The Most Unique Golfers in History

Turn up at any tournament on the PGA Tour or DP World Tour and head for the practice ground and you will immediately be struck by the fact that just about every golfer you watch swings the club in almost exactly the same way.

In many ways, there is a sense that we are watching robots at work. And nothing much changes when they head out to the course. It is as if everything is done by numbers. And don’t get me started on pace of play or the time it takes them to putt out.

Thankfully, there have been plenty of characters within our sport. There have also been lots of top golfers who have achieved success with swings that were all on their own. It is also interesting to note that many of these individuals were also genuine characters.

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Here, we look at several who stand out as being unique in their approach to the game.

Moe Norman

Any bystander watching Norman for the first time could have been forgiven for believing they were watching an 18-handicapper. Everything he did seemed to be wrong but there has never been a straighter hitter of a golf ball, especially with a driver in his hands. Norman was autistic and struggled to cope with life on the PGA Tour but won 55 times on the Canadian Tour.

Lee Trevino

Trevino was what you would describe as a character. The only time he ever stopped talking was when he hit the golf ball. He used to drive some of his playing partners to the edge of distraction. He also possessed a unique golf swing, taking the club way back on the outside and cutting across the ball. It meant that he sliced everything. It also meant he knew exactly where every ball was going.

Jim Furyk

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

Furyk did things his own way. He had an unorthodox overlap grip and a huge loop in his backswing. But he won the US Open, claimed 17 PGA Tour titles - and is the only man to have recorded both a 58 and 59 in competitive play.

Gay Brewer

Brewer may have attended the same school as Furyk. Like Furyk, he had a huge loop in his backswing. And like Furyk, it also served him pretty well. He won The Masters in 1967 and also enjoyed a further nine victories on the PGA Tour.

John Daly

Ouch! Daly possessed possibly the longest backswing ever seen at the highest level and boy could he hit the ball prodigious distances. But he also had a magical touch around the greens and won two majors. There was, of course, a different side to Daly - he struggled with alcohol addiction, had a fiery temper and walked off many golf courses when things did not go his way.

Doug Sanders

Sanders, who is best remembered for missing a tiny putt on the final green to win the 1970 Open at St Andrews, was also one of the game’s longest hitters. And he achieved it with a backswing that barely reached hip height. But he generated a huge amount of power. One of golf’s most colourful characters, he lived life to the full off the golf course.

Bubba Watson

The two-time Masters champion says he has never had a golf lesson in his life. And that is a relief because you would not want to consult any swing coach who advocated the method employed by Watson. Everything looks wrong, but he hits the ball a country mile and is able to manipulate a golf ball in a way most of today’s players can only dream of achieving. In his prime, he was also a wonderful putter.

Eamonn Darcy

Darcy probably wouldn’t take offence to hear his golf swing described as the worst ever to grace the European Tour. It defied description. But like so many others on this list, he had wonderful hands and was somehow able to get the club back to the ball in the right place. His crowning glory came at the 1987 Ryder Cup when he defeated Ben Crenshaw, a man with a glorious swing, in the final-day singles as Europe won on American soil for the very first time.

Scottie Scheffler

Yes he is the world number one. Yes he won seven times on the PGA Tour in 2025. Yes he won Olympic gold. And yes, he is a two-time Masters champion and reigning PGA champion. But would anybody ever teach that awful footwork? His feet move all over the place at impact and beyond. But he hasn’t done too badly, has he?

Patrick Reed

Like Scheffler, Reed’s feet leave the ground at impact. Again, it is not something you would teach. The American is aware that he dioes it and has tried to stop it but his form dipped so he went back to what he knows best. His technique didn’t stop him winning The Masters or prevent him from becoming a ferocious Ryder Cup opponent.

Tommy Gainey

It is not just the fact that Gainey wears two gloves that makes him stand out. He is one of a very small number of golfers to employ the baseball grip and his swing has been described as "trying to kill a snake with a garden hose." And that sums it up pretty well.

Arnold Palmer

Let’s be honest - Palmer’s swing was not something you would teach anybody. He simply hit the ball as hard as hard as he possibly could. But he possessed magic in his hands and played golf in a manner that thrilled everybody who saw him when he was in his prime.

Ray Floyd

Floyd looked like he had a red-hot poker stuck up his rear end. He stood incredibly upright to the ball and had a swing that was anything but a thing of beauty - but it was good enough to win The Masters, US PGA and US Open. He won 22 times on the PGA Tour and 14 times on the Champions Tour.

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