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Golf Legends by the Numbers: Nicklaus, Woods, Hogan and More

By the Dailygolf team · Updated October 2026

Golf's all-time greats are usually compared by two numbers: PGA Tour wins and major championships. Here are the six names that come up most often.

Jack Nicklaus

Nicknamed the Golden Bear, Nicklaus won a record 18 professional majors and finished second in many more. His consistency over decades is what sets him apart: he contended in majors well into his forties and famously won the 1986 Masters at the age of 46.

Tiger Woods

Woods won 15 majors and shares the record of 82 PGA Tour wins. At his peak he held all four major titles at once, an achievement known as the "Tiger Slam". His comeback victory at the 2019 Masters, after years of injuries, is one of the most celebrated moments in the sport.

Sam Snead

Snead's 82 PGA Tour wins stood alone as the record for decades and are now shared with Woods. His fluid swing was admired for its longevity: he won on tour in five different decades. He never won the U.S. Open, which remained the one big gap in his record.

Ben Hogan

Hogan won 9 majors despite a near-fatal car accident in 1949 that left him with serious injuries. He came back to win the 1950 U.S. Open and, in 1953, won three of the four majors in a single year. He is still remembered as one of the best ball-strikers the game has seen.

Arnold Palmer

Palmer's aggressive style and charisma helped bring golf to a television audience in the 1960s. He won 7 majors and 62 PGA Tour events and built "Arnie's Army", one of the most loyal followings in sport.

Gary Player

Player won 9 majors and is one of only five men to complete the career Grand Slam. A tireless traveller, he won tournaments all over the world and became one of the first truly international stars of the game.

Why numbers aren't everything

Comparing eras is hard. Equipment, course conditions, prize money and the depth of the fields have all changed. Still, wins and majors are the clearest shared measure we have, and they are the stats we use in Guess the Pro Golfer so that each clue has a clean, checkable answer. Our legends mode includes players such as Nicklaus and Hogan alongside today's stars so that you can test your knowledge across generations.

Statistics are PGA Tour official wins and professional major championships as commonly reported at the time of writing.