Let’s talk about one of the greatest, if not the greatest player to ever play our game. I am of course referring to the great Jack Nicklaus.
Jack turned professional in 1961 and went on to win 117 professional titles around the globe including 18 major championships. What’s also impressive, is that on top of those 18 major wins he finished second an amazing 17 times.
The numbers for his career are mind blowing; just think if he had a few more lucky breaks here and there he could have won well over 20 major championships.
Yes the debates rage on and will always carry on about who really was the greatest, as the level of competition, standard of course and equipment has changed throughout the years leading to people trying to compare one great to another.
But let’s leave the debate to others and see what we can learn from Jack.
For my mind Jack is the greatest, because the numbers in tournament play say so.
And here’s what’s really interesting and what the average casual player can learn from Jack.
Nicklaus predominantly faded the ball his entire career (hit the ball with a left to right shape), hit untold amounts of irons off tees, even though he had the power to hit three woods and drivers etc. And he almost always hit towards the middle of the green, never taking the pin on.
Sounds very conservative to me.
And it is.
But what’s great about Jack and this is the thing to take away is that he knew what he was capable of and he stuck to it. He played his own game, he was an individual and didn’t try to be someone he wasn’t.
Which is very important when it comes to golf and trying to play the game well.
Know what you’re capable of and what works for you most of the time and stick to that. You will find you become far more consistent and shoot better scores most of the time.
The thing is with this game, bad shots and bad holes are almost worth double the punishment, you have one good hole, one step forward, but a bad hole can be three of four steps backwards with disastrous consequences for your score.
Now onto business.
One of the reasons Jack would hit so many irons off the tee, was because he had the power to do so. He could throttle down to a one iron or three iron off the tee when other mere mortals would have to take the head cover off something.
The reason he was capable of hitting the ball so far and thus could drop down to irons off the tee for control?
Well that’s a lesson that can be found in my free e-book “The #1 Distance Killer”, in this e-book I reveal how everyday golfers are being robbed of vital distance off the tee and how they can go about adding length to their drives, starting immediately!
You can pick up a copy of the guide for free here.
Bob James PGA