Is Tiger the best golfer in history?

The other day my buddies and I were arguing, who was the best golfer of all time. I maintain it has to be Tiger. When Jack won all of his titles and majors, the field was nowhere near as vast as it is today. There were not as many great golfers as we have now. Oh, I’ve heard the arguments about improved equipment, but my god, Tiger changed the way the game was played. Players had to work out to compete with his distance, and golf courses had to be lengthened. I would love to hear your comments

Tiger is a player who knows how to win, sometimes pretty ugly. He is certainly not the best ball striker out there, but he is the best putter under pressure by far.

I think you will find that even in the Nicklaus era there were many good players the equal or better of what is around today. Just some research on the scores should soon clarify that.

What about the Cotton era, no one has equalled his record score at Royal St. Georges in 1934. Shooting 65 round there in the thirties tells me that the guy could play.

If Hogan or Snead were around today then they would be winning also.

There have been great players all down the ages and they are not scoring any better now than they did then,

Modern technology may have helped the Pro's but the amateur standard overall is getting worse.

Easily the best player of the game in my opinion. Im just sick of the tribe that follow him around making too much noise, its like a circus.  Other tour pros generally only get the same following if they are either playing with Tiger or possibly the Ryder Cup and they need to get used to it if they are going to beat him.

The guys going out with Tiger on Day 4 remind me of opponents of Mike Tyson at his best, they seem to have accepted defeat before the start!

I read a good article in one of the golf magazines that spoke about who was the greatest golfer ever and there was a quote from Jack that was quite good.  He said that you (the media) all seem to be keen to give Tiger the "gest golfer ever" title before he actually gets there. 

Makes sense, if Tiger has to stop playing for one reason or another (knee springs to mind) before he gets to 19 majors then can he be the greatest?  I dont think so as the greatest is also about longevity and being at the top for a long period.

That said Tiger is my favorite player and I love to see him compete and I'm pretty sure he will get there.  I recon he'd hate to loose a game of tiddleywinks with his daughter....

True, I guess it is down to how you measure greatest, and Jack is bound to be a bit biased towards measuring that in terms of Majors as he is leading.

As Matt stated above any comparisions between generations are subjective, if there was anyone around that witnessed Old Tom Morris play I guess they could make a fair argument for him!

Tiger plays to win, the money is secondary, whereas the majority of the field are only concerned about making the cut and getting into the money. If by chance it is their week to play well then they get a good paycheck.

If we are talking ball striking then he is nowhere near the best I have seen, but he knows how to win and that is all he wants.

I have no doubt what so ever that Tiger will become the greatest golfer of all time , there's not many golfers who play shots that make me jump off the sofa like Tiger does simply awseome. For my money there will only ever be one true great Mr Hogan.........................

This is a good debate because it brings a lot of things to the table.

Does the BEST Driver win the F1 World Championship?  NO. It the one with the Best Car under him.

Is Tiger the BEST Golfer at present? YES. But is he the greatest ever?

I look at Golf and see that Tiger has taken it to the next Level, just has Arnie, Jack Seve and Faldo have done in the recent past.

Today a golfer can play in 52 Events each year, old Tom and the boys had probably a handfull, they made their living playing for Wagers. It wasn't until the 1970's that we had Tour Professionals, before that it was Events put on for Club Professionals by the PGA. The GB&I Ryder Cup side of 1947 & 1951 would have taken days to cross the Atlantic on board the Queen Mary while the 1995 team took about 312hrs to fly Concorde London to New York.

Equipment, and courses have also changed over the years, Greens in particular.

So you can't really compare Golfers from different eras, so I will say Tiger is the BEST Golfer ever but The Greatest?

You can't go on Major wins either, Vardon won 6 Opens and 1 US Open but how many times did he play in the US (where 4 of the possible 6 Majors arewere held)

TheLyth

Using your own argument, Chuck you are effectively saying that players on the tour today are better than the likes of Hogan, Snead, Thompson, Cotton, Sarazen, Hagen and on and on. I disagree.

Chuck, the bottom line in golf is the score and the modern players are not producing any better scores than were produced by the greats of former times. We have all witnessed the extreme power of players like Daly, but that alone is not enough to score well or win a tournament. In fact for all this extreme power and length generated the scoring overall is pretty dismal. They all seem to hit the par fives in two shots, mostly with an iron these days, so in efffect the par should be 68 and not 72 in the main. With that scenario 16 under should be par, but how many of them play to this kind of level.

Players like Hogan quite often used to hit 18 greens in regulation, not a common feat these days, they all seem to be arch scamblers and Tiger at Augusta was a classic example of this.

They might be, David but the extra length on these courses is only because of the length the modern players, with modern equipment are hitting the ball.

The average pro hits 275 yards, the big boys are well over 300 yards, so on a 7000 yard course they still have very little to do in comparison to days gone  by. The BMW at Wentworth recently is a classic comparison. They were hitting the par fives in 2 shots and having short irons on the par fours, so how come only the leaderboard can score well on a course that has very generous fairways and excellent greens.

Chuck, of course there is far more talent, the game has been opened up to all and with the advent of TV and sponsorship the sky has been the limit and many pros are making a good living. I should imagine a suit and tie is no different to set of waterproofs, not impossible to swing in.

I have played with hickory's, Chuck, and a set in good conditon would surprise you how well they play. They are pretty powerfull in the right hands.

Of course steel shafts came in in the 30's and transformed the game,

We will see just how good the modern guys are next season, when the new "Groove Rule" comes in and they won't be able to screw back from the rough.

Todays Tour Fairways are like the Greens of the 40's & 50's so how many guys would hole everything inside 10ft then.

TheLyth

Bobby Jones was an amateur but still won 23 out of the 52 tournaments he entered. A real class act.

Bobby Jones had 11x's major winner Walter Hagen in competition, winning 10 of them between 1919 and 1929. Gene Sarazen and Tommy Armour were also around.

Jones retired at 28 with 13 Majors.  

Not to mention Byron Nelson who in 1945 had 11 tour wins in a row. Now that is some feat.