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What golfer has had the greatest impact to golf all time?

The King and it’s not close.
 
Mr Palmer. I don’t think you get Nicklaus or Woods without what Arnie. He made everything just a little cooler inside the ropes.

XM will often do a little 90 for 90 segment on Palmer and Jim Nantz narrates it and those little AP stories are so friggin cool.
 
You look at the list of greatest golfers that span 100 yrs and I think in context, in "their" time of greatness, they were all Rock Stars and moved the needle and impacted the game. The PGA has ranked them... Nicklaus is #1. One having the greatest or a greater impact on the game is subjective. Or is the OP question... the greatest impact on the current generation of fans? In that case, it's obviously Tiger. A current real time active player will always trump the past players.

Personally, I think we should appreciate all of them.
 
-CRW-;n8891279 said:
All sports are games. What makes a sport, by definition, is a game with physical activity. So golf is both. As is every other commonly watched game; football, baseball, etc.
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we can debate this one which has gone on for like ever. But honestly imo it doesnt matter. I view golf more as game than a sport. and imo that doesnt at all diminish it in any way.
 
On 8/7/60 Arnold was on What's My Line. The panel didn't wear their blindfolds since no one knew him by sight. He had already won 2 majors that year and 4 other tournaments including one that day. In a few years how many boomers, including myself, were playing because of him? He made golf popular with the masses.
 
Willie Park Sr. Nobody would have won any major if he hadn't started in in 1860.

330px-Willie_Park_Senior_wearing_the_Championship_Belt.jpg
 
Old Tom Morris without him the modern game as we know it would probably not exist. Golf courses as they are today dictate everything from the ball to the clubs. Without the modern golf course, clubs and balls would look and act completely different.

240px-Old_Tom_Morris.jpg
 
Palmer made golf more popular for golf fans and America. Tiger made it even more popular in America and beyond.

I was not alive when Palmer was in his prime, so obviously I am not completely objective. That said, it seems to me that Palmer made a game that was popular with the wealthy, white, American males and made it more popular for all suburban Americans.

I think Palmer’s popularity made someone like Tiger a possibility, but I think Tiger’s rise had a more global impact. His impact started inner-city golf programs and I believe made golf into a major American sport that made even bigger gains globally.

Tiger’s impact had people that would have never dreamed of playing the game, dream.
 
FreddieMac;n8891458 said:
Old Tom Morris without him the modern game as we know it would probably not exist. Golf courses as they are today dictate everything from the ball to the clubs. Without the modern golf course, clubs and balls would look and act completely different.
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Old Tom Morris was a miscreant and a charlatan! A despicable man with poor taste, an uncouth sense of humor, and improper social graces.

(I don't know if any of that was true but since you and I both went old-timey, I wanted to post an old-timey insult)
 
When it comes to participation and growing the game in popularity, Tiger.

When it comes to the modern professional game, Palmer.


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blugold;n8891471 said:
Old Tom Morris was a miscreant and a charlatan! A despicable man with poor taste, an uncouth sense of humor, and improper social graces.

(I don't know if any of that was true but since you and I both went old-timey, I wanted to post an old-timey insult)
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Hahaha, good one.
 
Brassie;n8891299 said:
You look at the list of greatest golfers that span 100 yrs and I think in context, in "their" time of greatness, they were all Rock Stars and moved the needle and impacted the game. The PGA has ranked them... Nicklaus is #1. One has the greatest or a greater impact on the game is subjective. Or is the OP question... the greatest impact on the current generation of fans? In that case, it's obviously Tiger. A current real-time active player will always trump the past players.

Personally, I think we should appreciate all of them.
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My thought was not to be individually as in your most influential, but the world of golf. I don't think Rory or Brooks (pick whichever great player today not named Tiger) can be stated as they influenced golf the most ever.

Also, influenced could mean different things to different people. To some, it would be how one Golfer changed TV and how we watch golf. Arnold Palmer was instrumental with being the co-founder of the Golf Channel among many other achievements. To another, it's simply who was the best golf ever. I think those would be on the Jack Nicklaus train. Some would say it was those from the early years like Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, and Bobby Jones. For without them, we don't have what is here today. Then there is Tiger and all the greatness and change he brought to golf.

So many to choose.
 
I would like to make a case for my man Jack Nicklaus "The Golden Bear" since he isn't getting the love.

Jack is by most considered the best ever to play the game. He had 73 PGA tour victories with 18 major victories (a record). He won the Masters in 1986 at 46 years of age. Yet, besides his golf achievements, Nicklaus has designed over 400 courses in over 45 countries. He is said to have designed over 1% of all courses in the world. That may not sound large but think about that for a moment. You probably have played on a Nicklaus designed course at least once in your life.

Palmer was more popular, but there is still no one that ever played the game like The Golden Bear.
 
I'll go with Mr Palmer too for many of the reasons already stated. I completely understand all those opting for Tiger, Jack, Jones, Hogan (and others) as there are just so many ways to evaluate this topic. No wrong answers IMO.
 
Harry Vardon....... The most common grip golfers use to hold their golf club is the Vardon grip.
 
mtcowdog;n8891928 said:
Charles Blair Macdonald
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Without googling, who is this?


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Is this the same as David Feherty asking Xander Schauffele who's the 3rd greatest golfer of all time? :angel:
 
All of golf? Arnie, he made it more mainstream, he helped create the Tour as it is today, made it so you could make a living playing & paved the way for Jack & Tom.
For my game personally, Jock Hutchinson Sr.


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Obviously you should really name the inventor of golf. Without them, absolutely no one plays.

Other than that, it’s really generational and more of a continuum instead of one singular person. Without people like Bobby Jones, there is no Arnold Palmer. Without Arnold Palmer, there is no Tiger Woods. Without tiger woods, the tour is nowhere near where it is today. You could take that backwards from Bobby Jones and Ben Hogan all the way to the beginning of golf, and there is going to be someone that comes around once every decade or so and takes the reigns to improve the standing of the sport.
 
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