Jack Nicklaus Quotes

Golf was my vehicle to competition and I can't play if I can't compete.

It's great to win, but it's also great fun just to be in the thick of any truly well and hard fought contest against opponents you respect, whatever the outcome.

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

I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head.

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.

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.

Essentially, he has been retired since he was 21.

Tee your ball high...air offers less resistance than dirt.

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

Through years of experience I have found that air offers less resistance than dirt.

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.

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.

I'm probably the only bottom-heavy golfer in the country.

We also play a Father/Son at home and I play with Steve, too. I try to mix it up. We play two or three times a year, but that's about it.

Every putt is different. Your feet dictate the stroke by how they feel on the green. I just never used the same stroke on every putt.

The fact is, I diet every day of my life. I have to work at it. But I diet so I can pig out.

Golf is you against yourself.

When I fly in a helicopter, I insist there be two sets of controls, one for me in case something happens to the pilot. I'm no expert, but I know enough to at least get the thing on the ground. Nothing scares me like the thought of not being in control.

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.

It's a great sense of accomplishment when you can take something and really think it's really tough, and then all of a sudden you conquer it. That makes you feel pretty good.

Talent isn't as important as the work and dedication necessary to become competent.

There is no room in your mind for negative thoughts. The busier you keep yourself with the particulars of shot assessment and execution, the less chance your mind has to dwell on the emotional. This is sheer intensity.

I'm more proud of the good rounds I've played while hitting the ball badly than of the great rounds while hitting the ball well. I understand my swing well enough to get myself through a tournament and win it. I've made it work.

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.

I'm a firm believer that in the theory that people only do their best at things they truly enjoy. It is difficult to excel at something you don't enjoy.

I played in a basketball league until I was 40 years old. I played every Monday night and the guys would say, "You take him out, and you'll see us afterwards."

Don't be too proud to take lessons. I'm not.

The one strongest, most important part of my game is that I want to be the best. I won't accept anything less that that. My ability to concentrate and work toward hat goal has been my greatest asset.

I don't really have a problem saying good-bye to things. All things come to an end.

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

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.

We don't play golf often [with kids] because they don't play that much anymore - because their kids don't play. It's like anything else - fathers these days end up in the parks on the weekends and they have their kids into lacrosse or soccer or whatever it might be.