Golf Channel "On the Range"

Here’s something crazy…I made more money on the USPGA Tour in 7 seasons and I didn’t even play in the huge prizemoney era than the following players

David Graham- Seve Ballesteros-Ian baker-Finch- George Archer- Arnold Palmer!!!-Gary Player- Ian Woosnam-Gene Littler- Bob Murphy- Jerry Pate-Bruce Crampton- Dave Stockton- Al Geiberger- Julius Boros- Bobby Nichols- Mac Ogrady- Bobby Clampett-Chi Chi- Bruce Devlin- Isao Aoki- Tommy Aaron & Doug Sanders…!!!

Gimme a break…it’s ridiculous…I would swap all my money earned for the career of any of these guys…views get very distorted at times

speaking of comparing apples with apples can someone please work out what Hogan’s career earnings would be worth in today’s money?

In addition Hugo, you had zero stroke play wins or indeed matchplay wins in those seven years so I suppose John reserves the same opinion about your PGA career as he does for his old room mate Kevin Sutherland. Nice.

I don’t understand why prize money is being brought into it, it wasn’t me that first mentioned it…

Shots that stay in my memory.
First was Watson in '82 at Troon stripe a 2 iron into the 72nd with a one shot lead.

'83 Australian Open, 72nd hole, battler Bob Shearer v the best ever jack, 500m par5 Shearerhas a 2 stroke lead. Both hit drivesdown the left, slight fades. Shearer had well over 200 to go, to challenge the green, you had to carry a perfectly postioned pond, placed there by none other than Nicklaus, on his redisign a year earlier.
Sheaer looked like he held a butter knife in his hand, as he riflied this 2 iron, that soared and soared, landed gently on the firm green, resting 20 feet from the pin.
Jacks head lowered, he was done, Bob won the Aussie open.

I remember when The Shark reached #14 at Huntindale for 2 in '84. Never been done before, and it was driver driver. It was historic, enchanting, and symbolised the raw power of the Shark. The crowd was in raptures and the press applauded from the frontpages

When the shark half shanked a 4 iron into the 72 at Augusta in '86, it was unforgettable. But it was a 4 iron. I see today they hit wedges and 8 irons. ANYONE can hit a wedge straight.

It disgust me, how the administrators and govenors of this great game have abandoned the true nature of our game.
I was always raised to believe that this was a game between me and the course. Well, the designer of the course I play, never intended his course to have wedges thrown at every par 4.
I get laughed at all the time for my views, and my clubs, but it dont worry me. Im playing the game as intended by the guy who designed my course. If someone wants to play a hybrid version, no worries, they are welcome to it.
I will win my club championship this year, both medal and matchplay, at 45 yrs of age, using clubs made nearer ww2 than 2000. What joy true golf is.
Steve

Good for you Steve and I hope you do win both championships.

I am only slightly younger and I too have great memories from yesteryear of shots by Watson, Nicklaus, Seve, Faldo, Woosnam and Lyle. However, also in that “showreel” of great shots are ones from Tiger - the 6 iron from the bunker on the 72nd hole of the 2000 Candian Open, the chip in on 16 at the Masters - Ernie Els, David Duval, Annika Sorenstam, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy - final round 6 iron to the 10th at Congressional last June!

The one thing I hope you do after winning your club championships is to congratulate the other competitors, not launch into them and criticise them for their choice of swing style and clubs. I also hope that in the unlikely event you don’t win, you shake the hand of the winner and congratulate him on being better that day.

Styles.
Being, from this part of the world, i do know how to behave if i get beat. We shake hands, congratulate our opponent, and Move on. Its sport not war.
If u think i will run around andboast and beat my chest to the tune of my impact bag when i win , well u are mistaken. The joy will simply be in (A) Stroke play, to shoot lower than anyone, and (B) in matchplay, beating the brains out of any poor sap that dares tee it up against me.
Perception is everything, i perceive you in a certain light, no matter how dim that light is.

