Sam Snead is a legend on the PGA Tour. Rightfully so. He had as much longevity in the game as anyone ever has and he has the win count to prove it. “Thinking instead of acting is the number one golf disease,” said Snead. He left an amazing record of action.
World Golf Hall of Fame inductee Snead was born May 27, 1912 and died May 23, 2002, just shy of his ninetieth birthday.
Hole One
Sam Snead had one of the silkiest swings in the history of the sport. He had no hit – only swing – in his motion. I put him at number two in the best swings of all time in the April 6, 2007 Trap Five.
His relaxed attitude toward the game translated into his swing. Fred Couples shares the same on-course persona as Snead did. Both are relaxed guys with fluid swings. Jack Nicklaus called his swing “the most fluid motion ever to grace a golf course.”
People always said I had a natural swing. They thought I wasn’t a hard worker. But when I was young, I’d play and practice all day, then practice more at night by my car’s headlights. My hands bled. Nobody worked harder at golf than I did.
Hole Two
He routinely shot at or under his age. Snead shot a 67 at age 67 and a 66 in the final round at the Quad Cities Open in 1979. He shot a 60 at his home course, The Homestead in Hot Springs in 1983 at age 71. In 1997, at age 85, he shot a 78 at the Old White course on The Greenbrier in West Virginia.
Hole Three
Snead’s nickname was “Slammin’ Sam” or simply “Slammer” for his ability to hit the ball a long way.
The sportswriters started calling me “Slammin’ Sam” in the late 1930s. I never liked it very much. I really preferred the nickname I got when I first joined the tour: “Swingin’ Sam.” That was the name that showed off my true strengths: smoothness and rhythm. Somehow people liked “Slammin’ Sam” better.
Hole Four
Snead won a total of 82 PGA Tour victories, a record that stands today. He won in the neighborhood of 160 tournaments in total. The only guy that looks like he can catch Snead, Tiger Woods, is busy chasing Nicklaus’ major championship record and he may surpass Snead’s total wins in the process.
Hole Five
Slammin’ Sammy has seven majors to his credit. He has three Masters (1949, 1952, 1954), one British Open (1946), and three PGA Championships (1942, 1949, 1951). He never won the U.S. Open, a fact which was difficult for Snead to swallow.
It goes without saying that my biggest disappointment was never winning the U.S. Open. I’m reminded of it all the time. It hurts when people remember you for the things you didn’t do, rather than for the things you did do.
Hole Six
Sam Snead was a member of seven Ryder Cup teams and the captain of three. His playing record was 10-2-1.
Hole Seven
Snead was very athletic and flexible; so flexible that he apparently could kick the top of a door frame into his 70s. Yowza!
Hole Eight
Snead won five times his first year on Tour and eight times his second year. He won the money title his second year.
Hole Nine
With eight wins at the Greater Greensboro Open Snead has the most wins at a single event. He won the event in 1965 at age 52, making him the oldest winner on the PGA Tour. He first won the event in 1938.
I agree totally and I’m a huge Sam Snead fan.
For those who have never seen him swing, watch his old instructional or playing vids (I think amazon or ebay has some) and see it for yourself. Smooth as butter. No problems with a 1-iron there.
What makes his swing even more amazing for me is that he had no previous role models to model his swing on. No golfer before him had such grace and fluidity.
Just quoting one of my favourite lines of his swing, from 1965 PGA champion Dave Marr. “There have been a lot of so-called natural golfers over the years, but Sam is in a class by himself,” he said. “Sam is supernatural.”
I loved the story about Snead doing an old fashioned “exhibition” where he is hitting a butter knife 1iron onto a green 220 yards away and spinning the ball back. A member of the crowd asks him how does he put back spin on a 1 iron? “How far d’y’all hit a one iron?” he asks “Oh about 160 comes the reply”. “Why on earth do you want to put back spin on it?”
How about Booby Jones? That was actually his favorite…..