Best ball strikers by era

[DE-ILLINI]

How about Bernhard Langer? He has been so consistent for many years. He also suffered with putting issues and managed to remain on tour. This has to be some testament to his ball striking abilities.

[3whacker]

I can tell by the WIDE responses on this thread that some people's idea of what a GREAT ball striker is being confused with those that are good shot shapers...being able to flight your ball IMO is more important than who can hit it left or right, especially now in the days of the modern ball that doesnt curve like the balata or wound ball of just a few years back. IMO I have always admired the guys who could trap the ball like Trevino, Sutton, Cook and hit that piercing shot. and TW is the best of the best at flighting his irons, thats what I think makes a good ball striker

[Jtgavigan]

I think that is a lot of it for me, but there are also guys that just have a completely different sound when they strike the ball. Like, they never hit it off center. The ball goes where they want it and how they want it to (as you said) almost every time.

[Jackhammer993]

I like your post. Some thought was put into this which is very much appreciated. Nice work.

[Jtgavigan]

Thanks. It has been neat to see everyone's responses and why they think what they do.

[farmer]

Tom Watson and Jack won 8 Open Championships between them. You cannot play a high ball in the Open without hitting it very, very solidly, and they were both high ball players.

[ChrisL52188]

IMHO the best ball striker was and is Sam Snead. @Forged4ever
Better than Hogan or anyone else. Given the fact he was playing great golf for decades and had a top 5 finish in the 1972 and 1974 PGA championship... If he could putt in his later years as good as he hit the ball, Sam would have won 100 PGA tour events and probably more majors...

[ChrisL52188]

Byron Nelson also was magnificent too... His 1945 single season record won't ever be broken...so you had to be a good ball striker to do that!

[3whacker]

But Jack and Tom both hit a piercing high ball with little sidespin that would drop straight down, Tiger has the same ball flight, but all three knew how to bounce the ball into certain greens at the Open and let it release to the hole. I think thats what all the pros nowadays are trying to reproduce with Trackman

[farmer]

^^^^ Exactly my point. You cannot hit that shot without superior ball striking.

[gmarchese]

I wouldn't make this list, as subjective as it is, without Trevino. Late 60's through the 70's he was universally regarded as the best ball striker on tour. Don't think anyone was close, certainly not Watson, Nicklaus or Miller during that time. Miller had a great 3 year streak, but Trevino was better IMO, and for much longer. I grew up on Trevino's home course in El Paso and all us kids watched him whenever we could. So I'm probably biased.

Greg

[angler99]

What about Louis Louis Oosthuizen?

[Jtgavigan]

That is why he was on my list. ;-)

[twidener]

I've seen quite a few of players from the 60's thru 2005 in person. Nicklaus, Tiger, Miller, Faldo were great strikers of the ball. Watson would be up there also but he was a little wild off the tee in his early years on tour but became a really good striker. But the best I've seen was Hogan and then Trevino. Hogan's shots had a different sound than other players and Trevino could make a ball do pretty much whatever he wanted it to do. The thing is you could do a lot more with the balata ball than the ball today though. Morikawa is impressive with his irons and seems to be able to work the ball very nicely. Should be interesting the next 10 years or so.

[M_B_H]

I agree with a lot of the names mentioned here. I have always marveled at Hogan, Nicklaus and Faldo for their ball striking abilities. But, the one person I have really been amazed by is Trevino. He could do whatever he wanted with the golf ball and was in complete control of it. I watched an exhibition by him in my area back in the early 80's and was mesmerized by what i saw him do that day. 

[DavePelz4]

Any list of ball strikers that doesn't include the guy who prioritized family over practice, Bruce Lietzke, is missing out big time. 

[CROUSE99]

Great discussion so far, but we don't really have a definition of what great ball striking is.  Is it hitting it in the center of the face all the time?  Is it the ability to flight the ball?  Is it the ability to curve the ball in either direction?  I think my definition would be the ability to make the ball land where you want it to land.  In order to do that, you have to be able to hit the ball with the  correct height, the correct curve, the correct distance and the correct amount of backspin.  And you can't do all those things without hitting the ball on the spot on the club face that you want.  When he is on, Bubba Watson does it as well as anyone, but he is off too often to be on a list of the greats.  At his best, I don't think anyone was a better iron player than Tiger Woods, but he has never been an accurate driver of the ball.  Going by the opinions of those who were there, Hogan was probably the best all-round ball striker.  Trevino was great, but I've never heard of him being able to hit a high draw with consistency, otherwise he probably could have won at Augusta.  Nicklaus doesn't seem to make many peoples' lists but I don't know how he could have won so many times on so many different kinds of courses without being a great ball striker. 

[ChrisL52188]

As for as longevity, Sam Snead is the best. 

