Whenever we say the best putters of all time, surely the majority of people’s mind fills up with pictures of Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. And if we say the 15 best putters of all time, then who are the other’s greatest putters?
To find out, we bring you the list of the 15 best putters of all time. These putters made everything look easy; however, it’s not as easy as it seems.
Putting also separates the best players from the average ones. If the players can’t slide the ball into the hole in golf, they can’t win tournaments.
Putting is an essential factor that can reduce or increase your points. The best players can put even from a distance of 20 feet.
15 Best Putters of All Time
The list is prepared concerning Golf.com, Ranker. So, let’s begin with #15th.
| S.N. | Name | No. of Major Championship |
| 15 | Nick Faldo | Six |
| 14 | Walter Travis | Four Amateur titles |
| 13 | Gary Player | Nine |
| 12 | Seve Ballesteros | Five |
| 11 | Arnold Palmer | Seven |
| 10 | Loren Roberts | – |
| 9 | Brad Faxon | – |
| 8 | Walter Hagen | Eleven |
| 7 | Tom Watson | Eight |
| 6 | Bobby Jones | Seven |
| 5 | Billy Casper | Three |
| 4 | Bobby Locke | Four |
| 3 | Ben Crenshaw | Two |
| 2 | Jack Nicklaus | Eighteen |
| 1 | Tiger Woods | Fifteen |
15. Nick Faldo
- Full Name: Nicholas Alexander Faldo
- Date of Birth: July 18, 1957 (66 Years Old)
- Turned Professional: 1976
Our list of the 15 best putters of all time begins with one of the greatest English golfers, Nick Faldo. His putting skills helped him win six notable titles.
In his career, he has a Birdie average of 1.50. Apart from that, he has a scoring average of 76.703.
Similarly, he has a putting average of 1.957. Nick Faldo has 33.50 putts per round. Plus, his One-putt percentage is 19.44%.
Therefore, he is one of the best golf players of all time.
14. Walter Travis
- Full Name: Walter J. Travis
- Date of Birth: Jan 10, 1862 – July 31, 1927 (At the age of 65)
- Turned Professional: Amateur
Walter Travis is one of the earliest golf players. He started playing golf in the early twentieth century.
During that time, most golf players were amateurs. Throughout his life, he remained an amateur golf player.
Despite this, he is one of the excellent golf players. He has three U.S. Amateur titles under his belt. Similarly, he won a British Amateur championship also.
Along with that, he was also included in the World Gold Hall of Fame in 1979. The honor also proves that he was a great player.
Apart from being a player, he was also a golf course architect who helped design the golf course.
13. Gary Player
- Full Name: Gary Player
- Date of Birth: Nov 1, 1935 (88 Years Old)
- Turned Professional: 1953
Counting at number 13, we have the South African player Gary Player. He is an accomplished golf player who got retired from golf in 2009. Gary is also called The Black Knight of golf.
Gary has a putting average of 2.357. Similarly, his overall putting average is 1.750.
Apart from that, his One-Putt percentage is 36.11%. His one-putt average is higher than an average player.
Additionally, his putts per round are 31.50. Plus, his Putts per Round-Round 1 are 27.00.
As a result of his high putts, he was able to win nine major championships. Plus, he won 22 PGA Tour championships.
12. Seve Ballesteros
- Full Name: Severiano Ballesteros Sota
- Date of Birth: April 9, 1957 (66 Years Old)
- Turned Professional: 1974
One of the best golfers in the 1970s was Seve Ballesteros. The Spanish player dominated the field of golf till the early 1990s.
During his prime, he won five major tournaments. In addition, he won two Masters Tournament and three Open Championships.
Seve has a scoring average of 77.33. Apart from that, his putting average is 1.840.
Similarly, his One Putt average is 33.33%. Plus, his Putts per round is 30.67.
He became a sensation after winning The Open Championship at the age of 21. Plus, he has won the highest number of European tours in golf history.
11. Arnold Palmer
- Full Name: Arnold Daniel Palmer
- Date of Birth: September 10, 1929 (94 Years Old)
- Turned Professional: 1954
The next best putter of all time on this list is Arnold Palmer. He was one of the best players in the 1960s.
During his career, he won a total of seven championships. In addition, Arnold won four Masters tournaments, one US Open, and two The Open Championship.
Arnold was also the most famous golf player of his time. He was known for his unique strokes.
Although he was very good at all aspects, he was also an excellent putter. Even during his last year, he had 29.00 Putts per round.
That’s why he is regarded as one of the greatest putters of all time.
10. Loren Roberts
- Full Name: Loren Lloyd Roberts
- Date of Birth: June 24, 1955 (68 Years Old)
- Turned Professional: 1975
Moving forward, we have the veteran golfer Loren Roberts on the list of best putters of all time. He started playing golf in 1975.
Although he is an excellent player, he has not won any major championships. However, he is a brilliant putter.
His One Putt percentage in 2005 was 31.57%. In the 2020-21 season, his One Putt percentage is 37.28%.
Similarly, his putting average is 1.861. So, the stats show that he was above average in the case of putting. But, he was an average player in other aspects of the game.
9. Brad Faxon
- Full Name: Bradford John Faxon Jr.
- Date of Birth: August 1, 1961 (62 Years Old)
- Turned Professional: 1983
Yet another player on our list without any major trophies is Brad Faxon. However, he has won eight PGA Tours in his career.
Brad is mainly known for his short putts. However, most players struggle to win significant tours with short putts.
He had great hand-to-eye coordination; therefore, he could putt balls easily.
His putting average is 1.788. Similarly, his Overall Putting average is 1.593. Plus, his One Putt average is 35.435.
