Jack Nicklaus Quotes (179 Quotes)

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

But No. 7 Wow. I had dinner with Ernie the other night, and he played 4-iron and 7-iron. A 4-iron into that green Ernie Els What is Mike Weir playing, a 4-wood That's the issues I've got.

They've totally eliminated what Bobby Jones tried to do in the game of golf. Bobby Jones believed golf was primarily a second-shot game.

I'm 100 times better than I was when I started in this business,

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

He found out in South Africa that he could get to the next level, ... He keeps chipping away at that next level, and, you know, I would be very, very surprised if he doesn't go right to that next level the next time he's out.

Tee the ball high. Because years of experience have shown me that air offers less resistance to dirt.

The design business is a blessing, ... because it has allowed me to stay in a game I love. I'm going to be more selective about the projects I take in the future. I want fewer jobs, but I want to be more involved.

I love going to Ohio State, but I cannot stand when they boo the opposing team when they run onto the field. It drives me insane. To me, not basically appreciating what the other team is doing is not the spirit International captain Gary Player and I want to see in the matches. I don't think it was terrible today, but I think we could be better.

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

Now I have a better understanding of the average player. When I started I had definite opinions about the way things should be done.

I don't know why in the world they'd want to care about winning one for an old man, ... They need to win one for themselves. Five years is a pretty good drought for a bunch of pretty darned good players.

which is pretty unusual so soon after this type of injury.

I hope Tiger comes back for morning play. He's got to go to dinner somehow, guys.

If Jack was in his prime today, I don't think he could keep up with Tiger.

Tiger has been working on his game, and he certainly seemed to find it at St. Andrews. Tiger looked in total control he never looked like there was a chance for him to lose. It was a pretty awesome performance.

We had to pay for our gloves, and I always felt that every time you took it off, you stretched it by pulling at the fingers. So I left them on.

I should've gotten away from this five years ago but how do you stop playing You pick a time and say, 'This is it',

It feels a lot better to have a win. I may never captain another team. I may never play another round of golf. If I end my career this way, what a way to end it.

Yeah, I thought you meant, 'Don't go for the tie. Go for the win.'

I have no desire anymore to play competitive golf. It was the only time I missed the cut when I wasn't unhappy about it,

If David and his doctors say he can play, the captain shouldn't play doctor. I'd love to have his experience and have him play, but it's up to David to make that decision. My guess is David will be able to tell me by tonight. If I was in David's position, I'd say it's not fair to you or the team to let it go beyond tonight, and I think David will do that.

I love Augusta. Don't get me wrong. All I want is for Augusta to be Augusta, because it's such a great tournament. But when you take a golf course and limit the number of people that have the ability to win ... Their intention is not to do that. But they're doing that.

It's a funny game. We got you guys pretty good yesterday, but it could turn around.

It's a different golf course, but it's a different game being played today.

Also, there's nobody on the tour today who could hit the ball as well as Lee Trevino or Ben Hogan.

The thing is with Tiger, since he was 5 years old, he grew up with that. I don't think he knows anything different.

It's a matter of scoring goals and a matter of knowing it's going to happen,

He had a lot of talent, but didn't have much dedication, wasn't organized, didn't know how to learn, didn't know how to comprehend what he was doing, didn't try to learn how to get better.

I thought you understood.

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

As I sat down, Norman started making birdies. I got nervous, so I got up and started walking around. They didn't make as many birdies when I walked around, so I walked around the rest of the time.

He'll tell me what he wants to do. I'll wait until then.

I don't know what the players want to do. We discussed it down there (South Africa) that Ernie wanted to play Tiger, and Tiger wanted to play Ernie. We thought it was the right thing for that venue. We'll have to wait and see.

It's probably a pretty good plan on this course. Length is of the utmost importance on this course on quite a few occasions. But accuracy is also an important thing on quite a few occasions.

That whole last nine holes wasn't too bad. That was a nice two-hour moment. I think a lot of what it is, there was an old guy out there playing golf who wasn't supposed to compete anymore. And in his own mind, too.

I also said that if he won the PGA Championship I would make him my first alternate and still have him serve as my captain's assistant.

That's basically what we all do -- scramble to find out who has played well, who has not played well, and you throw away all of the things you've thought about for the last six months and do something else.

It was very important for Phil, ... When he won his match I said, 'Well, you've doubled your allotment for the week.' So we gave him a hard time.

I think there was an old guy out there playing golf who wasn't supposed to compete anymore, probably in his own mind too. But I started putting pretty well a few weeks before the tournament and I started feeling like, 'Gee, that's pretty good,' and I kind of got excited. I made a lot of putts.

In '98 when I captained in Australia, the guys told me afterwards, 'We were there, but we really didn't want to be there,'

Plus, we have some unfinished business to settle.

I really enjoy doing something that's going to be here far beyond my golf game or lifetime,

The Presidents Cup has come of age, ... The event in South Africa moved it up a big notch. It showed to the world that the game is a game and not a war. It's for international goodwill. It's for bragging rights.

Distance is no issue anymore. The longer you make it, the more you make it a power game. They would much rather play a sand wedge out of the rough than a 6-iron out of the fairway because they can still spin the ball out of the rough with the grooves they

I would say that the International Team would be the favorite this week. I don't think there's any question about that coming into this event.

The thing is, you just don't want to make the other team look bad.

Today, the game is 90 percent power. And when it comes to rewarding power, Augusta National is right up there with St. Andrews.

I may not captain another team, and I may not play another competitive round of golf, ... If that's the way it is, this is a pretty good way to end it.

Hey, guys, you know, you can root if you want for the American team, I think that's fine, I have no issue with that. But when the International Team hits a good shot and makes a good shot, I think they deserve to have applause and appreciation.