Hal Sutton had a storied PGA Tour career, winning 14 times, including a PGA Championship and two Players Championships. Sutton also played on four Ryder Cup teams and captained the U.S. squad in 2004.
These days, Sutton, 67, isn’t playing much golf anymore after having both hips and his knee replaced. But he remains full of stories and insightful perspectives from his impressive career, as he demonstrated during his guest appearance on this week’s episode of Subpar.
As one of the few players who got to compete against two of the game’s greatest players, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, co-host Colt Knost wanted to know: What’s the difference between them? Sutton had a ready answer.
“We’re talking about two different eras here,” Sutton began. “They both managed their ball incredible. They were both one of the longest players of their time, big drivers, both of them, great long iron players, middle irons, short irons.
“I would say Jack’s pitching the ball and chipping the ball weren’t in Tiger’s league,” he continued. “I’m just being honest. He hit the shot when he needed to, but what Jack did so well is he played into his strengths and away from his weaknesses. Tiger did that as well, but, you know, Tiger was, he was fearless. I’m not sure that he would lay up as much as Jack did.”
Sutton said that Nicklaus shined in an area that isn’t as relevant in today’s modern game.
“Jack was an unbelievable 3-wood player,” he said. “3-wood’s not even in the game anymore.
“I’ve done a little bit of designing, and I worked with a couple of guys and, you know, 3-wood’s not in the game. They don’t have shots where you use 3-woods anymore. And Jack used 3-woods all the time for a thing called position. Nobody thinks about position anymore much off the tee.”
For more from Sutton, including his thoughts on the Ryder Cup, check out the full episode of Subpar below.