[dakpery]

Don't forget about Payne Stewart. Absolutely marvelous

[pingpal6]

Jones, Bill Mehlhorn, Hogan, Nelson, Nicklaus, Trevino,Watson,Miller Faldo, Woods. So many others like Henry Cotton, Peter Thompson, George Knudsen, Sam Snead, Mac O’Grady are hard not to include. Would love to hear the responses if you asked this at the Masters Champions dinner.

[freowho]

On 8/19/2020 at 6:34 AM, DavePelz4 said:

Any list of ball strikers that doesn't include the guy who prioritized family over practice, Bruce Lietzke, is missing out big time. 

I heard a story about Lietzke once but I don't know if it's true. The other guys on tour didn't believe he didn't practice when he wasn't on tour so they put a banana under his driver cover. Sure enough when he returned his driver was covered in a rotten banana. Has anyone heard this?

[gvogel]

On 8/18/2020 at 4:34 PM, DavePelz4 said:

Any list of ball strikers that doesn't include the guy who prioritized family over practice, Bruce Lietzke, is missing out big time. 

I thought that he prioritized fishing over golf.

[gvogel]

8 hours ago, freowho said:

I heard a story about Lietzke once but I don't know if it's true. The other guys on tour didn't believe he didn't practice when he wasn't on tour so they put a banana under his driver cover. Sure enough when he returned his driver was covered in a rotten banana. Has anyone heard this?

It is a famous story.  I think that his caddy put the banana there to see if Bruce used his clubs during the off season.

[DavePelz4]

12 hours ago, gvogel said:

It is a famous story.  I think that his caddy put the banana there to see if Bruce used his clubs during the off season.

 

Correct.  At the end of the season, his caddie Al Hansen didn't believe he never practiced in the off season.  He stuck a banana under the driver headcover and sure enough it was a mess when they finally took it off the following season.

[ebk]

On 8/8/2020 at 5:15 PM, Jtgavigan said:

Boo and Westwood are two good ones..

Yeah, I have heard that too. Hogan was just in another class. Would have loved to actually watch him. I started really watching golf in the early 80s when I started playing.

About 15 years ago I bumped into two different old golf pros at two different times who played on "Tour" (a lot of guys actually had club pro jobs to make up for the small purse - these were two gentlemen of that ilk). 

 

I asked each about Hogan ("So, you played when Hogan was out there?"). 

 

I got the exact same answer from each:

 

"Yes.  Most accurate player I've ever seen."  One of those gentlemen was a man named John Anselmo, and one of his students was Tiger Woods.

[miamistomp]

 I remember my Grandfather who knew his golf quite well, talking about how good an iron striker Tommy Bolt was the 50s and early 60s 

[bscinstnct]

19 minutes ago, bscinstnct said:

Adam Scott is as good a ball striker as *anybody ever played.

 

Guys SG tee to green is obscenely good. 
 

Putting as tragically bad.

 

Even around the green he’s no so good.

 

But ball striking? Pure as it gets

 

 

 

 

I was lucky to be standing behind him for a driver at the PGA Champ at Bethpage. His backswing was so quiet and downswing so smooth, then....Crack!!

Smoked line drive, kept climbing...

 

Was just like this first one, dead freakin straight

 

 

Edited August 24, 2020 by bscinstnct

[J-Blade]

On 8/10/2020 at 5:13 PM, ChrisL52188 said:

IMHO the best ball striker was and is Sam Snead. @Forged4ever
Better than Hogan or anyone else. Given the fact he was playing great golf for decades and had a top 5 finish in the 1972 and 1974 PGA championship... If he could putt in his later years as good as he hit the ball, Sam would have won 100 PGA tour events and probably more majors...

 

I agree. Amazing tempo and rhythm. I wish more golfers would take his "holding a bird" advice about grip pressure. That really helped me. 

[CokeZero]

Pre-1950 Jones, Hogan and Nelson 

50s Snead, Venturi & Hogan 

60s Big 3,  Venturi and Snead

70s Moe, Trevino, Miller, Weiskopf, Knudsen 

80s Moe, Seve, Faldo, Kite

90s Couples, Faldo, Tiger, Els, Love, Ollie (everything but driver)

00s Tiger, and no one else 

10s take your pick lol

[ChrisL52188]

17 minutes ago, CokeZero said:

Pre-1950 Jones, Hogan and Nelson 

50s Snead, Venturi & Hogan 

60s Big 3,  Venturi and Snead

70s Moe, Trevino, Miller, Weiskopf, Knudsen 

80s Moe, Seve, Faldo, Kite

90s Couples, Faldo, Tiger, Els, Love, Ollie (everything but driver)

00s Tiger, and no one else 

10s take your pick lol

No Greg Norman?