22 Comments

1. 

   Golfy McGolface

   Nov 14, 2017 at 4:46 pm

   Everyone will just respond with who they don’t like.

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2. 

   Tommy

   Nov 11, 2017 at 10:22 pm

   It’s a stupid question that begs for a stupid answer. Rated by whom? In whose mind? Johnny Miller!?…seriously? I know you weren’t around then, but, Johnny Miller? He came out of nowhere and won EVERYTHING for a few years…then family replaced golf as his main focus. Johnny Miller was Ricky Fowler on steroids and before someone says, “yeah, Fowler’s overrated too”, he’s not. Underrated, if anything. If they got paid for their stats, Ricky Fowler would have won it all last year….waaay better than Justin Thomas.

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3. 

   stephenf

   Nov 11, 2017 at 10:14 pm

   Tiger Woods. Widely thought of as greatest ever, without being best in U.S. tour wins (Snead) or majors (Nicklaus), or even close in worldwide wins (Player and DeVicenzo). Awesomely talented, tireless worker, possibly the best combination of short shots around the green and consistently excellent putting over a long time of any player ever. Terrible representative of what the game is supposed to be about.

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   • 

     stephenf

     Nov 11, 2017 at 10:21 pm

     Also: Obviously an awesome ballstriker, but not smart about settling on a technique that would allow his body to keep making swings for decades; too important to hit 200-yard 6-irons and beat every player on every shot, distance-wise and otherwise. (Cf. the other piece on Bernhard Langer for contrast.) Absolutely, no question a man among boys in terms of competitive fire and mental toughness. Stood out in an era of skilled but mostly mentally soft competition. If we’re talking about ballstriking, short game, and scoring at the highest level on any given day, and adjusting for differences in equipment and the kind of play demanded in the game now, inarguably he’d be there with the best ever — Jones, Snead, Nelson, Hogan, Nicklaus, all of them. But if we’re talking about accumulated record and completeness as a representative of the game’s best qualities, no.

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   • 

     Mike

     Nov 11, 2017 at 10:41 pm

     This may be the worst comment ever. TIGER OVERRATED????? Remember that out of Snead’s wins 4 or 5 are team events so TIGER does have the most US individual PGA wins. I could rant forever at how dumb this comment is.

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     • 

       stephenf

       Nov 12, 2017 at 1:59 am

       Please do rant, Mike. When you do, be sure to cover who Woods had to beat that was the equal of Hogan and Nelson.

       But sure, go ahead and rant. What else ya got on majors or anything else? You wanna go on a little trip through Tiger’s “toughest competition ever” and see what people shot when they were tied with him or close to the lead in final rounds, what he had to shoot to beat them, what he had to shoot to win playoffs, etc.? We could go awhile. Start.

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       • 

         RG

         Nov 13, 2017 at 3:56 am

         Uhm…In golf we measure ourselve snot against others, but against courses and history. Tiger Woods won a US Open by 15 strokes. That is all.

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   • 

     stephenf

     Nov 12, 2017 at 1:55 am

     Also also: I’m not saying he’s the “most” overrated in the sense of “widest gap between reputation and actual skill/accomplishments.” I’m saying he’s the most constantly overrated by the most people, even if the difference between “best ever” and “one in a group of best-evers” isn’t all that big. It isn’t.

     It’s actually kind of hard to come up with “overrated” golfers, since golfers just are who they are, by record and by scores. I get why somebody would mention Daly, for instance, but I’m not sure anybody ever thought of him as an all-time great. He just is who he is.

     Before Dustin Johnson went and figured out his wedge game — which he really did, to his credit, because it was exactly where he was failing to take advantage of his length — I would’ve put him at the top of an overrated list. Not now.

     There are all kinds of guys who had stretches of Hall-of-Fame-level play and then faded, but it’s a little cruel to call them “overrated,” if they were never really “rated” in the first place by anybody who knew anything about the game. Same for guys who came out and looked really promising, got a lot of press, and then just didn’t get to top tier for any length of time, or at all. Hardly anybody remembers Keith Clearwater now, but he was going to be the next great player. Even Hogan touted his swing as being mechanically sound. It just didn’t work out.

     But as long as the question is who is or was the most overrated “golfer,” we’ve got Michael Jordan, who was widely talked about as having “tour-level talent,” but…come on.

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4. 

   BeerandGolfandLuke

   Nov 11, 2017 at 1:17 pm

   Michelle Wie

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5. 

   Ole Tom

   Nov 11, 2017 at 8:44 am

   John Daly

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   • 

     Ross

     Nov 11, 2017 at 12:25 pm

     Sorry Daly is 2 time Major champion, and if he had some sense of discipline he would of won a lot more imho. He is universally popular and a heck of a nice chap.

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6. 

   TeeUp

   Nov 10, 2017 at 8:08 pm

   Tiger Twig

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   • 

     Ross

     Nov 11, 2017 at 12:28 pm

     That is an interesting name, I assume you mean Tiger Woods. Now given he is often tagged as the Greatest of all Time he could be considered overrated however as he has 14 Majors it would be impossible to call him overrated unless you had an agenda.

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7. 

   Markallister

   Nov 10, 2017 at 6:48 pm

   fred couples

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   • 

     stephenf

     Nov 11, 2017 at 10:09 pm

     In what way is Couples overrated? In any discussion of who’s “overrated,” you have to arrive at an agreed idea of how he’s “rated” at all. Most people think of him as a beautiful swinger of the club who had some great streaks, was never a consistent putter, missed too many short putts, loves the life out there, capable of some low scores and very good tournaments. Won a major — probably the right one for him and his style — and contended in others. I’m not aware of anybody thinking of him being on the short list of all-time achievers in the game. So how is he overrated? I’m seriously asking.

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8. 

   TGK

   Nov 10, 2017 at 5:39 pm

   colin montgomerie. Could not win in usa until he was a senior.

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   • 

     Ross

     Nov 11, 2017 at 12:26 pm

     Monty was not overrated he was however an underachiever, He dominated the European Tour for a Decade and is a Ryder Cup Legend.

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     • 

       TGK

       Nov 11, 2017 at 3:22 pm

       What is the difference of being an underachiever or being over rated? LOL.

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       • 

         Original_dan

         Nov 14, 2017 at 9:10 am

         Underachiever – Not living up to your full potential
         Over Rated – Full potential lower then how people perceive you.

         Almost Opposites

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         • 

           Ross

           Nov 18, 2017 at 4:43 am

           Cheers _dan, I wrote the exact response at the time but it’s still awaiting moderation?

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9. 

   Rich Douglas

   Nov 10, 2017 at 5:25 pm

   Fred Couples. Love him, but seriously.

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10. 

    Travis

    Nov 10, 2017 at 3:14 pm

    Brandel Chamblee

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