Jack Nicklaus Quotes

Then Lee Trevino and Jack Nicklaus come in. I'll caddie for Jack. ~ Chi Chi Rodriguez

Golf is game of respect and sportsmanship; we have to respect its traditions and its rules. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Learn the fundamentals of the game and stick to them. Band-Aid remedies never last. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Success depends almost entirely on how effectively you learn to manage the game's two ultimate adversaries: the course and yourself. ~ Jack Nicklaus

This is a tournament. The others are all championships. ~ Jack Nicklaus

I've always tried to play golf with a golf club. I have a hard time driving with my rifle. I mean, 18 is really narrow ... I have no problem with the course, except for the tee shot on 18. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Golfers have a tendency to be very masochistic. They like to punish themselves for some reason. A lot of them like tough courses. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Professional golf is the only sport where, if you win 20% of the time, you're the best. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Well, I think that Augusta is not the same golf course that I grew up on. Bobby Jones' philosophy was giving you space off the tee; if you put it in the right side of the fairway, you ended up getting the right angle to the green. ~ Jack Nicklaus

I came back and in '63, I was at the British Open, trying to win my first British Open. And I had what I thought was a two-shot lead with two holes to play at Lytham. I remember it like it was yesterday. Anybody with a proper brain would have played the ball short of the hole. I didn't have a proper brain at the time. But you have to make that mistake to learn it. ~ Jack Nicklaus

If you're going to be a player people will remember, you have to win the Open at St. Andrews. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Shoot eagles on the Jack Nicklaus course,
Porsche with the triple exhaust,
Seats soft like a midget's cough ... ~ Action Bronson

Pursue what you love, what you are passionate about. Don't let somebody else dictate your life's path. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Somewhere out there are a few men with more innate talent at golf than Jack Nicklaus, or women with greater ability at tennis than Chris Evert or Martina Navratilova, but they will never lift a club or swing a racket and therefore will never find out how great they could have been. Instead, they'll be content to sit and watch stars perform on television. ~ Donald Trump

I always practice as I intend to play. ~ Jack Nicklaus

There are interesting times. The game is more fun when you are experimenting. One day yuor great, the next day scatterlog. But your learning. No that's not right. I probably have forgotten more about golf than I will ever learn. What you do is remember some of the things you thought you would never forget. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Any golfer worth his salt has to cross the sea and try to win the British Open. ~ Jack Nicklaus

I played competitive golf all my life. Then all of a sudden, when I quit playing the game, I've got all this spare time and this energy. And certainly I wasn't ready to pack up my bags and go sit in front of the television with a shawl on. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Ben Hogan was not really a big hitter. He was long enough. But Ben Hogan today? Ben Hogan today could not compete at Augusta because he did not have the massive length to compete against the long hitters. Power was always an issue at Augusta, but never so dominant that you couldn't play it. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus is a legend in his spare time. ~ Chi Chi Rodriguez

I'm not getting into a public debate with Jack Nicklaus. ~ Tim Finchem

I think in my case winning fans came as a result of winning tournaments. Certainly, I didn't have too many supporters when I came on Tour. I didn't look like an athlete, I was overweight, had a crew cut, baggy clothes and on top of that I didn't smile much. I was very serious about my game, literally and figuratively the heavy. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Why are we building golf courses? Because we enjoy being outside, bringing man and nature together. ~ Jack Nicklaus

I don't know if I'll ever do it again or not, but frankly I don't really care. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Sometimes the biggest problem is in your head. You've got to believe you can play a shot instead of wondering where your next bad shot is coming from. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Pete Dye introduced me to golf course design back in the 1960's. He came to my hometown Columbus, Ohio to work on The Golf Club. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Keeping the head still is golf's one universal, unarguable fundamental. ~ Jack Nicklaus

The game of golf was bigger than Jack Nicklaus when Jack was dominating the game. ~ Tim Finchem

A Nicklaus Design golf course is done by the guys in my company that I work with, that have been trained in my vision, and they do what they think I might do. They might come in the office and ask me questions and I'd certainly answer their questions, but I'm not involved in the site visits or anything else. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Sometimes, I'm an ogre. I can be short. I'll walk into the office some days and I've gotten up on the wrong side of the bed, and everybody knows it. I'm a perfectionist. I like to be organized, and I like to get everything done today. ~ Jack Nicklaus

How people keep correcting us when we are young! There is always some bad habit or other they tell us we ought to get over. Yet most bad habits are tools to help us through life. ~ Jack Nicklaus

I think that Pebble Beach is my favorite golf course to go to. I think Augusta is my favorite place to go play golf. ~ Jack Nicklaus

One of the worst mistakes you can make in golf is trying to force the game. ~ Jack Nicklaus

I understand golf is a game, and I've never treated it as anything else. Family is something that's very special, and so they all contributed to the room. They all contributed to what my life was, my career was. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Oakmont, you've got to be playing slope. ~ Jack Nicklaus

I like to catch fish and release them. I probably haven't killed a fish that I've caught in sport fishing for 20 years. No reason to kill it. You know, just take it and release it. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Augusta National is a young man's golf course, and you really need a young man's nerves to play on it. ~ Jack Nicklaus

