An Ode to the Stylemasters
Everybody wants to be a cat. But in golfing, as with many things in life, it’s not merely a matter of what you achieve, rather than how you accomplish it. Some are lumberjacks whilst others have the fluidity of a ballet dancer. Instead of glorifying drab statistics, this shortlist is after rare blends of finesse, effortlessness and sportmanship.
© Kirby / Getty Images / Ideal Image
Bobby Jones [1902-1971]
“Golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course: the space between your ears.”
Bobby Jones was a lawyer. He played golf only as an amateur until his early retirement at age 28. He shifted from amateur to legend, completely bypassing the professional part. Besides his skills that are considered by many to stand on the highest summit, it was his character that contributed to his myth. On the 1925 US Open, he famously called a penalty stroke upon himself, for accidentally moving the ball slightly from its lie. His opponents and course Marshall questioned this decision as none of them had witnessed even the slightest ball move, yet he insisted. He lost that US Open by one stroke, but won the appraisal of everyone for his sense of camaraderie. To this, he famously responded: “You may just as well as praise me for not breaking into banks. There is only one way to play this game. I don’t know any other”.
He would go on to win the US Open the following year (1926). In 1930, Jones famously decided to bet on himself winning all four majors within a single season (an achievement nobody else had ever accomplished). He proved himself right, winning the UK Amateur Championship, the Open Championship, the U.S. Open and finally the U.S. Amateur to cash 60,000$ from his bet.
© Central Press / Getty Images / Ideal Image
After this dream season he retired and bought a land in Atlanta near Augusta to create -along with golf course architect Dr Alister MacKenzie- Augusta National Golf Club. While the course design is clearly parkland, it was heavily influenced in parts from the Old Course in St. Andrews, which Jones dearly loved. This decision to start Augusta at the height of the depression, when even well-established golf clubs were going bankrupt, was considered a suicidal business move by many. In 1933 the course became the home of the Masters.
Jones stopped playing golf at age 48 due to suffering from an incurable spinal disease. Even then he wouldn’t complain: “Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots; you get good breaks from bad shots - but you have to play the ball where it lies."
Jones’ swing with a driver as immortalized in 1938 by Harold Eugene Edgerton. Displayed in MoMa, © Estate of Harold Edgerton
Ben Hogan [1912-1997]
Perfectionist. This is the term that most accurately described Hogan. Considered by many as the most formidable ball hitter in the history of the sport, he had a deep belief in the process of practice and repetition. “The secret is in the dirt” he used to respond to anyone seeking for magic drills and quick fixes, implying that all technical questions vanish if you just head to the range and hit 1000 golf balls a day.
He also emphasized on the fact that while the audience wants to believe that a heroic shot on a major tournament might be some kind of momentary improvisation from the player, it can only be an off-the-shelf hit that has been practiced a hundred times before. “Under pressure, your habits had better be good ones”. He didn’t play with a glove and was an admirer of a pristine grip, finding an undeniable beauty in the way a fine player sets his hands on the club.
© Transcendental Gr./ Getty Images / Ideal Image
An urban myth about Hogan wanted him to skillfully conceal his swing mechanics by regularly changing small parts of it. The “secret” for some was the tuck in the right elbow during takeaway (aka the magic elbow); for others, it was the cupped left wrist on the top of the backswing.
In terms of behavior he was reportedly a tough character. Arnold Palmer famously complained that Hogan never referred to him by calling out his name throughout their entire career. It was always a “you” or something. “Ben Hogan is the most merciless of all modern golfers” Gene Sarazen once said.
Despite a severe injury in a nearly fatal car accident with his wife in 1949 (a head-on collision with a Greyhound bus), the 36-yo at the time Hogan managed to overcome acute blood clot issues in his legs that caused significant swelling during the rounds and win six major championships in only nine total starts from 1950 to 1953. In 1953 alone he won three majors in three starts and couldn’t attempt the Grand Slam only because the Open and the PGA Championship had overlapping schedules. His own golf equipment company started also in 1953, the ownership of which changed numerous hands (including Spalding and Callaway amongst others) until it ceased trading in summer 2022.
His book “Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf” remains a seminal editorial work to this day, regardless of many technical aspects having changed due to the different nature of golf clubs. He remains a member of an elite 5 player club, who has won all four majors (The Open, The US Open, The PGA and The Masters) and stopped at 9 major championships in total, outnumbered only by Nicklaus, Hagen and Woods.
© Tony Roberts/ Getty Images / Ideal Image
Gene Sarazen [1902-1999]
Gene Sarazen won his first US Open at age 20.
He was the first to make a Career Grand Slam (the current version of it) let alone the inventor of the modern Sand Wedge (featuring a bounce), which he introduced in The Open in 1932 and won the championship.
But first and foremost he made “The Shot Heard Round the World”.
© Tropical Press / Getty Images / Ideal Image
Inside the Trophy Room in Augusta National Golf Club, his 4-wood and ball are on display for a good reason.
