When asked in the golf digest interview could he have whipped Tiger Woods
Snead replied “Hell, yes. In my prime I could do anything with a golf ball I wanted. No man scared me on the golf course.”
Barkow told be that Sam had no fear of Hogan at all…
I’ve heard also that Snead in head to head competition, Snead’s record was stronger than Hogan’s.
But since the Shell match is what most people see, there is that stigma a bit on Sam, and also that Sam amazingly
never won the US Open…
I imagine any seriously competitive type can detect the competitive fire in Sam Snead’s eyes and body language. At the end of that Shell match, I believe I saw a man who was not lightly taking Ben’s (well intended or barbed?) comments about Sam’s fortune that day. It looked to me Sam was badly itching for another public shot at taking down Ben on the golf course. What would the outcome have been if there had been a four round test?
His reply of “Hell yes!” to whether he could have whipped Tiger shouts to me that Sam was massively ticked off that destiny denied him a head-to-head shot at Tiger.
If some one can figure out time travel, one of the first items I would request is a continuous bout of extended “Shell” matches and re-matches between Sam Snead in his prime and the hot-shots of the last thirty years or so, in their prime. Some of these, maybe most of them, would give him a hard fight and probably whip him from time to time. When they would at times lose, the best of Sam’s competitors would aggressively seek re-matches. Even so, I would not be surprised if Sam Snead, in the long run, would achieve a great record against them. Whatever else might happen, the fireworks would be magnificent.
There still are some classic old style tracks that are pretty much the same as they were then… all you have to do is hand the contemporary guys, the gear from that era, play it from 6900 yards and see how they go. There are a lot of course records still intact from that era… Rancho Park in LA is one… with all the play over the years, and modern gear, no one has been able to shoot 62 out there.
The course I grew up on Palos Verdes CC has a course record of 61 still standing from the mid 1970’s. My best around there was 65, and Mark Pheil who won on the PGA Tour played out of there and his best was a 64. 61 is still holding in 2009. It may never be broken.
I’m sure Snead has many tournament records and course records intact… although the tour doesn’t play hardly any of the older courses anymore… it’s a shame really.
I would be interesting to know some of the numbers.
If the economy keeps tanking, and the tour money dries up… people might remember that golf is actually a game and not a corporate takeover.
“Anybody can say he’s got a secret if he won’t tell you what it is”
Sam Snead talking about Hogan('s secret)
I recently played in a local tournament with a guy that’s been one of the state’s top amatuers for over 30 years - and a frequent playing partner of Sam Snead’s at the Greenbrier in WV. This guy told me he was hitting balls with Sam the day Hogan died (in '97). Someone from the clubhouse walked over to tell Sam of Hogan’s passing. The amatuer mentioned to Sam words to the effect “You must have some incredible memories of your matches with him over the years” - Sam then put his head down - as though in deep thought and said nothing - then he shook his head said "Luckiest little SOB I ever saw!"Typical Sam…
Legend has it that late in his career, Snead was playing a leisurely 18 “Nassau” with a member of his club one afternoon. On a par four late in the round, Snead slams one down the middle. His playing partner hooks one left behind a big oak tree. Pondering what kind of shot to hit, he asks Snead for advice. Snead tells him " When I was younger I had this same shot once and hit nine iron over it onto the green and made birdie. The man takes out nine iron hits it over the tree but the ball catches some limbs on the way down and lands twenty yards short of the green. “I couldn’t hit it any better than that. How’d you get nine to the green?” Snead grins saying, " Back then, the tree was maybe twenty feet tall. Pay up!"
As Sam Snead once said to someone who asked him how he put backspin on a 2 iron:
‘How far do you hit a 2-iron, son’
‘About 160 yards, Mr Snead’
Returning to his practice Snead replied:
‘Why the hell do you want it to stop?’
Sam Snead talking about Winged Foot Golf Course
[size=150]“To match par on this course, you’ve gotta be luckier than a dog with two tails”[/size]
Not sure that he really meant it, but funny nonetheless…
“There’s only three things I fear on a golf course, lightning, a downhill putt and Ben Hogan.” – Sam Snead
“About all Ben ever said in a tournament was “Good luck” on the 1st tee, and “You’re away” after that.” -Sam Snead