Most amazing achievement in golf?

[inc0gnito]

Saw this poll on YouTube. For me I think Sam Snead winning 18 times in one season trumps Tigers four majors. I know majors are on a pedestal but 18 times in one season is just amazing consistency. Has anyone come remotely close to that before?

 

[virtuocity]

Yep- a 27 handicapper at my previous club

 

[GG26]

If I recall correctly Byron Nelson won 11 tournaments in a row.

 

[Orikoru]

I don't know anything about it but couldn't World War 2 have affected the 1945 season somewhat? Reduced fields maybe?

 

[Slab]

Wiki (if that's correct) says it was actually Nelson that won 18 times in 45 not Snead. It says Snead won 11 times in 1950 quoting Snead saying 50 was his greatest year

 

[Orikoru]

Wiki (if that's correct) says it was actually Nelson that won 18 times in 45 not Snead. It says Snead won 11 times in 1950 quoting Snead saying 50 was his greatest year

I thought it was weirdly missing from Snead's Wikipedia page.

Edit: Yeah: https://www.liveabout.com/byron-nelsons-1945-pga-tour-season-1563661

Whoever made that poll is going to be embarrassed today I think.

 

[Slab]

I thought it was weirdly missing from Snead's Wikipedia page.

Yeah bit weird. Either way though (& I can’t recall exactly where I saw the detail) but it looked at each of Sneads career wins & pointed out that while Sneads’ wins is a helluva record, plenty weeks he was in very small fields &/or fields containing many club level Pros (so prob written by a Tiger fan) but it does help explain a phenomenal win record a little bit

 

[IanM]

Tiger Woods wins internet polls on fishing and tennis too!

 

[inc0gnito]

You

Wiki (if that's correct) says it was actually Nelson that won 18 times in 45 not Snead. It says Snead won 11 times in 1950 quoting Snead saying 50 was his greatest year

Oh wow, someone didn’t do their research very well!

 

[Grant85]

Saw this poll on YouTube. For me I think Sam Snead winning 18 times in one season trumps Tigers four majors. I know majors are on a pedestal but 18 times in one season is just amazing consistency. Has anyone come remotely close to that before?

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Personally having heard numerous discussions about golf and the various Eras and the protagonists in the GOAT chat - I have come to the conclusion that Tiger has been the best and his achievements better those who went before him. I say this not as a great fan of Tiger, but simply objectively based on what I know.

The depth in a global sport like Golf has only gotten stronger. Now I wasn't around in the Snead and Nicklaus eras, but I don't believe they did as much to move the game on as much as Tiger. He changed what the sport of golf was and how it was taught in terms of it becoming a power game rather than a finesse / technique game.

What I do know about Nicklaus is that he wasn't a particularly aggressive player. He 'hung around' in a lot of events as others played themselves out of the lead, and he made a lot of 2nd and 3rd place finishes, rather than risking it all for the win.

Travel being so much easier now means that every tournament is a world event with players from all over who have flown a few hours from a US / UK base or travelled 1st class 4 days before a tournament has started. Back in the day guys were literally touring around in cars or caravans, driving hundreds of miles between events and a lot were still having to qualify meaning manic Sunday night dashes to get a few hours sleep before a Monday qualifying event. And of course many in the fields would still have engagements as a golf pro and their season might only be 3 or 4 tournaments around their home with a few national qualifying events for US Opens or PGAs etc.

And of course in 1953, when Hogan won the Open it actually overlapped with the US PGA meaning he couldn't even contend for the Grand Slam (he also won the Masters and the US Open that season, prior to getting on a boat to play at Carnoustie).

As I said, the depth is huge now with guys ranked 300 or 500 in the world with the skills that would rival the top players on their day.

Also the fact this poll doesn't mention the words Ben Hogan means it is starting from a fairly weak point.