Who do you admire most in golf?

Hello,

there can be a lot of negativity on the golf board at times- players and ancillary characters being berated for their physical appearance, personalities, religious beliefs and even their names.

So just for a change, maybe you could nominate someone in the game who you really admire.

For me it's Ben Hogan, for many reasons.

-His contribution to golf instruction through his own investigation of the golf swing
-Overcoming adversity: he sustained serious injuries in a car crash, and then went on to win the U.S. Open a little over a year later. He transformed himself from a poor journeyman in his early years, to the greatest ball-striker of all time through hard work and intelligent application.
-From videos I have seen of him on youtube, and from reading his 'Five Lessons' book he seems like a very humble, polite man. During the famous car accident, it's said he threw himself in front of his wife to protect her, which if true, speaks volumes about the character of the man.

Who do you admire in golf?

Monty, for his beautiful smile and generally cheery demeanor.

Angel Cabrera for his journey from humble beginnings to double major winner. I guess Lee Trevino would be similar.

Slick Nick Faldo. For being that rarity, an Englishman/Brit who was genuinely the best around .

Diggers wrote:Slick Nick Faldo. For being that rarity, an Englishman/Brit who was genuinely the best around .

I guess I feel the same about Micheal Carrick.



It is hard not admire woods for what he has won in the game.

Would it be too weird to say Andrew Cotter?  In a world (the golf world that is) of people who seem to be right wing loons with nothing worthwhile to say he is a sensible and well informed guy.  His preparation is a step above what most commentators bother with, which means you hear something more than a cliche or a soundbite when he opens his mouth.

As much as I like Peter Allis there is a niggling feeling he is probably a little right wing for me to admire him.  He sure has charisma though.

Another journalist who I like, but know too little about to admire is Stephanie Wie.  She has a golf blog which is pretty good and often posts tweets with breaking news well before her more famous counterparts.  I also suspect that being female in the world of golf makes getting to the top that little bit harder.

I also really admire Manuel de Los Santos, the one legged golfer with a handicap of three!!! You may have seen him tee it up at the Dunhill Links a few years back. I saw him in person at the JP McManus event in 2010 and he was so cheerful and engaging with the crowd. And boy does he have game, himself and Robert Rock had a chip from the same spot on one of the greens and he knocked it well inside Rocky's ball! Kind of discouraging to know that I will probably never be as good as a man with one leg!

Does they gut play with an artificial leg or balance on one foot?

Balances on one foot when swinging, and then uses crutches to get around between shots.

The most admirable thing about that is that he still doesn't use a cart. A lesson for all the cart ball idiots out there.

Ernie Els and Annika Sorenstam

Kwini

Would you mind providing the reasons for your choices?

High achievement.
Apparently good people, who definitely give a lot back.
Leaders.
They get it.

(Not to say that others don't, could probably add Nick Price & Catriona Matthew as well.)

Paul Lawrie seems to do a hell of a lot of work with junior golfers.
Plus overcoming the stigma of benefitting from the van der Velde mess up and constantly being named one of the worst ever major winners etc, to go on and actually rise up the rankings, make the last Ryder Cup team etc and show that he genuinely is a top golfer

I've a soft spot for Justin Rose as well, despite his silly walk. He seems like a nice bloke and to end up winning a major after the way his pro career started is a great story.

I admire Lee Westwood for being in a big slump, only to come back as #1. I also admire Cabrera for having bagged 2 (almost 3) Majors. Furthermore I admire MAJ for being MAJ. And finally I admire David Feherty for not having his @ss kicked yet....

Nice topic Mac ...

I admire Lee Trevino for his golfing accomplishments ... hardly a privileged person, and being Mexican American in a very WASPY and clubby sports world didn't open a whole lot of doors. But, he sure had the game and the mental outlook needed to bring home some big hardware.

Crikey there's a few, certainly wouldn't disagree re Hogan.

Good points about Lawrie as well MPB

The other obvious one who I can't believe hasn't been mentioned yet... Seve!!

How many kids growing up in the 70s/80s wanted to play golf just because of Seve, incredibly charismatic and inspirational guy. Take a look at where European golf was before Seve...GB & I perpetually humped in the Ryder Cup, (Jacklin apart) uncompetitive in Majors, no proper tour to speak of, a rather staid and snooty sport at Club level. During and after the Seve era...Europe's Ryder Cup record transformed, a plethora of European Major winners who no doubt drew inspiration from Seve, the emergence of a decent European Tour, for the most part snootiness pushed to the margins at club level.

