In an interview after Moe Norman died I remember Freddie Couples saying he was watching Moe on the range and asked him "Have you ever hit a bad shot? (Moe hesitating for a second) "Yeah, in (insert month) of (insert year)". The year was like back in the 60's.
Quite clearly this is a youth club here - nobody's mentioned a certain Ohio man who won quite a few tournaments - obviously despite his bad striking
Several months ago one of the golf magazines had an article that broke the golf game down into about 10 different parts (driving, fw woods, long irons, mid irons, short irons, pitching, chipping, bunker play, long putts, short putts, etc). It surveyed a group about who was the best in each category. I don't think that certain individual from ohio was tops in any of them. The thing about Jack is that he's probably top 5 in several of them.
Without the aid of "Launch" I was impressed with the driving of Hal Sutton and the irons of Sandy Lyle.
Total control of a ball:- Christie O'Connor Snr.
Several months ago one of the golf magazines had an article that broke the golf game down into about 10 different parts (driving, fw woods, long irons, mid irons, short irons, pitching, chipping, bunker play, long putts, short putts, etc). It surveyed a group about who was the best in each category. I don't think that certain individual from ohio was tops in any of them. The thing about Jack is that he's probably top 5 in several of them.
Not so sure about that, I can't think of a better long iron player than Jack. The 1 iron hitting the pin on 17 at Pebble Beach is a good example.
Not so sure about that, I can't think of a better long iron player than Jack. The 1 iron hitting the pin on 17 at Pebble Beach is a good example.
His driving wasn't that bad either.
One of my all-time favorite shots into the teeth of a gale. I read the same article, if it was the one in Golf Digest a year or so back. I'll try and dig it out. I thought that there was at least 1 category that Jack led.
From what I've read of him, putting was his downfall. Bad putters do not win tournaments against the best. He may have also had a mild form of autism or some other malady, from some reports, which may have held him back.
I've heard Moe used to play with a buddy of his and they would just play closer to the pin and not even putt. It's also been said that it wasn't abnormal for Moe to hit 5 or 6 pins with approach shots a round.
My favorite Moe Norman story (the man apparently held a boatload of course records) was once he was on the 18th playing a course he had never played before, and he was a birdie away from setting the course record. He was playing with the head pro and asked him what the hole usually played. "Driver, 9-iron," said the pro. So Moe hit a 9 off the tee, driver off the deck to 10 feet and sank the putt for the course record.
He also once bet Dave Pelz that he could hit a fairway marker pole 250 yards out before Pelz could drain an 80 foot putt. Pelz wouldn't take him up on it.
When I think of ball striking, I think of irons as well. Miller's run in the early/mid 70's was a thing of beauty. Rumor has that he was so dialed in on his iron play that his caddy would give him distance to the 1/2 yard.
I read another line where Miller said he was always trying to catch the ball "on the 3rd groove". I don't exactly know how you would do that or measure it, especially since a ball takes up several grooves of space.
Johnny used to tee off his playing companions because he would hit an iron shot and start the "thank you for the applause" wave to the crowd before the ball even landed. He had his irons dialed in to the point where if the caddy told him 147, he'd hit it 147. He knew the difference between that and 148. So when he hit the ball, he knew that it was going the exact distance needed (or wasn't, as the case may be) and started waving to the crowd before it even landed.
Johnny used to tee off his playing companions because he would hit an iron shot and start the "thank you for the applause" wave to the crowd before the ball even landed. He had his irons dialed in to the point where if the caddy told him 147, he'd hit it 147. He knew the difference between that and 148. So when he hit the ball, he knew that it was going the exact distance needed (or wasn't, as the case may be) and started waving to the crowd before it even landed.
I'm going to have to go with myself as the greatest ball striker.
I was just about to suggest that you were when I started this thread but I remember the one shot you hit three weeks ago that missed the flag about 15 inches to the left.
June 1st, 2006, 08:42 PM
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