I am tired of this argument that tiger is better than jack things are so different now than what they were then its impossible to even compare what it would be like. On any given day one could beat the other but it would be impossible to tell unless you gave them roughly the same technology and circumstances. There is no doubt the golfers of today have better practice facilities better clubs better lives better nutrition better knowledge better everything.
Let me add in ben Hogan to make my point clearer one could make the case ben Hogan was better than both of them think about it.
1) The Masters didn't start until 1934, four years after Hogan turned professional.
2) The British Open was most often played the same week as the PGA Championship. It was rare for players to compete in both in the same year until the 1960's. This may have prevented Hogan from winning the Grand Slam in 1953.
3) Because of ocean travel, the British Open was difficult to get to and was a financial burden for Hogan, who was basically poor.
4) Hogan missed 3 years of majors due to World War 2.
5) After his car accident in 1949, he played a very limited schedule. The only majors he played in during the '50's were the Masters and U.S. Open, except in 1953, when he played in his one and only British Open at Carnoustie. He won by 4 strokes.(and while we are on that topic think of the advancements in the medical field for Woods vs Hogan)
I will always argue that the golfers of long ago were better than the golfers of today because of what they did with what they had verses what is available today. with the evolution of technology it is logical that scores would get better
but as technology gets better the skill of the player gets worse.
A thread was just started stating competition is tougher today. I would argue that the competition is tighter today but not tougher today sure the have better scores but the reason for that is that with the advancement of technology the skill multiplayer has lessened and the gap between a good golfer versus a great golfer will continue to get smaller until there is a new breakthrough in the game and or talent. In other words just because a race is tight doesn't mean the racers are more talented than another group.
if we had a prime hogan or jack today they would wipe the floor with the competition today or if the golfers of today were put back in that time they would be completely lost.