Young (1974) Ben Crenshaw, his release was ahead of its time

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Tony D'Antonio

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I've been meaning to post this Golf Magaznine cover picture for some time but couldn't find a pastable picture until now.

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People always forget that Crenshaw was a very long hitter when he came out of college. I'm sure the reason for this was the use of the squat and jump release. (Although I seem to recall this Golf Magazine article detailing Crenshaw's squat occurring during the backswing. There was also mention of a lot of lateral motion.) He later changed his swing and removed the squat, jump and lateral motion. In the process he removed much of his extra distance. It does seem to me that the squat and jump is a tough move to time for the average golfer. Anyway, thought this would be of interest.
 
Dariusz J.

Dariusz J.

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Well, the truth is he won his most important tournaments without the jump even if it cost him some distance. But there were better times for golf...

Nowadays squats and jumps and distance and whacking and swing speed and f**k FIR. Old Scotts are rolling in their graves.

Cheers
 
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rogerdodger

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He also was underrated with his irons. He had great distance control with mid to short irons. The big reason he won two Masters was not just putting, but also because his iron play left him on the proper levels pretty consistently. When he was younger he hit the ball high and long, just wild with the driver. He was a fun player to watch in his younger days.
 
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Jared Willerson

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You guys are being a bit rough on Gentle Ben. Truth is from '80 - '90, roughly his peak years, the worst % of fairways he hit was 55 in 1982 and his best was 67% in 1989.

He was above 60% every year but 1982 and finished around middle of the pack most years accuracy wise.

There were a lot wilder players off the tee in the 80's. Peter Oosterhuis, Fred Couples, Tom Watson, just to name a few.

It always amazes me how the reputation of how a player hits it is not really correlated to what actually happened.
 
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gmbtempe

gmbtempe

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Jared Willerson said:
You guys are being a bit rough on Gentle Ben. Truth is from '80 - '90, roughly his peak years, he worse % of fairways hit was 55 in 1982 and his best was 67% in 1989.

He was above 60% every year but 1982 and finished around middle of the pack most years accuracy wise.

There were a lot wilder players off the tee in the 80's. Peter Oosterhuis, Fred Couples, Tom Watson, just to name a few.

It always amazes me how the reputation of how a player hits it is not really correlated to what actually happened.
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People don't look up their own facts they just repeat what they hear, its a troubling problem with todays media.
 
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wulsy

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When I was a boy (how can anyone start a sentence like that?;)) I saw him at the British Open playing a sand wedge over a bunker from about 30yds off a bare as yer arse downhill sidehill lie. Really horrible lie, the kind that makes you think about putting it round the bunker. He hit it with a massive divot but it still went high and stopped pretty quick. Still remember it well. I suppose that's what you call a well timed release, no?
 
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OLIVER1

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I remember seeing Ben in the UK (Wentworth, I think) Stood behind him on one hole and he hit a pop-up pull with the driver about 150 yards. He seemed so much more armsier than many of the other pros, like his arms and clubhead were way too long for his torso to handle. Very elegant man, though. I was quite jealous...
 
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Tball88

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a friend of mine's father played with him at Texas. Said Ben hit it all over the planet, but could get up and down from everywhere. Yes, his fairway hit statistics may be ok, question I would have is when he did miss one, how badly did he miss it.

Maybe one of the greatest putters ever though..
 
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DCgolf

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"If we are to preserve the integrity of golf as left to us by our forefathers, it is up to all of us to carry on the true spirit of the game." - Ben Crenshaw[2]
Great ambassador and great player. But he was prone to an uncontrollable hook at times! His mentor, and the grand ole gentleman, Mr. Penick, loved to teach a strong grip draw. He HATED seeing the ball go right. When Ben got on tour he worked like hell to hit the ball higher and draw less, and won 19 times on the tour including 2 Masters! But he could still hook it at inopportune times (Medinah in 75?). Anyway had dinner with him once and he was one of the nicest guys I ever met..
 
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Tony D'Antonio

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Jared Willerson said:
You guys are being a bit rough on Gentle Ben. Truth is from '80 - '90, roughly his peak years, the worst % of fairways he hit was 55 in 1982 and his best was 67% in 1989.

He was above 60% every year but 1982 and finished around middle of the pack most years accuracy wise.

There were a lot wilder players off the tee in the 80's. Peter Oosterhuis, Fred Couples, Tom Watson, just to name a few.

It always amazes me how the reputation of how a player hits it is not really correlated to what actually happened.
Click to expand...

Ben got a lot more accurate after he changed from the squat/jump swing. He got a lot shorter too. One thing he never changed though was his putting stroke. No one putted like Ben both style-wise and results-wise.
 
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drewitgolf

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DCgolf said:
And Julie was a s nice as she was hot!
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His first wife Polly wasn't too bad either. Funny thing, Ben won both majors directly after life-changing situations. His first Masters' victory came the week after he divorced Polly, while the second came the week of Harvey Penick's death.
He also overcame Graves disease in the mid-1980's. Ben Crenshaw is a class act, both on the course and off, and we are fortunate to have him promote our game.
 
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