His game is not flashy. He won twelve events on the PGA Tour, and has won five on the Champions Tour so far.
He never won a PGA Tour major, but he finished in the top six in all four.
Two of his wins on the Champions Tour are majors… The Tradition and the Senior Open.
Probably the most impressive stat of all? He won nine times AFTER turning 40.
He doesn’t look especially gifted as an athlete, but his career was marked by consistency.
His golf swing and putting stroke are simple, effective, and easy to imitate.
His name? Steve Stricker.
Naturally, most golfers want to mimic the game of Tiger Woods, or Rory McIlroy. We want to hit it miles off the tee, hit amazing recovery shots, and make 40 foot bombs on the greens.
But, most of us are not as physically gifted as Tiger or Rory.
Stricker figured out late in his career that he needed to keep it in play better and rely on his putting if he was going to be successful on the PGA Tour.
After he turned pro in 1990, he got is first win on the PGA Tour in 1996 at the Kemper Open, and he followed that up a couple months later with a win at the Western Open.
Then his struggles began. He fought a terrible hook off the tee, and he didn’t win again until the Match Play championship in 2001.
However, that win proved to be a fluke, as over the next few seasons he struggled to make cuts, and rarely finished in the top 10.
In fact, in 2003, he only earned $150,000.
For some reason, the light switch turned on in 2006, and Stricker became a force for the next six years on tour, winning nine times. He then began to limit his appearances to spend more time with family
If you are over 40 years old, chances are, you are a little dinged up and not quite as mobile as you were at 20.
Personally, I’ll be 54 soon, nine months older than Stricker. I used to bomb it about the same length as Fred Couples in his prime.
Back issues started in my mid-30s, and then an accident a few years back has limited the mobility in my neck.
But, I can still hit it with Steve Stricker, who averages about 275 off the tee.
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, if you want to be a scratch golfer, you’ve got to hit it 250 off the tee, or you’ve got to putt like Ben Crenshaw.
For a tour pro, particularly in his 40s when he was actually winning, Stricker was never known as a bomber. But, he sure could putt, and his short game was solid.
Once he figured out how to find the fairways more often, he turned the corner.
I refer to Stricker’s swing and short game swing in the training I offer in the Hacker to Scratch Golfer Program.
Below, is a video of Stricker’s full swing from a few years back.
Nothing flashy here at all. He doesn’t get to parallel in the back swing, but he’s on plane, makes a decent turn and is very balanced.
Now, here’s a video of him executing a pitch shot.
And, here is a face on view of his putting stroke.
Lastly, here is his putting stroke from down the line.
This is as simple as it gets folks.
So, if you are new to the game, have average athletic ability, or perhaps you are a bit older, this is the tour pro who you should try to copy.
