Golfers who are tall can generate quite a bit of clubhead speed and distance in their shots.
When you are a shorter golfer, you must be able to generate a good amount of clubhead speed to keep up with the tall golfers.
Shorter golfers are good at the game, but they have to work just a little harder for it.
This does not mean that shorter golfers are not going to have luck on the PGA Tour.
In fact, there have been several players who were very successful, despite not having height on their side.
Top 10 Shortest Pro Golfers
1. Tadd Fujikawa
Tadd Fujikawa is the shortest golf professional on our list.
Fujikawa is just 5’1” tall, but he is still able to compete and win on the PGA Tour.
The interesting thing about Fujikawa is that there is a story behind his height and smaller stature.
Fujikawa was born weighing just under two pounds.
He was very premature and not all that healthy.
Doctors gave him very little chance of surviving infancy, let alone going on to become a professional golfer.
The complication during Fujikawa’s mother’s pregnancy made her deliver early, and there were quite a few unknowns about what Fujikawa would be able to do as an adult.
As a 15-year-old amateur, Fujikawa was able to qualify for the US Open at Winged Foot.
He ended up becoming the youngest golfer at the time to make the cut for the US Open.
Fujikawa didn’t make the cut for the weekend at that US Open, but he was able to make a cut again the following year for the Sony Open in his home state of Hawaii.
Fujikawa is still an active player, though he does not compete nearly as much as he once did.
This has nothing to do with his height and is just more of a general direction that his life has taken.
Over time, golfers have learned how to really hit the ball considerably further, and it makes us wonder how many other 5’1” golf professionals there will be.
2. Gene Sarazen
If you want to talk about golfers who have made their impact on the history of the game, the name Gene Sarazen will likely come up.
At 5’5.5”, Sarazen has won seven major championships and was able to complete the Career Grand Slam.
The Career Grand Slam is a very rare achievement for players, and those such as Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods are the only other players who have made it on this list.
Sarazen made other contributions to the game, including the creation and use of the sand wedge.
Prior to this, players were trying alternative methods to get the ball out of the sand trap, but none was nearly as effective as the modern sand wedge is.
Sarazen won his final major championship at the 1935 Masters.
This is a very well-known event, and it features the shot that many golfers know as the “shot heard around the world.”
On the 15th hole at Augusta National during the Masters, Sarazen was able to hit a 4 wood into the hole to record an albatross.
This means that he was able to make a two on a par five.
The club he used was referred to as a spoon at the time, but we would consider it to be a fairway wood at this point.
There is a bridge on the Augusta National golf course named for Sarazen, and that is partly because of this impressive shot that he hit.
There was a playoff the following day that lasted for 36 holes and eventually left Sarazen as the champion.
3. Ian Woosnam
Ian Woosnam is a European golfer who played some incredible golf in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s.
He is 5’4” and of Welsh descent.
Woosnam turned professional in 1976 and won a total of 52 tournaments.
At the time Woosnam started winning tournaments, he was starting to really help the European players establish a presence on the PGA Tour.
The 52 wins that Woosnam wins are split up across the PGA Tour and the European Tour.
Despite being shorter than other golfers on the Tour at the time, Woosnam had some really great power in his swing and was able to get plenty of distance.
For those who are real fans of the game, there are plenty of Woosnam or “woozy” memories to be had.
4. Gary Player
Gary Player is 5’6” tall and one of the most successful shorter golfers to ever play the game.
In addition to being short, Gary Player decided that health and wellness were going to be something that he stood for on the PGA Tour.
To this day, Player is still in incredible shape and able to hit the ball plenty far for someone of his age of 88.
The famous Gary Player turned professional in 1960, and he has 160 professional wins.
This many wins is hard for anyone to come by in modern golf.
Essentially, during the days of Jack, Arnie, and Gary, tournaments were up for grabs each week, and these guys just dominated.
Gary Player is a big proponent of the game and of teaching golf as well.
He has spent much of his career publishing books on the golf game as well as fitness instruction.
There is no doubt that this man has figured out some interesting things about keeping your body and your mind in shape on the course.
In total, Gary Player has nine major championships on his resume, and he has recorded wins all over the world.
One of the names that Player goes by is “Mister Fitness,” and it suits him quite well.
Today, he is mostly working on charity-related endeavors, although he does still hit opening shots at the Masters and plays some golf for fun.
If you want to look at a person whose entire life has revolved around the game of golf, Gary Player would be the guy to look at.
5. Brian Harman
Brian Harman may not be as well known as some of the other golfers on our list, but he does have four wins on the professional tour.
If you were into golf in the 2009–2015 time period, chances are you saw Brian Harman get a few of his wins.
Harman is 5’7” tall and comes from Sea Island, Georgia.
One thing that helps Brian Harman stand out is that he is ambidextrous.
He can play golf both lefty and righty, but he does choose to play golf more often as a right-handed player.
Harman still plays in some tournaments, though he is not as active as he once was during his prime.
The one thing to remember about Brian Harman is that he never let his height impact how far he hit the golf ball because he always still had plenty of distance from his shots.
The more you learn about these shorter golf professionals, the more you will see how they are not bothered by their shorter stature and the impact it has on their game.
