{"id":70143,"date":"2025-08-16T01:22:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T01:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/70143\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T01:22:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T01:22:07","slug":"that-is-a-tragedy-golf-legend-says-the-current-best-player-in-the-world-cant-hit-the-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/70143\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;That is a tragedy&#8217; &#8211; Golf legend says the current &#8216;best player in the world&#8217; can&#8217;t hit the ball"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Scottie Scheffler is golf&#8217;s no.1 star in the world, but not in the eyes of nine-time major champion Gary Player.<\/p>\n<p>The American has drawn comparisons to <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/who\/tiger-woods\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tiger Woods<\/a> in his prime  having enjoyed a superb season culminating in his <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/golf\/3397005\/scottie-scheffler-wife-meredith-major-wins-open-championship-portrush\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">recent triumph at The Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Scheffler doesn't think he can be compared to Woods\" height=\"640\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/scottie-scheffler-united-states-poses-1011292491.jpg\" data-caption=\"Scheffler doesn't think he can be compared to Woods\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/scottie-scheffler-united-states-poses-1011292491.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>4<\/p>\n<p>Scheffler doesn&#8217;t think he can be compared to WoodsCredit: Getty<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/golf\/3473752\/scottie-scheffler-pga-bmw-championship-ryder-cup\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Scheffler <\/a>is a shoo-in for the US <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/topic\/ryder-cup\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ryder Cup<\/a> team and few would bet against him proving decisive in New York next month.<\/p>\n<p>But despite his rise to prominence, Player remains unconvinced by Scheffler\u2019s work and says that he doesn\u2019t view him as the best in the world.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, that accolade goes to <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/who\/jordan-spieth\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jordan Spieth<\/a>, in Player&#8217;s opinion at least, with the golf legend blaming poor teaching for Spieth\u2019s drop from the top of the rankings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a tremendous lack of knowledge with golf. I would say in America today the golf pros that are teaching know less about golf. They have all the equipment and the technology but they are teaching golfers to do this at the top (pictured below),&#8221; he told The Golf Supply YouTube channel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut you can\u2019t, once you do that you are gone. Jack Nicklaus won majors for 25 years, I won majors for 20 years, Palmer won for six years because he was shut.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Player then provided a clinic on how players should aim to get their hands &#8216;under the club&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>He later proclaimed Jordan Spieth as the best in the world and explained where his game had gone wrong in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat they are doing, they did it with Jordan Spieth and <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/who\/rickie-fowler\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rickie Fowler<\/a>,\u201d Player added. \u201cNow those two guys. Jordan Spieth I think is the best golfer in the world but in my opinion he was taught the wrong thing. And he just went downhill. He went downhill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you had a man like Ben Hogan teaching Jordan Spieth he would be the best in the world. He\u2019s such a competitor, such a wonderful man. A wonderful guy for golf, the best short game, best course management but he just can\u2019t hit the ball. That is a tragedy.\u201c<\/p>\n<p>Spieth rose to fame in the 2010s and was tipped to achieve great things after some early promise.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The legendary Gary Player explained why he thinks golfers are being taught wrong\" height=\"573\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Golf Supply YOu tube channel\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Gary-Player.jpg\" data-caption=\"The legendary Gary Player explained why he thinks golfers are being taught wrong\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Gary-Player.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>4<\/p>\n<p>The legendary Gary Player explained why he thinks golfers are being taught wrongCredit: Golf Supply YOu tube channel<a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"He went on to explain how golfers should aim to get their hands under the club\" height=\"591\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Golf Supply YOu tube channel\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Gary-Player-2.jpg\" data-caption=\"He went on to explain how golfers should aim to get their hands under the club\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Gary-Player-2.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>4<\/p>\n<p>He went on to explain how golfers should aim to get their hands under the clubCredit: Golf Supply YOu tube channel<\/p>\n<p>He picked up five victories on the PGA Tour in 2015 with huge wins at the Masters and US Open.<\/p>\n<p>Spieth has since enjoyed further success by winning a third major at The Open in 2017, meaning a PGA Championship was all that was needed to complete the career Grand Slam.<\/p>\n<p>But a failure to repeat his early success has seen Spieth tumble down the rankings having struggled for consistency since 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Spieth has not registered a single Tour victory in the past three years and now finds himself 51st in the Official World Golf Ranking.<\/p>\n<p>Player, now aged 89, had time for one more incredible claim.<\/p>\n<p>He went on to state that Seve Ballesteros was \u2018not even a 10-handicap\u2019 after watching back at a round with the late Spaniard.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Jordan Spieth is currently ranked 51st in the world but Player believes he is still the world's best\" height=\"640\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/jordan-spieth-united-states-looks-1013527389.jpg\" data-caption=\"Jordan Spieth is currently ranked 51st in the world but Player believes he is still the world's best\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/jordan-spieth-united-states-looks-1013527389.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>4<\/p>\n<p>Jordan Spieth is currently ranked 51st in the world but Player believes he is still the world&#8217;s bestCredit: Getty<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo you know who knew the least about the golf swing? Ballesteros,\u201d Player said. \u201cI played with him at Troon as a young man, and he wasn\u2019t even a 10 handicap.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe had no idea what he was doing. No idea. But he had the greatest feel of any man that ever lived.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was so good from 50 yards in \u2013 he was as good as anybody that ever lived.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know who the best is, but he was as good as anybody. But hitting fairways? All over the place. If you don\u2019t have the knowledge, you\u2019re limited. You\u2019re very limited.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scottie Scheffler is golf&#8217;s no.1 star in the world, but not in the eyes of nine-time major champion&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[10274,5904,21973,3026,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-70143","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-gary-player","9":"tag-golf","10":"tag-jordan-spieth","11":"tag-scottie-scheffler","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}