“Drive for show and putt for dough” – it’s one of the oldest lines in golf.
But does it stack up?
The men behind the revolutionary Strokes Gained don’t believe so. They insist that strokes gained from tee-to-green are what matter most.
They argue that the golfer who gives themselves relentless opportunities through a season or a career will win more tournaments and more prize money.
They will do this by dint of consistency and also having the odd good week on the greens.
In contrast, they are doubtful about hot putters who need so much more to go right to capitalise on their quality with the flat stick in hand.
Based on the PGA Tour’s official Strokes Gained stats over the last five seasons who are the hottest putters and what do their careers tell us about the Strokes Gained theory?
1. Denny McCarthy
There’s no getting away from the heat of Denny McCarthy’s putter.
He currently ranks 6th for SG Putting this year. He was also 4th 2024, 3rd 2023 and 2nd 2022.
That’s insane quality and quantity.
But here’s the rub: he’s still yet to win on the PGA Tour.
One reason is that he ranks 121st for SG Tee-to-Green this year. Talk about contrast.
He was the winner of the 2018 Korn Ferry Tour Championship and has been unlucky on the PGA Tour – he lost play-offs in the 2023 Memorial Tournament and 2024 Texas Open.
Critically, however, while he usually ranks top 20 for Putting in tournaments, he rarely does so for Tee to Green.
2. Sam Burns
There have been no winning problems for Sam Burns who has captured five of them on the PGA Tour since the start of 2021.
But his reliance on a hot putter has impacted his career.
The quality of his work on the greens is revealed by these rankings for SG Putting: 1st 2025, 14th 2024, 8th 2023, 10th 2022 and 9th 2021.
That’s outstanding work by any measure.
Now comes two distinctions.
The first is that all five of his wins, plus his second tier win and most of his top finishes, have come in the south-east of the United States, the so-called Bible Belt where it is humid and the greens have Bermuda grass.
Burns’ best putting comes on them.
Secondly, major championship golf is most often determined by the long game and perhaps that explains why Burns has just one top 10 in 20 starts.
3. Taylor Montgomery
He ranks 25th for SG Putting this year but Taylor Montgomery was 1st in 2024 and 2nd 2023.
He graduated from the second tier off a stunning run of top 10s in 2022 but he finds winning difficult.
He has done it on the minor tours but has seven KFT top threes and one on the PGA Tour without lifting a trophy.
His card is under threat this year: he’s almost never gaining strokes on the field with his drives or approaches and his putter isn’t rescuing him no matter how good it is compared to the rest.
He rounds out an intriguing top three.
4. Maverick McNealy
The winner of last year’s RSM Classic – his first at the top level – is only 51st for Putting this season but he’s improved the rest of his game which has helped his ability to contend.
He ranked 1st for Putting in 2023 and 19th 2022.
5. Harry Hall
The Englishman ranks 3rd this year and he was 4th in 2023.
Put simply: he’s very good with the putter.
But here’s a funny thing. When he landed his first PGA Tour win – the 2024 ISCO Championship – he was only 24th for Putting (still good by the way) yet 3rd for Tee to Green which is one of only three top 10 tournament rankings in that category for him.
6. Christiaan Bezuidenhout
His peers rave about his putting and the rankings back up that assessment.
He is 14th in 2025, was 20th 2024 and 6th in 2022.
That said, although the South African is a four-time winner in Europe and his home tour, he is yet to win Stateside.
7. Mackenzie Hughes
The Canadian has a similar profile to Bezuidenhout but he is a two-time winner on the PGA Tour.
Last year he ranked 3rd for SGP, he was 14th in 2022 and 15th in 2021.
He especially likes the greens at Sea Island. He’s ranked 1st for Putting in the last two years and has a win and two runner-up finishes there.
8. Xander Schauffele
The anomaly: an exceptional long game merchant who also putts very well.
He ranked 12th for Putting in 2024, 5th in 2023 and 16th in 2021.
When he won the PGA Championship last year he ranked 2nd Tee to Green and allied to 13th Putting it was a deadly combination.
In the Open a few weeks later he was 1st Tee to Green (gaining an amazing 16 strokes on the field) and 16th for Putting.
(Strokes Gained: PUtting rankings correct at the time of the 2025 Memorial Tournament)
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