Jack Nicklaus Quotes

Confidence is when you stand over a shot and know you're going to make it because you've done it time and time again.

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.

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.

I couldn't control Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Tom Watson or Lee Trevino. The only person I could control was me. The only person I could prepare for events was me. And if I didn't play well, I didn't play well, and I wasn't going to compete.

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

I was never satisfied if I didn't win a major. I mean, not that year or any major I played, I wasn't satisfied unless I won it. But that's what our goals are. I'm sure that these guys' goals are the same as mine. They want to win every time they play. If you don't win, then you're not happy, obviously.

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

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

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

The most difficult thing for me is keeping yourself focused on what you're doing. As you go play, you try to get your focus and desire. You don't do it to the level you would do it if you wanted to win. You have to work at it and be on top of your game.

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.

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

I always practice as I intend to play.

Well, the biggest rival I had in my career was me.

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

Before every shot, I go to the movies

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.

1960, I was 20 years old, and I was leading the U.S. Open. Now, I wasn't leading by several strokes, but I was leading the U.S. Open and playing with Ben Hogan, had a very good chance to win, nine holes to go, I was leading. I was still leading with six holes to play.

I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head. It's like a color movie. First I 'see' where I want it to finish, nice and white and sitting up high on the bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes and I 'see' the ball going there: its path, trajectory, and shape, even its behavior on landing. Then there is this sort of fadeout, and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images to reality.

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.

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.

My workout was playing other sports and I always played tennis, football, basketball, threw a baseball - I was always doing something to keep me active. That's how I kept my body going.

You're always struggling because you're not playing on a 53-and-a-third by a 120-yard field. You're not playing on a baseball diamond. With golf, every field is different and every atmosphere is different. The grass is different. The weather is different. You're outside. You're not in a stadium. There are so many different variables, so you never master golf. So, I think good athletes like a challenge.

I'm tired of giving my best and not having it be good enough.

Donald Trump has been a good friend for a long time. I texted him after the election and I said 'congratulations, Mr. President. The Nicklauses are all happy for the Trumps,' and I said, 'It's time to bring American together, make American great again as you wish.'

You have to watch your handicap. My son Steve says, "Never make a putt you don't have to."

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

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

I don't think you ever will yourself to win. I think you prepare yourself the best you can, get yourself in the best mindset you can get in, and go after it.

I first saw Arnold Palmer when I was just a kid and he came to Columbus to play in a tournament. I watched him on the driving range hit balls that day. We went on to become great friends.

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

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

Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one's level of aspiration and expectation.

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

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

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.

I don't think about winning the Masters as part of the slam. You want to win the Masters because of what it means to the game.

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

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

My kids all do love to hunt and fish. When they get together, I think that's what they get together more for than anything else.

There are no maladies in my golf game. My golf game stinks.

Tom Watson, Tom Watson blew, what, two PGA Championships and a U.S. Open. Did it destroy his life? No, it didn't destroy his life. He learned from it. He went on to win a lot of major championships and obviously became one of the world's great players.

My boys don't play as much as they used to, but when we do go out and play, it gets competitive, that's for sure - there's no question about it.

...said Nicklaus, 'was a brotherhood, I suppose'.

Bob Ford is a great guy. He's a great friend. He's done a great job at Oakmont and Seminole. He's a very quiet man. He doesn't get in the middle of everything, but he understands what a nice job he's done at both places.

Complacency is a continuous struggle that we all have to fight.

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.

We [with my wife] felt like we had the ability to help people not just on a local basis, but on a national basis.