
20 feet. He has to settle for mere birdies each
time. When he calmly strokes in a 15 footer for
birdie on 18, with all of mankind watching, there
really aren't verbal cheers to speak of.
Everybody simply stands and applauds long and
hard, many with their hands wet from wiping away
the mysterious moisture near their eyes. After
three rounds, he's tied with the eventual winner
at three under. Mr Nicklaus, in the prime of
his life, missed the cut, and complained about
the unfair playing conditions! I wish I could
tell you Hogan won or something, but his legs and
his putting failed him, and he finished tenth.
They say this one is also true. Hogan's playing
at Augusta with his friend Claude Harmon, and
they come to the 12th hole, the little killer par
three. Harmon aces the hole, gallery goes nuts.
Hogan says nothing, is locked inside himself,
goes up, sinks his putt, vintage Hogan. On the
way to the 13th hole, Hogan says to Harmon
"I don't think I ever birdied that hole
before". Concentration. He was once asked to
critique Snead's swing and he told reporters that
he had never seen it. What? Hogan explained that
the first time he saw Snead on the range, he
realized after one swing that Snead played with a
fast tempo which could screw up Hogan if he
started to fall into Snead's rhythm. So that one
swing, remembered only for its fast pace, was the
only time Hogan ever turned his gaze toward a
swinging Snead in the zillion years they knew
each other.
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