If you'd asked me at 30 where I'd be during the Masters when I was 46, I'd have pictured myself on a boat fishing, smoking a cigar, drinking a mint julep and watching it on television. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Over the first three rounds you're playing the course. In the final round, if you're in contention, you're playing the man. ~ Jack Nicklaus

You have to trust your kids. They have to experience life, and you just hope you've provided them a foundation for what's right and what isn't. ~ Jack Nicklaus

The game is meant to be fun. ~ Jack Nicklaus

That "I don't give a darn" attitude is probably why I've shot so many good final rounds over the years when I started the day a few shots behind with nothing to lose ... and maybe that's why I've shot so many bad last rounds when I was ahead and knew I couldn't afford a mistake. ~ Jack Nicklaus

The importance of my legacy is not the golf course, it's what my life is, and what my life is intended to be. The game of golf is a game. My family is my life. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus is the greatest winner I've ever seen. ~ Dan Jenkins

If I were to look back on my work, I think I accomplished probably about 70 to 75 percent of what I could have. Maybe 60 percent. Somewhere in that area; two-thirds of what I could have accomplished. If I had been a really dedicated person, and really worked hard, I think I could have accomplished more. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Oakmont is probably the premier - Oakmont and Augusta National are probably the top two set of greens in the country. ~ Jack Nicklaus

It's difficult to excel at something you don't truly enjoy. ~ Jack Nicklaus

If you want to put golf back on the front pages again, and you don't have a Bobby Jones or a Francis Ouimet handy, here's what you do: You send an aging Jack Nicklaus out in the last round of the Masters and let him kill more foreigners than a general named Eisenhower. ~ Dan Jenkins

You don't think anything about age when you're playing [golf]. I mean, why would you ever think about that. ~ Jack Nicklaus

If I have a weakness, it's probably ice cream. That's where I get lax, sloppy. I'll sneak into the refrigerator at night and take two or three bites and put it back. Butter pecan. Only two or three bites, but it shows. ~ Jack Nicklaus

I don't believe in luck. Not in golf, anyway. There are good bounces and bad bounces, sure, but the ball is round and so is the hole. If you find yourself in a position where you hope for luck to pull you through, you're in serious trouble. ~ Jack Nicklaus

If you've ever driven across Texas, you know how different one area of the state can be from another. Take El Paso. It looks as much like Dallas as I look like Jack Nicklaus ~ Lee Trevino

It takes hundreds of good golf shots to gain confidence, but only one bad one to lose it. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Golf is a game of precision, not strength. ~ Jack Nicklaus

There's more to be learned here [St. Andrews] about course design than anywhere. Collection bunkers, false fronts, bump shots. The fundamentals of design became fundamental because of what's here. And it happened accidentally. Or maybe accidentally on purpose. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Q: Which party had wildest celebration and how did it play out?

1) The 1972 Dolphins Super Bowl watching party for the David Tyree catch?

2) The Jack Nicklaus day after Thanksgiving morning in 2009?

3) The NFL referee Monday night football watching party at Ed Hochuli's house for the Seattle/Green Bay game?
- Steve G., Salt Lake City

SG: Here's my theory on the day after Thanksgiving in 2009: I think Jack Nicklaus heard the news, went out and bought a bottle of 20-year-old Pappy Van Winkle, found an antique shotgun with 300 rounds of ammo, then drove to a secluded spot in the woods 25 miles away from any other human being. He got out of his car, started jumping around and screaming like he won the Super Bowl, did this for 20 solid minutes, then started swigging whiskey and shooting at things while whooping it up. Eventually, he drank the entire bottle, got back into his car and just started happily ramming into trees until the car stopped moving. Then he passed out in the driver's seat, woke up the next morning and walked home. Anyway, my answer is Jack Nicklaus. ~ Bill Simmons Grantland Mailbag Oct. 28 2012

And, of course, I'm constantly energized by designing courses around the world. ~ Jack Nicklaus

At a certain point in the [golf] tournament, it becomes a match play event and becomes a match play event against who is on the leaderboard, so you have to know who is there to do what you're going to try to do. ~ Jack Nicklaus

If there is one thing I have learned during my years as a professional, it is that the only thing constant about golf is its inconstancy. ~ Jack Nicklaus

I think we have more good players today [2016] than we've ever had in the game of golf. And I think that's saying a lot because we had a lot of good players when I played. I think you had a bit of a lag in there for a while, that Tiger was just so much better than everybody else that he really didn't put anybody in with him. ~ Jack Nicklaus

The great Jack Nicklaus summed things up neatly during a charity match on the Old Course at St. Andrews where he and I were playing against Ben Crenshaw and Glen Campbell. I asked him what he considered to be the most important factor to overcome in the game of golf. His reply, "It's an unfair game." ~ Sean Connery

[Jack Nicklaus] was the first to bring in course management. He could go to a course and tell you within one stroke what was going to win. He used to set his sights on that because he could shoot it. He was the only player I know who, if he decided he wanted to win a tournament, could go out and do it. No one will ever be as popular as Arnold Palmer and no one will ever come close to Jack as a player. ~ Lee Trevino

