In any sport, there will be a record to show what person is the best. Not necessarily overall – there will always be arguments about individual rankings – but when considering any specific aspect of the sport. There will be only one fastest time on the 100 meter dash, one highest dive. The people who achieve a perfect score in an Olympic ice skating performance will share the record, but they will be part of a very select group.
This holds true, naturally, in golf. A highly competitive sport that dates back centuries, it is a staple of television and an enjoyable exercise for children and elderly alike. And while multi-hundred yard accurate drives off the tee are rightfully impressive for regular players, there’s another part of the game which resonates for anyone who’s ever played so little as a single round of miniature golf – the putt.
Putts are difficult at the best of times, but during tournaments the greens are carefully manicured and slight variances of the surface can cause a ball to break in one direction or another. A putt of a mere six feet is not a certainty for a professional… which is why Jack Nicklaus’ casual 100 foot putt in 2010 at Harbour Shores remains a favorite moment of the modern game for many fans.
Nicklaus is a legend of the game and owns many records, including the most championships in major tournaments. As one might expect, it took an athlete with many world records to claim the record for the world’s longest televised golf putt.
It’s not Nicklaus, though.
The longest televised putt came two years after Nicklaus’ Harbour Shores display, in 2012, during the Alfred Dunhill Links Pro-Am Championship, a putt was dropped into the cup from 153 feet away. It wasn’t the “Pro” side of the team that made the shot, though… it was the amateur who’d only recently taken up golf, swimmer extraordinaire Michael Phelps.
Some people just can’t hold enough world records.
Question of the night: Have you ever had a notable case of “beginner’s luck”?