Additionally, his Putts per round is 29.64. Brad’s Putts per Round-Round 1 is 28.84%.
8. Walter Hagen
- Full Name: Walter Charles Hagen
- Date of Birth: December 21, 1892 – October 6, 1969 (At the age of 76)
- Turned Professional: 1912
One of the iconic golf players of all time is Walter Hagen. Hagen is also considered one of the richest players of golf.
Throughout his career, he won eleven Major championships. He won the PGA Championship five times.
Similarly, he won US Open two times and The Open Championship four times. Walter won 45 PGA Tour in his career.
The clutch putter was known for his putting abilities. He made a 12-foot birdie to win Johnny Farrell in Eastern Open Championship.
There were very few players who could make shots from 12 feet at his time. Therefore, he is regarded as one of the best putters of all time.
7. Tom Watson
- Full Name: Thomas Sturges Watson
- Date of Birth: September 4, 1949
- Turned Professional: 1971
During his prime, Tom Watson was a star player who could putt from anywhere. He rarely missed shots.
In the 1970s and 80s, he won eight major championships. But, unlike other players, he had a simple way of putting.
His technique helped him to win two Masters Tournaments, a US Open, and five The Open Championship. However, he lost his touch after the 90s. During the 2009 Open Championship, he missed the 8-foot putt.
In the year 1988, he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
6. Bobby Jones
- Full Name: Robert Tyre Jones Jr.
- Date of Birth: March 17, 1902 – December 18, 1971
- Turned Professional: Amateur
Bobby Jones rarely played in professional tournaments despite being an excellent golf player. Apart from his occasional golfing, he also helped to co-found the Masters Tournament.
Although he was an amateur golfer, he could easily compete against professional golfers. However, Jones stood against golf stars such as Walter Hagen.
He won the US Open championship four times and The Open Championship three times. During the 1929 US Championship, he made a 12 feet putt to win the championship.
Bobby Jones retired at the early age of 28. In 1974, he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
5. Billy Casper
- Full Name: William Earl Casper Jr.
- Date of Birth: June 24, 1931 – February 7, 2015 (At the age of 83)
- Turned Professional: 1954
One of the most prolific players in the PGA tours is Billy Casper. He has won 51 games which is the seventh-highest win record of all time.
Billy Casper is known for his strategic games. However, unlike his competitors such as Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, he could not hit long distances.
He made up the gap with his extraordinary putting skills. However, his driving accuracy was around 60.
But still, he always scored above 30 Putts per Round. Similarly, his putting average was also above 2.0.
Since he had a great putting average, he could design the strokes to overcome his driving inaccuracy. He is still known for his non-flashy solid technique.
4. Bobby Locke
- Full Name: Arthur D’Arcy Locke
- Date of Birth: Nov 20, 1917 (106 Years Old)
- Turned Professional: 1938
The master of The Open Championship, Bobby Locke, is also one of the putters of all time. The South-African player also won 15 PGA Tours.
Bobby used a hickory-shafted putter and was very successful with it. He also had a non-flashy technique.
While playing golf, Bobby always aimed at the right side of the hole. It violates the traditional rule to aim at the middle of the hole.
He also didn’t swing the putter a lot. Therefore, he had incredible control while putting the ball.
At the time, his putting style was very unusual. Later, a lot of the players copied his style.
3. Ben Crenshaw
- Full Name: Ben Daniel Crenshaw
- Date of Birth: January 11, 1952 (71 Years Old)
- Turned Professional: 1973
- Retired: 2015
Third, on our list of best putters is the American former golfer Ben Crenshaw.
There are numerous videos of Ben Crenshaw on Youtube where we can see his incredible putting skills. On the back of his putting skills, he won two Masters tournaments in 1984 and 1995.
Ben has a One Putt percentage of 41.99%. He had the highest One Putt percentage during most of the PGA tours.
Similarly, he also has a Putting average of 1.750. His Putts per round are also around 30.
The lowest 3 Putt Avoidance also belongs to Ben Crenshaw. Overall he has 1.37%. Ben Crenshaw used Wilson 8802 model as the putter.
2. Jack Nicklaus
- Full Name: Jack William Nicklaus
- Date of Birth: January 21, 1940 (83 Years Old)
- Turned Professional: 1961
The second-best putter of all time is Jack Nicklaus. He is regarded as one of the best golfers of all time.
Jack has won 73 PGA Tour. It’s the third-highest win of all time. Plus, he has won 18 major championships.
Jack has won all the major tournaments multiple times. So, it’s no surprise that he has incredible putting skills.
He had to hole a putt during a crucial stage many times during his career. Often time he put the ball into the hole.
He has often credited his imagination and focuses for high-putting success.
1. Tiger Woods
- Full Name: Eldrick Tont Woods
- Date of Birth: December 30, 1975 (47 Years Old)
- Turned Professional: 1996
The best putter of all time is Tiger Woods. Eldrick Tont Woods is also one of the most famous golfers of all time.
Throughout his career, he has won fifteen trophies. Therefore, it’s no surprise that he is a great putter.
Similarly, Tiger has the highest number of PGA Tour wins. Tiger holds many records. He holds the record for the longest streak at number one.
Apart from that, he has also won the PGA Player of the Year eleven times. During the 2019-20 season, his putting average was 1.786. Similarly, his One-Putt average was 39.68%.
During the 2004 season, his Putting average was 1.724. Similarly, his SG: putting during the season was .853. In the case of SG: putting higher numbers means worse performance.
Read more about 123 inspiring Tiger Woods Quotes that will help you!
Conclusion
Did we miss any of your favorite putters? Who’s your favorite putter? Do comment down below!
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