Part 3
Top teachers on the star players, having mentors and Jack's record
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Golf Digest:
Let's talk about the best players by category since 1950. who's had the best swing?
BUTCH HARMON: You've got to look at the guys who've won the most big tournaments, and that would be Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. You'd have to say they have the best golf swings, because they get the best results. And I'd have to put [Sam] Snead in there for longevity. He won tournaments in six different decades.
JIM McLEAN: When you say the best swing, is it the prettiest swing? Is it the guy who hits it the best? It's a tough question to answer.
HARMON: I don't care what a golf swing looks like as long as it's producing good shots.
McLEAN: A lot of people would think you mean the prettiest swing. Freddie Couples has a beautiful swing, but if you break it down, there's a lot of stuff going on in there. I'd include Sam [Snead] on any list of the best swings.
DAVID LEADBETTER: If you speak to other players, like a Tom Weiskopf, who's a very knowledgeable guy and a great ball-striker himself, or a Gary Player, they would say there was nobody better than Ben Hogan. The way he was able to control the golf ball. Just nobody.
Speaking of Weiskopf, who's pretty opinionated, he said, "I'd put Ben Hogan up against Tiger any day of the week, if they had to hit shot for shot with the equipment that Ben had." That's his opinion. It's not my opinion, but it is his.
McLEAN: A guy I know really well is Bruce Lietzke. Nobody would ever say he had the best swing, but really he never practiced. He was No. 1 in hitting greens a bunch of times. There are guys like that now. I would've liked to have had Bruce's game, where I didn't have to ever practice and I could go out and hit great shots. It wasn't a pretty swing, though--he took it inside, had the clubface closed, and so forth. Tough question. Obviously, you can't take Tiger out of it.
HARMON: You can't take Tiger out of anything. He's the greatest player who has ever walked the earth.
LEADBETTER: You have to say Tiger is a given.
Golf Digest:
Who's the best wedge player since 1950?
LEADBETTER: I would say Seve [Ballesteros].
HANK HANEY: I'd say Seve, too.
LEADBETTER: I've watched that guy over the years, and I know there are a lot of great wedge players, like Tom Kite and others. But I would ask Seve, "Do you know exactly how far that is?" He would say, "I see it. I feel it. I hit it." It was just incredible how he was so attached to the hole. His distance control, it was amazing. He had only a 56-degree and a pitching wedge. What he was able to do with those two clubs was just incredible. He's the best wedge player I've seen in the modern era.
McLEAN: Right now on the tour, Steve Stricker. Looking at the statistics, you can just see that the guy is phenomenal. I think [Lee] Trevino, too. I'd put Trevino in there as a genius with the wedge.
HARMON: I like Jose Maria [Olazabal]. He's one of the best short-game players I've ever seen. I'd also put Billy Casper up there. Casper was a terrific wedge player using just a pitching wedge and a 56-degree, like David said about Seve. But Jose Maria, who probably learned everything he knew from Seve, is as good as I've ever seen.
Golf Digest:
How about the best competitor?
LEADBETTER: I don't think you look past Tiger. We keep coming back to him. Obviously, his record speaks for itself. You really need an asterisk next to Tiger, meaning apart from Tiger who has been the best competitor. I just don't think you can look past him at all. He is the ultimate competitor.
HANEY: For most of these questions, I keep going back to the same two people: It's just Tiger and Jack.
McLEAN: One you can throw in there, like David said with the asterisk, would be Corey Pavin. He was just a fierce competitor. He could hang in there and win those Ryder Cup matches. He looked like he would just tear your throat out.
HARMON: For me, no contest: Tiger Woods.
Golf Digest:
Speaking of Tiger, will he beat Jack's record of 18 professional majors?
HARMON: I can't see it not happening. As good as he is, as committed as he is, as talented as he is, as hard as he works, I don't see any way he doesn't. Unless he injures himself somehow. If he stays healthy, yes, he'll do it.
McLEAN: I think so.
HANEY: That record, it's not right around the corner. It's hard to win those tournaments. I do know that Tiger's focus is just to keep trying to improve. In Tiger's mind, if he keeps improving, everything should take care of itself. (More from Haney on Tiger's majors)
LEADBETTER: At his current rate you'd have to say yes. You'd have to say just based on what he's done in the past and his youth, Tiger has ample time to break Jack's record. And Jack thinks he'll break it as well.
Golf Digest:
There have been a lot of great teachers over the years in golf. Who has had the biggest influence on your teaching career?
HARMON: My father [Claude Harmon] and John Jacobs. I've learned the most from those two as far as the mechanics of the golf swing, what the clubface does in the golf swing, and what we learn from watching the ball fly.
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