On a Masters Sunday afternoon in 1935 (just a year after The Masters inauguration as a major), Gene Sarazen was paired with Walter Hagen and was escaping the rough of the 14th when they heard the crowds go wild on the 18th. The leader, Craig Wood, had just made a birdie to increase his lead to 3 strokes. Hagen looked at Sarazen and suggested that everything was over but Sarazen objected that he didn’t know because “they might go in from anywhere”. When they teed off the next hole, the par-5 15th, Bobby Jones decided to come down from the clubhouse and check on the rivalry between Sarazen and Hagen. Some 20 people were all that had remained from the gallery around the green.
The ball that is nowadays in the display rack, was resting 215 meters (235 yards) from the flag after his first shot, with Sarazen’s caddie suggesting a 3-wood for the second shot. Sarazen picked the 4-wood instead and sent the ball to clear the water hazard, skip a couple of times on the green and gently roll into the cup to make a double eagle or albatross. A 2 on a par-5. Suddenly he was all even with Wood. He would par the remaining three holes and proceed with winning the championship on the 36-hole playoff the next day.
An additional reason to like Sarazen in our case is that he played Glyfada Golf Course of Athens in 1966, when he was a commentator during Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf exhibition game between Tony Lema and Roberto Di Vincenzo. He wore his signature knicker pants (aka plus-fours) as he did throughout his entire career.
His nickname, “The Squire”, was an aftermath of a farm he had bought early in his career to have it as a backup because he doubted the true potential of a golfing career. His doubts went down in smoke as his career was exemplary and full of highlights even during his late years. At age 71, he miraculously scored a hole-in-one during The Open at Royal Troon on the 8th hole (“Postage Stamp”) in 1973, which he celebrated in first-class fashion: a wide smile, some taps in the back from the rest of the players and firm handshakes. When asked for his life lesson he replied: “I have been able to hope for the best, expect the worst, and take what comes along. If there has been one fundamental reason for my success, this is it”.
Sam Snead [1912-2002]
With 82 PGA Tour wins and 7 major championships, the trophy cabinet of “Slammin’ Sammy” Snead wasn’t by any means humble. But the unmeasurable quality and the tempo of his swing is the reason he makes this list, as well as Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus’ lists of the greatest swing of all time. According to Golf Digest, Jack Nicklaus as a young player said that when he closed his eyes and saw the swing he wanted, it was Sam’s. Snead prefered an overlapping grip and incorporated a classic golf swing, which contrary to the modern one didn’t dictate a planted heel of the lead foot in the backswing thus allowing for a fuller lower body pivot.
He still holds the record for the oldest man to win on PGA (he was 52 when he won Greensboro Open in 1965). Mickelson’s exemplary 2021 PGA Championship win, comes close and remains the oldest win on a Major. Snead also has the most PGA Tour career wins with 82, tied only by Tiger Woods and followed by Nicklaus with 73. Throughout his career he made 42 hole-in-one shots, at least one with every club in his bag except the putter.
© Bettmann/ Getty Images / Ideal Image
Arnold Palmer [1929-2016]
You don’t get rewarded with a nickname such as “The King” for faint reasons. Sure, Arnie was charming and well-mannered, let alone a skilled ball-hitter. But what he accomplished in his prime, was way broader than trophies.
A son of a golf pro from Pennsylvania (whom in those days wasn’t allowed to enter the clubhouse or the dining room in their home golf course - Latrobe), he practiced golf only when all members had left the course. The combination of his skill with the role model he created posed a striking appeal to the masses. He took the game public and shifted the archetype of the golfer with an aristocratic background to now include working-class audience. The crowds loved him and he was feeding off that energy. Wherever he was competing, he had the “Arnie’s Army” rooting for him.
His battles with young Jack Nicklaus at the time were epic. In 1960, a few months after his first win in The Masters, he was competing in US Open and was down 7 strokes after 3 rounds. He birdied the 6 out of 7 first holes to close the front 9 with a record 30 and shoot 65 in total to win the tournament on a dream comeback. That same season his stats were 25 cuts in 26 starts and 8 victories besides the aforementioned 2 majors, In less than 20 years (1955 to 1973) he won 62 PGA Tour titles and ranks fifth on the Tour's all-time victory list.
© Bob Gomel/ Getty Images/ Ideal Image
He ended up owning both Bay Hill Club and Lodge (that hosts the Arnold Palmer Invitational each year on the PGA Tour) as well as his home club, Latrobe. Yup, that place where his father wasn’t allowed to enter the dining room. Arnold Palmer “shot his age” (making a 18-hole score that’s equal to your physical age) by shooting 71 at PGA West in 2001. He even has a drink named after him, but don’t be fooled by the “half and half” version, Arnie clearly preferred two parts unsweetened ice tea over one part lemonade for his enjoyment. Don’t just take our word for it, check for yourself in the video below. Besides all aforementioned aspects he will be forever remembered for his spotless description of the sport:
“Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated. A child can play it well and a grown man can never master it. Any single round of it is full of unexpected triumphs and perfect shots that end in disaster. It is almost a science, yet it is a puzzle without an answer. It is gratifying and tantalizing, precise and unpredictable. It requires complete concentration and total relaxation. It satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening. And it is without doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented.”