Chamblee on Lehman

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mgranato

mgranato

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Cut the brother some slack. It's an opinion. I've heard on more than one occasion that Tiger is the best putter ever, or the best "clutch" putter ever. It's opinion based in belief soaked in admiration dipped in popularity sprinkled with awe and seasoned with hope. Everyone has their own recipe for "greatest evers".:) Besides, if I got paid to fill up air time, there'd be no telling some of the stuff that'd come out.:rolleyes:
 
Richie3Jack

Richie3Jack

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Kinda tough to statistically back it up. I generate what I call 'Advanced Total Driving' which factors in Fwy %, Driving Distance and Average Distance to Edge of the Fairway (when drive misses fwy). It's a formula that I use to factor in what correlates most to scoring average. Problem is that the Edge of the Fairway stat only goes back to 2008 IIRC.

I think you're better off at measuring approach shot statistics by looking at proximity to the cup averages...which only go back to 2002 or so (IIRC).

Then one has to factor in what qualifies as 'the greatest ballstriker on Tour over the past 20 years.' Lehman has played that long on the Tour...non-stop. Somebody else may have played on Tour for 5 years, struck the ball brilliantly, but had no putting and no short game and lost their card and never came back. So do you factor in career length or actual ballstriking for when a golfer was on Tour. And if it's the latter, what's the 'cutoff point' so we don't get one-year wonders (i.e. Jason Bohn in 2009 who had a phenomenal ballstriking season and is nowhere near as good after that).

One guy I would consider....David Toms. He's been really, really freaking good for a long, long time.

Somebody with a shorter time would be probably Charles Warren or Boo Weekley. We have stats to back up those guys and they both hit it very long. In fact, if it weren't for statistics we probably would never have heard about how great Warren strikes the ball. Same with David Toms who in my estimation has always gotten credit for his putting when his ballstriking has generally been superior.

So it's a typical Brandel statement...blurting things out and having little in the way of backing it up or sound reasoning.





3JACK
 
faux_maestro

faux_maestro

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mgranato said:
Cut the brother some slack. It's an opinion. I've heard on more than one occasion that Tiger is the best putter ever, or the best "clutch" putter ever. It's opinion based in belief soaked in admiration dipped in popularity sprinkled with awe and seasoned with hope. Everyone has their own recipe for "greatest evers".:) Besides, if I got paid to fill up air time, there'd be no telling some of the stuff that'd come out.:rolleyes:
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Good points. I'd hate to hear what I might say. BUT I remember those majors that Lehman didn't win (with the exception of the '94 Masters) were mostly because of some poorly struck shots, usually drives. That counts for ball striking, right? I'm not just talking about the drive on 18 at Oakland Hills either. He always seemed to fight the driver on Sunday at a major.

This being said, Tom Lehman was always one of my favorite golfers. Saw him tear up Muirfield Village in person. When he hit that ball in the water at Congressional I had to leave and couldn't watch the rest.
 
mgranato

mgranato

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I have know idea about his stats, but I don't link what a player does under the biggest moments of his career to his day-in-day-out stats for greens and fairways. How a player deals with those moments are more about him than his swing. No set of movements are immune to pressure, not even breathing.:)
 
L

Lindsey Newman

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Sorry, I don't consider a great ball striker a one shot specialist. Especially when the one shot is a rat. Love Lehman as a player though.
 
F

footwedge

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Lindsey Newman said:
Sorry, I don't consider a great ball striker a one shot specialist. Especially when the one shot is a rat. Love Lehman as a player though.
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Would that not be a great shot maker as opposed to great striker of the ball? You can still be a great ball striker hitting it dead straight can you not? Moe N. seemed to think so.
 
J

Jared Willerson

Super Moderator
I would love to be an opinion giver on a stage like the golf channel. I would say stuff just to see the rise it got out of people on the various golf forums....and then chuckle.
 
K

Kevin Shields

Super Moderator
A little known fact is Tom Lehman hit every green in every Ryder Cup singles match he played...the height of pressure golf. He was in the final group of 4 consecutive US Opens. If you've seen it in person he doesnt move it in the air right to left anywhere near as much as its commonly thought of. (Same with Lietzke...barely cuts, ive seen it a number of times). Lehman's friggin awesome and I would rank him right up there with Duval, Price, Couples and John Huston as best pure ball strikers in the last 20 years.
 
M

Mike Thomas (sunmart)

New member
Huston does a little something funny with his eyes on the downswing, like looking back down the line. Could be the best senior player the next 2 or 3 years, swings it better than ever.
 
L

Lindsey Newman

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Kevin Shields said:
A little known fact is Tom Lehman hit every green in every Ryder Cup singles match he played...the height of pressure golf. He was in the final group of 4 consecutive US Opens. If you've seen it in person he doesnt move it in the air right to left anywhere near as much as its commonly thought of. (Same with Lietzke...barely cuts, ive seen it a number of times). Lehman's friggin awesome and I would rank him right up there with Duval, Price, Couples and John Huston as best pure ball strikers in the last 20 years.
Click to expand...

I've seen it plenty of times and it can be a rat.
 
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