The ever-outspoken Gary Player is often critical of other professional golfers, but he once handed out some of the highest possible praise to one player’s swing.
Gary Player said he is one of the top three golfers of all time, and is always quick to detail his list of accomplishments. In fairness to the nine-time major winner, it’s a long list.
Despite that, he recognised that Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods were higher on the all-time list than he was. Interestingly, he said Nicklaus was the greatest of all time, above Woods, but that makes sense when you consider how many major championships Nicklaus won over the South African in his era.
But the golfer who Player thinks is the best ball-striker of all time is neither Woods or Nicklaus. Instead, he named one of his golfing idols.
Gary Player named Ben Hogan as the best ball-striker of all time
Player said Ben Hogan was the best striker of the golf ball that has ever played. Hogan won nine majors in the 1940s and 1950s, and that number could have been significantly greater had he not fought in the Second World War and been involved in a serious car accident in 1949.
He missed dozens of opportunities to add more major championships to his resume, and he could well have set the record for the most major wins over Nicklaus.
Player said that modern golfers have not been able to emulate Hogan’s swing to this day.
“I learned so much watching Ben Hogan,” he said to Classic Golf Swing.
“Hogan was the best striker from tee to green that ever lived without a question, and had the most perfect golf swing because he hit millions of balls.
“When I see what people teach today, some of it is such hogwash. I see some guys on the regular tournament. I promise if they did what Hogan suggested and understood. That’s the other thing. I haven’t met anybody that really understood Hogan.
“I was lucky to be around him to hear a few things that I never heard in my life. If some of these players that are playing today did that, they’d be so much better. So much better.
“This man spent his life, he didn’t have children, he spent his whole life hitting golf balls every day and working like a Trojan.”
Woods agrees that Hogan is the best ball striker ever, and modern golfers have tried to copy Hogan’s swing for years. But according to Player, they have never fully understood the philosophy behind it, and that’s why no one has replicated his ball striking ability.
Why Ben Hogan could be considered the greatest golfer of all time
Hogan’s resume doesn’t do his career, or his talent, justice. He won nine majors and ranks behind only Sam Snead, Woods, and Nicklaus for the most PGA Tour victories ever. But he could have had so many more.
In 1953, Hogan was the only player ever to complete the “Triple Crown”, winning The Masters, the US Open and The Open Championship in the same year. He could have become the only player to win all four majors in the same season, but he couldn’t play the PGA Championship due to a scheduling overlap.
He only had one shot to win The Open, as the 1953 tournament at Carnoustie was the only time he played in it. Of course, he won.
In 1949, he was told he may never walk again when his car was hit head-on by a bus. But in one of the most miraculous comeback stories in sport, he won the US Open 11 months later. In fact, he won six of his majors after the accident.
Hogan’s story is one of never-wavering resilience, building an unbelievable record in seemingly impossible circumstances. And if not for those circumstances, he could have been statistically untouchable in the record books.
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