THE QUESTION: Who is the greatest putter you ever saw (asked at Dorado Beach Hotel)?

FRED CORCORAN
Scarsdale, N.Y.
Tournament director
Intl. Golf. Assn.
I've seen Bobby Jones, Francis Ouimet, Walter Hagen, Ben Hogan, Gene Sarazen. No golfer ever admits he is a great putter. Sam Snead always says, "If I could only putt." Probably the greatest putter I've ever seen in championship play was Horton Smith, who won the Masters twice and over 50 PGA and sectional tournaments.

SHELLY MAYFIELD
Jericho, N.Y.
Pro at Meadow
Brook Club
In my opinion, Johnny Palmer was the best of them. Every time the ball came off his putter it rolled true, never more than six inches from the cup. And he always putted beyond, never short of, the cup. In other words, he always putted far enough so that if the ball was on the correct line, and it usually was, it would finish in the hole.

ED DUDLEY
Dorado, P.R.
Pro at the Dorado
Beach golf club
Bobby Junes. He excelled on the green. He holed an over-100-foot putt at St. Andrews and they're still talking about it. He also holed a 40-footer which was not a straight putt but over a hump, uphill and slightly sidehill on the 18th hole and last putt of the National Open at Interlachen, Minn.

DOUG FORD
Yonkers, N. Y.
Golf pro
Bobby Locke. He won the British Open four times and beat everyone here, including Hogan and Snead. With his great set of nerves, he made more putts than any man I ever saw. He had a fine sense of touch, the best 10-foot-in putter I ever saw, and he'd get the 20-and 30-footers, too.

ROBERT E. STRAWBRIDGE JR.
Philadelphia
Honorary chairman
U.S. Polo Assn.
The best was Bobby Jones, whom 1 used to see play at the Merion Cricket Club outside Philadelphia. I saw a lot of great putters Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Walter Hagen, a great putter in the clutch, but none of them compared with Bobby Jones, with his putter, Calamity Jane.

FRED WHITMAN
San Francisco
Real estate investor
I'm sticking my neck out because, with my handicap, the guys 1 pass over are going to cut my throat. But I can't name anyone but Harvie Ward. He sinks more putts from any direction than anyone I've ever seen. This ability, with his even temperament, adds up to a great game from the tee to the green.

JAMES WEAR WALKER
Westbury, N.Y.
Son of Walker
Cup donor
Devereux Milburn Jr., the greatest of all amateur putters. He holed them when he had to. Milburn was the wildest golfer in the world, driving all over the course and in the traps, but on the green he was great. Another great putter is Dizzy Dean, as accurate with a putter as he was with a baseball.

FREDERICK M. EATON
Dublin, N.Y.
Lawyer
The greatest amateur putter I ever saw-was Joe Close of Toledo, Ohio and Dublin, N.Y. He was the only player I ever saw play 17 one-putt greens in one round. And I would say that James Wear Walker is probably as good an amateur putter. The greatest of all pro putters was Ted Ray of England.

ALSTON BOYER
Dorado Beach
Hotel executive
Dorado, P.R.
Vice-president of the Piping Rock Club in Locust Valley, N.Y. for years, the late Joseph E. Davis was a superb putter. He wasn't a pro, but he could sink the ball from any spot on the green. Everyone called him The Wizard. I used to swear he compounded a secret potion for his big wooden putter.

J. RUSSELL FORGAN
Chicago
Investment banker
A man who played before you were born, Walter J. Travis. Why? Because he holed more putts in championship play. He made his reputation on the greens. Travis didn't start to play golf until he was 35. He was the first American to win the British Amateur and he won it with his putter.

ELEVEN PHOTOS