Golf was my vehicle to competition, and I can't play if I can't compete. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Confidence is the most important single factor in this game, and no matter how great your natural talent, there is only one way to obtain and sustain it: work. ~ Jack Nicklaus

I never went into a tournament or round of golf thinking I had to beat a certain player. I had to beat the golf course. If I prepared myself for a major, went in focused, and then beat the golf course, the rest took care of itself. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Golf really excites me only when the course is difficult and challenging. I love competing. The pressure of competition against fine holes and fine players makes me feel very much alive. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Mostly I built golf courses the way I played golf, which was left-to-right. But I learned very rapidly that people wanted to see more than just the way I played golf and that I had to balance up what I was doing, right-to-left, left-to-right, etc. ~ Jack Nicklaus

If I had only one more round to play, I would choose to play it at Pebble Beach. I've loved this course from the first time I saw it. It's possibly the best in the world. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Some golfers fantasize about playing in a foursome with Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Sam Snead. The way I hit I'd rather play in a foursome with Helen Keller, Ray Charles, and Stevie Wonder. ~ Bruce Lansky

When the British Open is in Scotland, there's something special about it. And when it's at St. Andrews, it's even greater. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Naturally it is nice to be widely known for worthwhile achievements, but it forces you to do many things which you don't like to do and these things take up time you want for other things. ~ Jack Nicklaus

I thoroughly enjoy working with kids, whether it's The First Tee or the lesson tee with my grandkids. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Nobody ever heard Jack Nicklaus say 'I don't know' about anything. ~ Johnny Miller

I like trying to win. That's what golf is all about. ~ Jack Nicklaus

I've had a lot of majors where I didn't play well until the last round. Keep yourself in contention; that's the name of the game. I usually ended up shooting a good round and all of a sudden, somehow, I won. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Crises are part of life. Everybody has to face them, and it doesn't make any difference what the crisis is. ~ Jack Nicklaus

If I had one golf course, from a design standpoint, one that I really love, it would probably be Pinehurst. There's a totally tree-lined golf course where trees are not a part of the strategy. ~ Jack Nicklaus

I guess that's why they call it Hell. ~ Jack Nicklaus

I learned early in my career, where you get so wrapped up and so excited, that all of a sudden you don't think. So I worked very hard to keep myself suppressed. And that's one of the reasons I wasn't gregarious with the gallery. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Pressure is what you live for ... if you are going to be successful in life, you're going to have pressure. ~ Jack Nicklaus

I knew that if I kept the pressure on and didn't do anything stupid I would probably win. ~ Jack Nicklaus

When I want a long ball, I spin my hips faster. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Public appearances are a headache. I hold mine down to a minimum. ~ Jack Nicklaus

There's a guy who won't be in contention. There's another one I don't have to worry about. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Scoring comes from being able to preserve what you've got and play your smart shots when you need to play them and not do stupid things and take advantage of things when have you them. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Grand Haven will challenge the skilled player yet, because of some width to the holes, it also will be a fun course that the average player can enjoy. ~ Jack Nicklaus

There are always new places to go fishing. For any fisherman, there's always a new place, always a new horizon. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus is playing an entirely different game, and one which I'm not even familiar with. ~ Bobby Jones

For years, I never thought I needed a short game. Finally I just decided to do something about it. I needed to get up and down from tough spots on the par-5s for my birdies. So I went to Phil [Rogers]. He's the best. For the last couple weeks, Phil has been staying at my house and we've been practicing in the evening. ~ Jack Nicklaus

There isn't a flaw in his golf or his makeup. He will win more majors than Arnold Palmer and me combined. Somebody is going to dust my records. It might as well be Tiger, because he's such a great kid. ~ Jack Nicklaus

But if I played well and prepared myself properly, then all I had to do was control myself and put myself in a position to win. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Golf is you against yourself. ~ Jack Nicklaus

The successful people seem to have blinders on. Everything is straight ahead. They go forward and know exactly what they're going to do once they've made up their mind to do it, and by God they don't look sideways. ~ Jack Nicklaus

A kid grows up a lot faster on the golf course. Golf teaches you how to behave. ~ Jack Nicklaus

The way I pack is I look at how long I'll be gone and I pack day for day. If I'm going on a three-day fishing trip, I plot each day. I put most of that in a little bag. If I'm going from there to work on golf courses for a few days, I plot that trip. ~ Jack Nicklaus

There are no maladies in my golf game. My golf game stinks. ~ Jack Nicklaus

My ability to concentrate and work toward that goal has been my greatest asset. ~ Jack Nicklaus

I love design in general, the creativity. Whether it is golf courses, my apparel line, ads we do or our business with AriZona, design is fun. ~ Jack Nicklaus

Some things cannont possibly happen, because they are both too improbable and too perfect. The U.S. hockey team cannot beat the Russians in the 1980 Olympics. Jack Nicklaus cannot shoot 65 to win the Masters at age forty-six. Nothing else comes immediately to mind. ~ Thomas Boswell

Essentially, he has been retired since he was 21. ~ Jack Nicklaus