Tiger vs. Jack: who is the greatest of all time?

[Lions81]

I admit I was too young to follow Jack's career, but I voted for Tiger. The question to me is not who has the most majors or even wins. In my opinion Tiger played the best golf that has ever been played for a 15 year period.

 

[AndyL0711]

Do you think the competition was really that much better in Jack's era or was Tiger just that much better than everyone else in his? If you look at the rest of the field they were all prettycompetitive amongst each other but Tiger came out and redefined the game. Is it the fault of the competition or is it that Tiger brought a whole new type of strategy to the sport?



Do you take additional tour wins in to consideration or is it strictly majors for you?

both but majors are more important

 

[AndyL0711]

I admit I was too young to follow Jack's career, but I voted for Tiger. The question to me is not who has the most majors or even wins. In my opinion Tiger played the best golf that has ever been played for a 15 year period.

10 years....and shouldn't be over their whole career and not just a 10 year period

 

[Knot Right]

The younger generation will naturally sway to Tiger.

And for the poster that said Jack couldn't play in todays game................. Are you kidding me?

 

[Lions81]

10 years....and shouldn't be over their whole career and not just a 10 year period

If you asked me who had the greatest career I would say Jack. I don't mean to be playing with words, but to me there is a difference. I believe Tiger from like 97 to 08 was the greatest golfer of all time.

 

[JMB3]

Homer vote, Tiger. Can’t really argue against those who pick Jack. Tiger likely has all the records but poor choices and injuries derailed him during years in which many pros hit their primes. But his dominance for those years were as impressive of an athletic fete as I’ve ever witnessed.

 

[AndyL0711]

If you asked me who had the greatest career I would say Jack. I don't mean to be playing with words, but to me there is a difference. I believe Tiger from like 97 to 08 was the greatest golfer of all time.

nobody will match jack's career numbers and no one will ever match tiger's 10 year total. so you can go either way but i went with overall career. jack is just the best. he dominated for 20 years

 

[Bernoulli]

Tiger. Feel like I could be swayed. But I know what I saw. To me he was so much better than the second best player at any given time during his peak which was super long despite being cut short by about 5 years than anyone else in any other sport. MJ is the only one that was close to me. He completely changed the sport of golf. I didn't see a second of Jack's prime but I don't feel like anyone ever talks about him like that. Most of my friends dads that did watch Jack admit Tiger is better.

This could be an argument like when a 25-30 year old swears Lebron is better than MJ though. I look at that person and think this is sheer lunacy.

Just for the sake of argument and allow me to state that I respect your opinion and your candor:

Arnold Palmer changed golf more than Tiger or Jack. He transformed golf long before Tiger. They’re on tv because of Arnie. The perception of golf changed because of Arnie.

Tiger is not the only athlete ever to lose time during his prime. He was injured and had some personal issues derail his career. Numerous baseball players gave up the prime of the careers to go and fight in WW 2, including Ted Willams who gave up 5 years to military service. He flew fighter planes in WW2 and the Korean War.

I completely agree with you about LeBron. The NBA of today is soft compared to the 80s and 90s.

And I didn’t offer an opinion of who is better, Jack or Tiger. Jack leads 18-15 in the one category they both say is most important.

 

[AndyL0711]

Majors don't hold anywhere near as much water for me as they do for most.

I'm taking Tiger and feeling good about it. He redefined the game and what's possible.

does that same philosophy go with other sports? so dan marino has to be top 5 all time qb if you take away the fact that he never won a superbowl but changed the passing game during his era.

 

[Knot Right]

Tiger was a force, and would have done very well in any era because of his talent and singular focus on GOLF

Jack loved competition, but family came first, which is why he would fly across country after the second round of a tournament to watch his kids play sports, and fly back to make his tee time. Jack also put the clubs away for longer periods to focus on family and business.

Like Chi Chi once said..... Jack is a legend in his spare time.

 

[AndyL0711]

for the 2 people that picked "other" who is the best then?

 

[KEV]

I just looked up some Tiger stats and it's just silly. Lowest career scoring average in history, 142 consecutive cuts made, 82 wins, 22.8% career winning percentage .

 

[Knot Right]

Just for the sake of argument and allow me to state that I respect your opinion and your candor:

Arnold Palmer changed golf more than Tiger or Jack. He transformed golf long before Tiger. They’re on tv because of Arnie. The perception of golf changed because of Arnie.

Tiger is not the only athlete ever to lose time during his prime. He was injured and had some personal issues derail his career. Numerous baseball players gave up the prime of the careers to go and fight in WW 2, including Ted Willams who gave up 5 years to military service. He flew fighter planes in WW2 and the Korean War.

I completely agree with you about LeBron. The NBA of today is soft compared to the 80s and 90s.

And I didn’t offer an opinion of who is better, Jack or Tiger. Jack leads 18-15 in the one category they both say is most important.

Where I grew up.....you got beat up if you played golf. Until Arnie came along and made it cool.

 

[jvbart]

Tiger. I wasn't following golf for the Jack era but Tiger just seemed so much more dominant and was blowing the field away. Regarding the majors argument, it's hard to imagine Tiger doesn't destroy that record is he had stayed healthy and not gone through so much personal turmoil. I know you can't just discount that and play what-ifs but if you think about the "best" for me it's Tiger hands down.