Arnold Palmer for not forgetting his roots. He has piled a load of money back into Latrobe where he from (and still lives, I believe)

Dunno really. Hard when you don't know enough about the real people.

For pure golfing talent, I'd have to go with Nicklaus, Watson, Seve, Couples and Woods.

Always admired Lanny Wadkins' gunslinger approach to the game and Trevino was always good for a laugh in a traditionally staid sport. John Daley before he became a caricature of himself.

For hard graft, get there through guts, I think Cabrera and VJ are pretty impressive. Trevino as well.

Always had a lot of admiration for Calvin Peete as someone a bit outwith the usual suspects. Late starter, badly busted arm and kicked the door ajar for a certain Mr. Woods. Pretty sharp player as well at his best.

For the girls, I think Laura Davies and Annika are both well worth a bit of admiration.

Arnold Palmer - as listed above, for being the best I ever saw, for creating golf as it is today, and for not forgetting that it's a game.

Bobby Jones - I didn't see him but he must have been a great player to win all those things and with such a frail putting stroke too. An amateur!

Joyce Wethered, Cecil Leitch and a raft of others for kicking down the walls that golf had built around itself as a male bastion.

Make your own mind up as to whether we admire these stories of trials and tribulations just because the cast of characters is mostly black, but I find these stories inspiring. An even better account in the Masters SIGolf which I can't find on-line, not yet anyway.

Well worth reading:

http://www.pgatour.com/news/2014/04/29/pete-brown-first-win-african-american.html

McLaren wrote:

Diggers wrote:Slick Nick Faldo. For being that rarity, an Englishman/Brit who was genuinely the best around .

I guess I feel the same about Micheal Carrick.



It is hard not admire woods for what he has won in the game.

Would it be too weird to say Andrew Cotter?  In a world (the golf world that is) of people who seem to be right wing loons with nothing worthwhile to say he is a sensible and well informed guy.  His preparation is a step above what most commentators bother with, which means you hear something more than a cliche or a soundbite when he opens his mouth.

As much as I like Peter Allis there is a niggling feeling he is probably a little right wing for me to admire him.  He sure has charisma though.

Another journalist who I like, but know too little about to admire is Stephanie Wie.  She has a golf blog which is pretty good and often posts tweets with breaking news well before her more famous counterparts.  I also suspect that being female in the world of golf makes getting to the top that little bit harder.

Mac, who cares what "wing" someone is as long as they don't express it and just do their job professionally?

Me. Obviously, or I wouldn't have mentioned it in my reasoning.

Care to share with us anyone in the game of golf you admire?

Or assuming that you behave like normal and refuse to tell us about anything you like, is there someone in the game you at least find more agreeable than others?

I don't think I admire anyone in golf. I enjoy playing it, but think most involved in the sport and many of those who take part are complete morons.

I enjoy watching people who appear to be enjoying themselves whilst doing it, even when they are getting a hiding or are simply playing badly e.g. Mickelson.

Allis's observations make me laugh, as do Cotters, there isn't much to admire in many sportsmen though, that's the nature of the business though, they are there to win, and sometimes that requires a great deal of arrogance and general unpleasantness, couldn't care less what someones own opinions are unless they express them like the god botherers, Watson , Elkington etc, then they are fair game.

It's hard to admire someone you don't know much about. But in a way I admire anyone that can make a living out of playing a sport they love. Millions of people dream of it and such a small percentage actually achieve it. So fair play to them all really.

If you play golf, it is almost certain that you will watch tournaments and professionals playing it. Because of that, it is human nature to observe more than how they play the game. Their demeanor and what they say in interviews will always have some subconscious affect on us. They and us are not robots (although some give a good impression of being one).

George1507 wrote:Arnold Palmer - as listed above, for being the best I ever saw, for creating golf as it is today, and for not forgetting that it's a game.

Bobby Jones - I didn't see him but he must have been a great player to win all those things and with such a frail putting stroke too. An amateur!

Joyce Wethered, Cecil Leitch and a raft of others for kicking down the walls that golf had built around itself as a male bastion.

Just for you George, the Silloth legend ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYMoyEeSVCE

gaelgowfer wrote:

George1507 wrote:Arnold Palmer - as listed above, for being the best I ever saw, for creating golf as it is today, and for not forgetting that it's a game.

Bobby Jones - I didn't see him but he must have been a great player to win all those things and with such a frail putting stroke too. An amateur!

Joyce Wethered, Cecil Leitch and a raft of others for kicking down the walls that golf had built around itself as a male bastion.

Just for you George, the Silloth legend ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYMoyEeSVCE

It's posts like that that make me wonder why you desert us for weeks on end Gael :-(