Nicklaus Golf Quotes & Sayings

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

The real key to Jack's [Nicklaus] success was his fantastic ability to score. His drives sometimes went into the rough, but he could plow the ball out of the tallest grass and get it on the green; bad lies simply didn't affect him as they did the others. Jack also got tremendous height with his one-iron and two-iron, which meant that he could stop them better than his rivals. — Gardner Dickinson

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

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

The worse you're performing, the more you must work mentally and emotionally. The greatest and toughest art in golf is "playing badly well." All the true greats have been masters at it. — Jack Nicklaus

We don't have to do a bunch of things to figure out how to win the Ryder Cup. Just go play golf ... I'm a little bit too casual probably about a lot of things, but you can't force good play. Good play comes from good hard work and actually being prepared to play, not being forced to play. — Jack Nicklaus

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

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

Golf is you against yourself. — 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

Golf is a nice game, but that's all. It's never going to be an exciting game to watch on TV. It's not a circus and never will be one. The audience for golf is not going to change significantly. It's always going to be people who play it, understand it, and love it. — Jack Nicklaus

I have said many times that most people work all their life to retire to play golf, while I played golf all my life to retire to work. I enjoy working. It has kept me young and on the move, and I have had a good time with it. — Jack Nicklaus

Who in the world remembers who won the 1975 Westchester Classic or the 1978 Western Open? Basically, the majors are the only comparison over time ... played on the same courses for generations. All the best players are always there. — 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

Nobody - but nobody - has ever become really proficient at golf without practice, without doing a lot of thinking and then hitting a lot of shots. It isn't so much a lack of talent; it's a lack of being able to repeat good shots consistently that frustrates most players. And the only answer to that is practice. — Jack Nicklaus

Golf is a better game played downhill. — Jack Nicklaus

Arnold's place in history will be as the man who took golf from being a game for the few to a sport for the masses. He was the catalyst who made that happen. — Jack Nicklaus

The US Open flag eliminates a lot of players. Some players just weren't meant to win the US Open. Quite often, they know it. — Jack Nicklaus

Such is putting! 2% technique, 98% inspiration or confidence or touch ... the only thing great putters have in common is touch and that is the critical ingredient ... none of them found it through mechanizing a stroke, nor do I believe they could maintain it that way. — Jack Nicklaus

We all would like to struggle like Tiger is struggling. — Jack Nicklaus

All my life I wanted to play golf like Jack Nicklaus, and now I do. — Paul Harvey

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

It's hard not to play golf that's up to Jack Nicklaus standards when you are Jack Nicklaus. — 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

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

I've wanted to design golf courses ever since I was a kid. I suppose it comes from the way I've played the game. To find the proper way to play any hole, I've always begun by asking myself what the architect has tried to do with it. — Jack Nicklaus

I've said many times before that Pebble Beach is a wonderful thinking-man's golf course. That is why it is such a great U.S. Open venue. — Jack Nicklaus

It is a big adjustment but I've always loved that old saying of Jack Nicklaus: 'I retired from golf to go to work.' That sums it up for me. — Greg Rusedski

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

A big part of managing a golf course is managing your swing on the course. A lot of guys can go out and hit a golf ball, but they have no idea how to manage what they do with the ball. I've won as many golf tournaments hitting the ball badly as I have hitting the ball well. — Jack Nicklaus

I've never set up any golf course that would favor anybody. I try to make it exactly the opposite, which is what we did at Valhalla when we modernized it to accommodate the lengths players are hitting it today. — Jack Nicklaus

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

If you want to hit it farther, hit it better. — Jack Nicklaus

Nobody ever remembers who finished second at anything. — Jack Nicklaus

Keeping the head still is golf's one universal, unarguable fundamental. — 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 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

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

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

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

When Nicklaus plays wells well, he wins. When he plays badly, he finishes second. When he plays terribly, he finishes third. — Johnny Miller

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

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

That's sort of overkill. We've had 70 years of the Ryder Cup, and it's gotten along just fine. The pendulum will swing back without making a monumental thing about it. — Jack Nicklaus

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

People only do their best at things they truly enjoy — Jack Nicklaus

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

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

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

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

Ask yourself how many shots you would have saved if you always developed a strategy before you hit, always played within your capabilities, never lost you temper, and never got down on yourself. — Jack Nicklaus

Once you play a tournament, you're playing against the golf course, you're playing against yourself and trying to do the best you can. — Jack Nicklaus

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

Did you know there's probably more golf played in Iceland than most places in the world? They play 24 hours a day in the summertime and the northern part is warmer than the southern part. — 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

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

[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

He has the finest, fundamentally sound golf swing I've ever seen. — Jack Nicklaus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I always look to see what Arnold [Palmer] shot; it's a habit. We will always compete against each other. — Jack Nicklaus

I never used golf as a job. I used it as a game. I always thought if I played the game well, my financial rewards would be there, but it came from, because I played well. But I had to play well to get the financial rewards. — Jack Nicklaus

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

All I ever wanted to do was play competitive golf against the best players in the world. — 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

The golf course is always in good shape. Paul Latshaw does a reasonable job. — Jack Nicklaus

The holes are numbered. — Jack Nicklaus

Nicklaus plays a kind of golf with which I am not familiar. — Bobby Jones

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

I love the golf courses because it brought the best out of me. It made me prepare, made me work at it, made me do the things I needed to do to be better, and that's what I loved about USGA events. If you couldn't handle it, then you got beat, and that's OK. — Jack Nicklaus

When you lip out several putts in a row, you should never think that means that you're putting well. When you're putting well, the only question is what part of the hole it's going to fall in, not if it's going in. — 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

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

Jones is the greatest golfer who ever lived and probably ever will live. That's my goal. Bobby Jones. It's the only goal. — Jack Nicklaus

Golf is not, and never has been, a fair game. — Jack Nicklaus

You can win tournaments when you're mechanical, but golf is a game of emotion and adjustment. If you're not aware of what's happening to your mind and your body when you're playing, you'll never be able to be the very best you can be. — Jack Nicklaus

I couldn't care less who I'm paired with. There's nobody I've ever played better or worse with, thank goodness. You don't want any factor to be outside your control. What if Arnie's Army had bothered me? What id I'd said, "Oh geez, I'm paired with Palmer," I'd never had beaten him. — 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

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

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

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

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

See, as much as I love the game, golf was my vehicle to competition. And I love to compete. — Jack Nicklaus

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

I don't think you would have missed that putt, but in these circumstances, I would never give you the opportunity. — Jack Nicklaus

You have to love something and have a passion for it to be disciplined. My commitment was purely to golf — 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

If there is one thing golf demands above all else, it is honesty. — Jack Nicklaus

I don't play much golf anymore. I can't - if I break 80, I'm doing pretty well. — Jack Nicklaus

I never worried about money, except that I knew that all I had to worry about was golf. As long as I could play, I was going to make money. — Jack Nicklaus

God said to Faldo, as He once said to Nicklaus, "You will have the skills like no other." Then he whispered to Ballesteros, as he whispered to Palmer, "But they will love you more." — Tom Callahan

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

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

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