With Tiger I think a good question is if he is the best athlete ever. For me it's Jordan but Tiger is in that conversation. I have never heard Jack mentioned in those conversations while Tiger is brought up frequently.

 

[mtbloco]

Tiger. His time at the top ended too soon, while he should have had time to surpass all of Jacks records.

 

[Canadan]

does that same philosophy go with other sports? so dan marino has to be top 5 all time qb if you take away the fact that he never won a superbowl but changed the passing game during his era.

I don't know enough about football history to make a fair assessment, unfortunately.

 

[Lions81]

I just looked up some Tiger stats and it's just silly. Lowest career scoring average in history, 142 consecutive cuts made, 82 wins, 22.8% career winning percentage .

Yup. His 142 consecutive cuts will never be broken. Right there with DiMaggio’s hit streak

 

[Junkyard]

I swear sportswriters make questions like this up to sell more magazines. Everybody loves a headline.

It's never a fair comparison because you're talking about athletes from different eras, technology, fitness, etc.

While I didn't get to see Jack play in his prime, I did get to see Tiger. All I can say from that experience is that Tiger in his prime was head, shoulders and torso above the rest of the field. The shots he could pull off made most tournaments a fight for second place.

Now on the flip side, Jack was also a dominant player in his time. He had to be - he has won the most majors, has the most runner-up finishes in majors, is number three on the list of tour wins). But Jack played in a different era than Tiger. Equipment wasn't as good as it is today. Agronomy wasn't as good as it is today. Some would make the argument that Jack was a better player because of those elements, but we'll never know.

 

[Bernoulli]

Where I grew up.....you got beat up if you played golf. Until Arnie came along and made it cool.

Did more to transform golf from a stuffy pursuit of the country club elite to a game that could be played by anyone. I’m just old enough to remember when Jack, also known as Fat Jack back then, was not well liked by many because he dethroned the King, so to speak.

 

[Knot Right]

Tiger. I wasn't following golf for the Jack era but Tiger just seemed so much more dominant and was blowing the field away. Regarding the majors argument, it's hard to imagine Tiger doesn't destroy that record is he had stayed healthy and not gone through so much personal turmoil. I know you can't just discount that and play what-ifs but if you think about the "best" for me it's Tiger hands down.

With Tiger I think a good question is if he is the best athlete ever. For me it's Jordan but Tiger is in that conversation. I have never heard Jack mentioned in those conversations while Tiger is brought up frequently.

Jack played multiple sports growing up. Woody Hayes was a family friend and was impressed how far Jack could kick a football. Woody talked Jack's father out of Jack playing football because he could see how good Jack was going to be at golf.

 

[Knot Right]

I swear sportswriters make questions like this up to sell more magazines. Everybody loves a headline.

It's never a fair comparison because you're talking about athletes from different eras, technology, fitness, etc.

While I didn't get to see Jack play in his prime, I did get to see Tiger. All I can say from that experience is that Tiger in his prime was head, shoulders and torso above the rest of the field. The shots he could pull off made most tournaments a fight for second place.

Now on the flip side, Jack was also a dominant player in his time. He had to be - he has won the most majors, has the most runner-up finishes in majors, is number three on the list of tour wins). But Jack played in a different era than Tiger. Equipment wasn't as good as it is today. Agronomy wasn't as good as it is today. Some would make the argument that Jack was a better player because of those elements, but we'll never know.

Jack had the mindset that every opponent would face the their demons at some point during a round. He knew that 90% of them Couldn't handle it.

Tiger knew this also.

Both Tiger and Jack knew that you knew, that they knew, they were going to beat you.

Jack waited things out, while Tiger forced the issue.

 

[*Range Rat]

Do you think the competition was really that much better in Jack's era?

YES

 

[BigMac]

does that same philosophy go with other sports? so dan marino has to be top 5 all time qb if you take away the fact that he never won a superbowl but changed the passing game during his era.

I have trouble comparing team sport athletes to individual sport athletes. A QB can't be truly great without a solid supporting cast - he needs a great offensive line, great coaches to develop a successful game plan, and great receivers to throw the ball to. Philip Rivers is statistically one of the top QBs ever, but he never even went to a Super Bowl (as a player, anyway) and had limited success in his career only because the Chargers ownership are tighta**es and have always tried to play in a champagne league with a beer budget. Plenty of other QBs could have the same argument made for them.

 

[Knot Right]

Do you think the competition was really that much better in Jack's era or was Tiger just that much better than everyone else in his? If you look at the rest of the field they were all prettycompetitive amongst each other but Tiger came out and redefined the game. Is it the fault of the competition or is it that Tiger brought a whole new type of strategy to the sport?



Do you take additional tour wins in to consideration or is it strictly majors for you?

Tiger didn't bring any specific strategy or fitness to the sport, or anything else.

He brought talent and supreme confidence and didn't mind the other players knowing it.

He was no different than Jack. They both knew that you knew that they were going to beat you.

Davis Love even quoted that we all had Tiger in our heads.

 

[Junkyard]

Jack had the mindset that every opponent would face the their demons at some point during a round. He knew that 90% of them Couldn't handle it.

Tiger knew this also.

Both Tiger and Jack knew that you knew, that they knew, they were going to beat you.

Jack waited things out, while Tiger forced the issue.

That's a very solid analysis - I like it!