Cheers
Steve

similarly apples, I percieve you in a certain light :wink:

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a Genie pop from a bottle and grant one of two wishes.

The first would be to have a long career, plenty of money won, maybe even a major or two, and carry that off into the sunset…or

Having one round with Ben Hogan- a full 18, no crowds, no TV, no nothing…just two alone on a nice field of green on a perfect day throwing shots all over the place, the ultimate battle between men and course, but with the understanding that after the round is over so is your time with golf. I would take that in a heartbeat, just to have one opportunity to say three words…Ben, you’re away. :laughing:

part of my deal with the genie is I’m not allowed to talk about it…

Careful Brandon, being part of the 1% may get our current administration and the union hacks backing a bus load of OWS protesters to visit your front lawn. :wink:

Captain Chaos

Success is how many Waffle House waitresses you sleep with! I think Tiger agrees and is after my title. :smiley:

Captain Chaos

Okay Magellan! Thanks for schooling everyone here and ascribing false ideals and assaulting their character without understanding the real motivations. Superior stuff to be sure. :confused:

Captain Chaos

Rat, I’d prefer Ben tell me, “Your honor, Captain”. (after the first tee, of course)

Captain Chaos

Schooling no one. just highlighting the blinked view the majority on here have. I don’t stand at a range pitying my neighbour because of his equipment.

Styles,

I’m just here trying to teach the golf swing, and remind people that golf was a much more sophisticated game in the past with a far greater skill set needed for mastery.

The best strikers were in the past. Not much to debate there. Go look at the Knudson video I have posted on youtube or the Hogan - Snead match.

Long iron play requires a better golf swing than swatting at a frying pan or a hybrid. Not much to debate there.

Students here are like pipeline surfers who want to learn to drop in on a 60 foot wave… and enjoy the idea of learning advanced techniques. If you are happy with a golf swing that requires the skill set of riding a long board on 3 foot waves at Waikiki beach… that’s fine. Students here want to learn how to flush it with a 1 iron and shape the ball with ease any way they want, and have complete control over trajectory so they can handle wind, side hill lies or anything a quality track is going to throw at them.

If you’re happy watching grown men ride around on tricycles or training wheels on flat smooth concrete… good for you.

Just a little loftier goals and ideals around here.

Im a follower of ABS, but I do believe good ball striking is overrated in golf no matter what era your from.

A good golf swing is played out between the ears. No one ever seems to talk about nicklaus in the same light as Hogan but he won alot more and is the greatest winner in history.Which should ring some mental bells for people.
I think this is why we see more winners on the PGA tour today. players have learnt how to get it done with slightly inferiour swings via mental toughness rather than perfect swings.

Its a well known fact Hogan was very spiteful of good putters/short game players as he got older. I think we here at ABS often lose sight that golf is getting the ball in the hole,not just hitting long irons all day.

If you really think about it, Hogan hits his 2 iron to 8 feet and Luke donald hits a hybrid to 20 feets. The statistical chances of them each taking 2 shots to from there in is about the same…

Been a while since I have gone through the site, but like this thread.

Styles, what you said about Two is the exact reason he is working with Lag on his swing and this site. You are correct that he never had a victory on the USPGA. Two’s first few wins in Australia were before he had a teacher, then as most of the best players in the world do he wanted to get better. In modern day intelligence this is done by going to a swing coach to fix things, even when nothing is wrong. His coach had him change his swing to what is popularly taught today. More upright, keep the club in front of the body, throw the right arm through impact, turn the clubface over through the ball. There is no telling what the difference in his career would be if he didn’t have a coach, but certainly better. He is not on the this site for money or recognition, I think he just doesn’t want players to go through what he went through thinking what if.

