George Brett is one of baseball’s sweetest-swinging hitters ever. With 3,154 career hits — the most ever for a third baseman — Brett firmly entrenched himself among baseball’s greatest natural talents.
But Brett’s ability as a ballplayer might pale in comparison to his capacity with a putter in his hand, as he explained to hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar.
As Brett tells it, the story of one of his finest golf achievement begins with a putter and a late afternoon round of golf.
“I had like a splint on my ankle and we’re walking and we’ve had a cooler of beer obviously,” Brett said. “All of the sudden I’m walking by like the 3rd hole and I’m walking with a putter in my hand.”
As Brett meandered along the fairway, his playing partner lined up a shot and swung, hitting a low worm-burner off the blade of the club directly at the Hall-of-Famer.
“He says, ‘Hey, look out, fore!’ I see the ball, this is an honest-to-god true story,” Brett said. “I look at it, I swing at it, I hit it right on the sweet spot of the putter. He’s probably 100 yards out. Ball flies and lands five feet from where he was standing.”
Brett’s playing partner gave him a look of astonishment.
“He went, ‘Oh my god, that’s why you’re hitting .400.'” Brett said.
Still, he admits, he’s not always a lock to knock a line drive into center with his putter.
“You know what, I miss a putt, I pick up my ball and go to hit it on the green? I miss it every time,” he said.
To hear the rest of Brett’s Subpar interview, including what it’s like to play golf and drink with Sean Connery, check out the video below.
