The Most Underrated Ballstriker of All Time

Looked at some of these stats today and I thought they were interesting.

Year…..Age…..Distance Rnk……Fwy Rank………Tot Driving………GIR % Rnk
1980…..40………...10……………….…13……………………...1…………………….1
1981…..41………...45……………….…12………………...……1…………………….2
1982…..42………...22……………….…22………………...……1………...………5
1983…..43………...23……………….…39………………...……4………………………7
1984…..44…..…....28……………….…69………………..……14…………………6
1985…..45………...44……………….…48………………..……21……………………2

These stats belong to…

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So why is he almost never mentioned as one of the all-time great ballstrikers?

My guess is a few things.

1. He hit the ball incredibly long. Sometimes that ‘bomber’ label tends to detract from somebody’s pure ballstriking skill. (Although Mac O’Grady hit it very long during his playing days as well as Snead.)

2. He was a very good to excellent putter. I think this may add to some theory with some people that Nicklaus was a ‘bomb-n-gouge’ type of player. Which he really was not. He was the greatest driver of the golf ball in the history of the game as he hit it long and accurately and was quite good with most of his clubs in the bag.

3. He was known for not having a stellar wedge game. Ballstrikers are supposed to have great wedge games. Of course, I don’t think it matters when he hits it 50 yards past your and he’s using a wedge and you’re using a 7-iron.

My guess is that in his prime, his ballstriking was far superior to most of the field. He did play some tournaments that Ben Hogan was also playing in, but I think Nicklaus probably out-drove him by a good amount and Hogan probably was far better with the wedges and was, at the time, far better with course management.





3JACK