Recreational Holidays

Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus, also called “The Golden Bear” was a remarkable man even as a child. The son of a Columbus, Ohio pharmacist, Nicklaus beat polio as a child and went on to become of the greatest golfers ever to step onto the green. At the age of ten, Nicklaus began golfing and by the time he was 13, he had already broken 70 playing 18 holes.

When only 16, Nicklaus won the 1956 Ohio Open and won the US Amateur in 1959 and 1961. He came in second in 1960, to no less a player than Arnold Palmer. He would make up for this by playing on the Eisenhower Trophy winning team and establishing a as yet unbroken 269 score in four rounds that year.

Nicklaus was playing on the pro circuit by 1962, when he won his first US Open. Defeating Arnold Palmer in this tournament made him a household name overnight. He would win the Masters twice in the 1960’s even though it would be 1970 before he would win his next US Open. He took nine more major titles in the 1970s, breaking the 13 title record held by Bobby Jones. His last major tournament can in 1986, when he was 46; the oldest player to win this tournament.

Joining the Senior PGA Tour in 1990, by 1996 he had an impressive ten wins, eight of them being that tour’s majors. He made his last appearances at The Open Championship and the Master Tourney in 2005. Golf wasn’t the only thing on Jack’s mind and he has been involved in golf course design, writing, and organizing and holding his own tourney on the PGA Tour, The Memorial Tournament. His golf course design company is one of the largest in the world and his writing skills range from instructional to autobiographical to titles on how to play golf-his way.

Perhaps Nicklaus’ popularity came with golf’s popularity when he beat Arnold Palmer in 1962 at Oakmont in the US Open. With the emergence of television, Jack’s charisma, good looks, and true rivalry with Palmer attracted many viewers to golf-something they hadn’t seen before on TV. He won an unheard of prize money of $60,000 in 1962 and reached third place on the tour’s money list, and named Rookie of the Year. In 1963, one of his best years, he won the Masters and the PGA Championship.

His records include one for lowest score in the last 36 holes (in the 1964 British Open) and his 1965 Masters winning tournament record of 271 (which stood until 1997 when until Tiger Woods hit 270).

Interviewed in 1970 after the death of his father, Nicklaus said: “I was playing good golf, but it really wasn’t that big a deal to me one way or the other. And then my father passed away and I sort of realized he had certainly lived his life through my golf game. I really hadn’t probably given him the best of that. So I sort of got myself back to work. So 1970 was an emotional one for me from that standpoint-it was a big boost.” Whatever the reason Nicklaus was certainly a record setter - he was the first player to win all four major tournaments twice in the course of his career.

In 1974, Jack Nicklaus became one of the first inductees to the World Golf Hall of Fame which he followed up on the next year by winning his 5th Masters Tournament and 4th PGA championship, as well as being named Athlete of the Year by ABC’s Wide World of Sports. It would be impossible for anyone but The Golden Bear himself, but Nicklaus took his 6th and final Masters Title in 1986. He still shares a record (with Tiger Woods) for having won all of the major championships three times). Nicklaus will always be a legend in the game for is amazing achievements and his work to support and popularize the game, something which he continues to do to this day. Jack Nicklaus may have retired, but it seems he’s still an unstoppable force in the golf world.