Brian Harman is one of those players who worked with all the height he had to make it as far as possible on the PGA Tour, further than most of us will ever be able to get.
6. Francesco Molinari
The Molinari family is known for producing tremendous golfers.
It’s one thing to have one of your children make it on the PGA Tour, but another to have two sons be able to win on the PGA Tour.
Francesco Molinari is 5’8” tall, and he turned pro in 2004.
In total, Francesco Molinari was able to win ten evens on the European Tour, and he has been in the top ten for many major tournaments.
One of his best finishes was the top 5 at the Masters.
Molinari plays a lot of golf, and you can always expect to see him playing in the big events that he can qualify for.
His brother, Eduardo Molinari, is a bit taller than Francesco, but his career has also been successful.
Playing professional golf is such a rare accomplishment, but to be able to do it with a sibling is even more interesting and unique.
When watching Molinari play, you will not notice that he has no trouble getting distance or accuracy from his golf shots and will instead be an incredibly effective player.
7. Bobby Jones
Technically, Bobby Jones is an amateur golfer, but he is still considered one of the greatest golfers of all time.
Bobby Jones truly played the game of golf for the love of the game and not out of any desire to make money.
Jones was not a very tall man, measuring in at 5’8”.
With many modern players being well over 6’, this was considerably shorter than what is typically expected on the PGA Tour today.
With Bobby Jones never having turned pro, it is incredible that he was able to win the coveted grand slam.
This is when a golfer can win all four major championships in one year.
Although the career grand slam has been done again, the actual grand slam of winning four majors in a single year has only been done by Bobby Jones.
If that doesn’t help him stand out as one of the ten shortest golfers to make an impact on the game, then nothing would!
8. Corey Pavin
Corey Pavin doesn’t quite hit 5’8”, but he is still one of the best golfers known on the PGA Tour.
At one point, Pavin even made it to the number two golfer in the world.
Corey Pavin didn’t end his career on the PGA Tour but went on to be a golfer on the Champions Tour as well.
During the late eighties into the early nineties, if there was a big tournament or event, you could almost guarantee that Pavin would be one of the players at the top of the leaderboard.
In total, Corey Pavin was able to win 15 PGA Tour events.
In 1991, he was even named the PGA Tour Player of the Year and won more money than any other player on Tour that year.
Pavin has also played internationally and had success winning overseas.
One of the things that makes Pavin’s career so interesting is that he was not really able to hit the ball all that far.
In comparison to golfers who play on the PGA Tour today, Pavin would be well behind in his yardage capabilities.
However, he has some impressive short game skills, something that all of us would be jealous of, and it helps considerably when it comes to scoring and staying competitive in all the events that he played in.
To spend 150 weeks in the top ten of the world golf rankings certainly says something about the type of player he was and his consistency on the golf course.
9. Jeff Sluman
Jeff Sluman has a height of about 5’7”, but he has a very strong history in the game.
When Sluman was 30 years old, he won the PGA Championship.
After this win, it took Sluman some time before he won on the tour again.
Sluman played all through his 30s and then even into his 40s, winning several more times on the PGA Tour.
During his career, Sluman was known for finishing in the top ten quite often.
There were times when he would not win the event but would still be able to get close to the top and show his skill.
In the 1992 Masters, Sluman pulled off a very rare feat by birdieing the fourth hole.
This is something that has not happened again at the Masters to this date.
When you don’t see Sluman on the golf course, he is likely enjoying some time watching basketball or with his family.
Sluman was a very well-liked player and completely capable of winning events on the PGA Tour.
Very few people would have even thought of Sluman as a shorter player during his time on the Tour.
However, now that golfers are getting bigger and bigger, he would look quite small next to someone like Dustin Johnson.
10. Moriya Jutanugarn
Last on our list is an LPGA professional who is only 5’1” tall.
If you think it’s hard to get distance and speed as a 5’7” tall golfer, then try being a 5’1” tall golfer.
Players who are this height will have to work quite hard to make sure their swing is efficient and capable of generating a ton of clubhead speed.
Moriya Jutanugarn has been playing on the LPGA Tour for nearly a decade.
During her 2013 season, she was named the LPGA Rookie of the Year.
She has had some tremendous success, especially for being such a young age the first time she came to the LPGA Tour.
Interestingly, just like the Molinari brothers, Moriya Jutanugarn has a sister that also plays on the LPGA Tour.
Does Height Matter In Golf?
These players proved that you can be shorter and still have success on the golf course.
However, it is important to remember that height can make it easier to hit the ball a long way.
Even if you are someone who is of average height, it will be easier for you to generate more clubhead speed than a shorter golfer.
Shorter golfers need to work really hard to stay in control of their golf swing and make sure that it is as efficient as possible.
Height matters in golf, but not enough that you should not learn to play golf if you are short.
Some people will stay away from sports like basketball unless they are a certain height.
However, when it comes to golf, people of all heights should give the sport a try.
The biggest difference players will see is the fact that a taller player can have a wider arc.
The wide arc is hard to manufacture for a shorter player.
What shorter players can do instead is ensure that they are hitting their shots directly on the center of the clubface.
In the end, this can help produce tremendous power and better results for the shorter golfer.
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