Don’t think anyone on this site is saying that Hunter and other modern player are not good. They are saying what if this talented guy was forced to hit more accurately by way of course setup. Then the pros would be concerned with accuracy verses distance. There are some pros that hit it 280 and are 80 yards behing the big hitters. With persimmon and balata this would be 40 yards at most, and there would be risk. If someone swings that hard with persimmon and balata then there is no way they would hit the fairways they hit now, so there would always be a give and take between accuracy and distance. Now there is no risk, 180 yards from rough into a par 5 is always easier than 260 from the fairway. This is not who is better, it is who can swing the hardest. Imagine if Luke Donald was only 40 yards behing Dustin Johnson, Gary Woodland, Bubba Watson, and Kyle Stanley. He beats all of them now at an 80 yard disadvantage.

The point is that this equipment doen’t require any improvement to hit the ball solid or long. The new TM RBZ clubs. In all the commercials the tour players are smiling because of how much further the clubs hit the ball. They did not change their swings before the testing to hit the ball longer. Their swings are the same as they were the day before when hitting the R11 and thats the problem. They have not changed anything and are 20 yards longer, not through improved skill but through technology. If nicklaus, hogan, trevino, or knudson wanted 20 yards they had to work out the correct way to swing the club to achieve this. Skill was the x factor, not technology. The great players today are lost in the crowd because too many players can make too many birdies too often. Technology inhibits the greatest ballstrikers and mask the inferior ones.

Sure. Here are some stats I found online taken from benhogancollection.blogspot.com/ … areer.html :

Career Summary

Total Career
Top 10’s = 241 out of 292 Career Starts (82.5%)
Top 3’s = 150 out of 292 Career Starts (51.4%)
Victories = 68 out of 292 Career Starts (23.3%)

Career Before Accident
Top 10’s = 183 out of 201 Career Starts (91%)
Top 3’s = 119 out of 201 Career Starts (59.2%)
Victories = 54 out of 201 Career Starts (26.9%)
Majors Won = 4 (Including 1942 Hale America Open)

Career After Accident
Top 10’s = 58 out of 91 Career Starts (63.7%)
Top 3’s = 31 out of 91 Career Starts (34.1%)
Victories = 14 out of 91 Career Starts (15.4%)
Majors Won = 6

Total Career Official Earnings = $354,986
Majors Won = 10 (Includes 1942 Hale America Open)
Leading Money Winner = 5 times
Vardon Trophy Winner = 3 times
PGA Player of the Year = 4 times
Ryder Cup Record = Player 3-0-0, Captain 3-0-0

U.S. Open Record (22 Career Starts)
Top 10’s = 15 (68.2%)
Top 3’s = 8 (36.4%)
Victories = 4 (18.2%)

Masters Tournament Record (25 Career Starts)
Top 10’s = 17 (68%)
Top 3’s = 6 (24%)
Victories = 2 (8%)

PGA Championship Record (13 Career Starts)
Victories = 2 (15.4%)

British Open – 1 Career Start
Victory = 1 (100%)

If you take those career earnings ($354,986), that equates to 5.7 Million when converting 1940 dollars to current dollars, 3.3 Million in 1950 dollars to current dollars, 2.7 million in 1960 dollars to current dollars, etc. The question becomes what year to use for the most accurate comparison. If we accept that we’re going to use 1946 (the year the secret was supposedly discovered) as the basis of our calculation, we end up with 4.1 million in current dollars.

usinflationcalculator.com/ used for all calculations

Yes John, you are teaching a method here, good luck to you and all your students. S&T is another method, morad, right sided swing, rotary swing. All methods, all with disciples and mentors convinced that their method is THE method.

I think EVERY era has had its share of great ball strikers and journey men. The notion that Tiger Woods would not win in any era is laughable. To suggest that golf is not the game it once was is also laughable. YOU and your accolytes may not like the game but the facts are that half a million people attended the Waste Management Open last week.

Instead of running the game down, you should butter it up in the hope your off shoot gets a hand out

Im afraid the surfing analogy is lost on me. Going back to golf, would it be fair to say the goal here is to hit the purest shot rather than shoot the lowest score?

That’s good on the hogan dollars.

Now, what were the average earnings in 1946 compared to today?