GGOATRANK
🇿🇦
Golf · Professional golfer · South Africa

Bobby Locke

1936–1975 · Four Open Championships and one of the finest putters in the game's history.

Retired
Ranking model

100% titles, statistics, dominance, longevity and global competition depth.

Pure sporting data
89.9
Cultural & brand footprint 52/100 · total legacy 77.1
Open Championships
4
PGA Tour wins
15
South African Open titles
9
Professional wins worldwide
74
Vardon Trophies
1

Category profile

Dominance
88
Peak
94
Longevity
88
Honours
90
Statistics
90

Career timeline · Wins per season

SeasonWins per seasonShare of career
193630
193735
193839
193944
194049
194154
194258
194363
194468
194572
194677
194782
194887
194991
195096
195193
195290
195387
195484
195581
195678
195775
195872
195969
196066
196163
196260
196356
196453
196550
196647
196744
196841
196938
197035
197132
197229
197326
197423
197520

Data sources

  • PGA Tour records
  • The R&A championship archives
  • World Golf Hall of Fame

Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method

Why Bobby Locke ranks #10 in Golf

Bobby Locke ranks 10th among Golf athletes on GOAT Rank and 2613th of 4013 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 89.9 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 88, Peak 94, Longevity 88, Honours 90, Statistics 90. Those categories are normalised against the full Golf reference universe of 265 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.

The record covers 1936–1975 with 40 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1950, which sets the Peak component at 94. Peak is the defining strength of the profile at 94 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes open championships 4, pga tour wins 15, south african open titles 9, professional wins worldwide 74.

Immediately ahead sits James Braid on 90.1, a gap of 0.2 points. Directly behind is Raymond Floyd on 89.7. The position moves whenever the verified record moves: new titles, new seasons or a corrected source all feed straight back into the same formula, and every change is dated on this profile.

Bobby Locke GOAT Score explained

Dominance88/100 · weight 25%
Measures how far Locke stood above the field while competing. Scored 88/100 against the full Golf cohort.
Peak94/100 · weight 20%
Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1950. Scored 94/100.
Longevity88/100 · weight 20%
Rewards staying at that level over time: 39 years of competition and 40 recorded seasons. Scored 88/100.
Honours90/100 · weight 20%
Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 90/100.
Statistics90/100 · weight 15%
Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 90/100.

Bobby Locke — frequently asked

Is Bobby Locke the GOAT?
Not on the current data. Bobby Locke ranks 10th in Golf with a GOAT Score of 89.9, behind Jack Nicklaus on 95.0.
What is Bobby Locke's GOAT Score?
89.9 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 88 (25%), Peak 94 (20%), Longevity 88 (20%), Honours 90 (20%), Statistics 90 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
Where does Bobby Locke rank all time?
2613th of 4013 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 10th within Golf.
Bobby Locke vs James Braid: who ranks higher?
James Braid, on 90.1 against Bobby Locke's 89.9 — a margin of 0.2 points.
Compare with Nicklaus