Jack Nicklaus Quotes - Page 7

I learned early in my career, where you get so wrapped up and so excited, that all of a sudden you don't think. So I worked very hard to keep myself suppressed. And that's one of the reasons I wasn't gregarious with the gallery.

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.

They [my sons] all went to different schools and all did different things. They're about as different for five kids as you'll ever see. They don't do anything the same.

I don't know if I'll ever do it again or not, but frankly I don't really care.

I don't think you would have missed that putt, but in these circumstances, I would never give you the opportunity.

This is a tournament. The others are all championships.

I never used golf as a job. I used it as a game. I always thought if I played the game well, my financial rewards would be there, but it came from, because I played well. But I had to play well to get the financial rewards.

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

There isn't a flaw in his golf or his makeup. He will win more majors than Arnold Palmer and me combined. Somebody is going to dust my records. It might as well be Tiger, because he's such a great kid.

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.

When the British Open is in Scotland, there's something special about it. And when it's at St. Andrews, it's even greater.

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.

I think you've all heard my story about my daughter and how we felt Children's Hospital saved her life when she was less than a year old. I won't go through all of the details of that.

You try to figure out the two things that I use as the philosophy to do a golf course. The first is that most people are really interested in something being aesthetically pleasing and good to the eye. The second is that a good golfer likes good golf shots.

[My son] Michael came along and he played a little bit of everything. He went to Georgia Tech on a golf scholarship.

I've never set up any golf course that would favor anybody. I try to make it exactly the opposite, which is what we did at Valhalla when we modernized it to accommodate the lengths players are hitting it today.

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

Ben Hogan was not really a big hitter. He was long enough. But Ben Hogan today? Ben Hogan today could not compete at Augusta because he did not have the massive length to compete against the long hitters. Power was always an issue at Augusta, but never so dominant that you couldn't play it.

Barbara [my wife] and I said a long time ago that if we were in a position to help somebody, it would be kids. So when we started the Memorial Tournament (in Columbus, OH), Nationwide Children's Hospital, which saved my daughter's life when she was less than a year old, was the beneficiary from day one.

Why are we building golf courses? Because we enjoy being outside, bringing man and nature together.

Writers have told me more than once that I'm a better interview in defeat than in victory, which is a compliment I am extremely proud of.

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.

Oakmont, you've got to be playing slope.

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

The Senior Tour is a good concept, although frankly I'm not astounded at its continued success. It gives a lot of guys an opportunity to extend their careers.