Jack Nicklaus
Through the years of experience I have found that air offers less resistance than dirt.
Professional golf is the only sport where, if you win 20% of the time, you're the best.
Well, the biggest rival I had in my career was me.
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.
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.
I can barely turn on my computer!
I've been fortunate over my career to make a little history on the 16th hole at Augusta National.
I thoroughly enjoy working with kids, whether it's The First Tee or the lesson tee with my grandkids.
And, of course, I'm constantly energized by designing courses around the world.
In 1979, when I was 39, I had such a bad year, I thought it was all over. Thankfully it wasn't.
If I have a weakness, it's probably ice cream. That's where I get lax, sloppy. I'll sneak into the refrigerator at night and take two or three bites and put it back. Butter pecan. Only two or three bites, but it shows.
Sometimes, I'm an ogre. I can be short. I'll walk into the office some days and I've gotten up on the wrong side of the bed, and everybody knows it. I'm a perfectionist. I like to be organized, and I like to get everything done today.
You have to trust your kids. They have to experience life, and you just hope you've provided them a foundation for what's right and what isn't.
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.
All I ever wanted to do was play competitive golf against the best players in the world.
I'm probably the only bottom-heavy golfer in the country.
The long irons are the nemesis of the average golfer. I'm convinced that the underlying reason for this is that he keeps hearing how hard they are to handle. They're not that difficult, truly.
Golfers have a tendency to be very masochistic. They like to punish themselves for some reason. A lot of them like tough courses.
Mostly I built golf courses the way I played golf, which was left-to-right. But I learned very rapidly that people wanted to see more than just the way I played golf and that I had to balance up what I was doing, right-to-left, left-to-right, etc.
Naturally it is nice to be widely known for worthwhile achievements, but it forces you to do many things which you don't like to do and these things take up time you want for other things.
Public appearances are a headache. I hold mine down to a minimum.
I like to catch fish and release them. I probably haven't killed a fish that I've caught in sport fishing for 20 years. No reason to kill it. You know, just take it and release it.
I might cook occasionally, but I'm not a good cook. That's not my passion.
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.
Whether it's pool or Ping Pong, I can't stand to have my kids beat me. Especially Ping Pong! And when they beat me, they just needle the devil out of me. That's fine. I'd rather have that than let them win a shallow victory.
The way I pack is I look at how long I'll be gone and I pack day for day. If I'm going on a three-day fishing trip, I plot each day. I put most of that in a little bag. If I'm going from there to work on golf courses for a few days, I plot that trip.
If I were to look back on my work, I think I accomplished probably about 70 to 75 percent of what I could have. Maybe 60 percent. Somewhere in that area; two-thirds of what I could have accomplished. If I had been a really dedicated person, and really worked hard, I think I could have accomplished more.
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.
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.
I played competitive golf all my life. Then all of a sudden, when I quit playing the game, I've got all this spare time and this energy. And certainly I wasn't ready to pack up my bags and go sit in front of the television with a shawl on.
I have said many times that most people work all their life to retire to play golf, while I played golf all my life to retire to work. I enjoy working. It has kept me young and on the move, and I have had a good time with it.
Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one's level of aspiration and expectation.Collection: Positive
Pursue what you love, what you are passionate about. Don't let somebody else dictate your life's path.Collection: Passionate
Talent isn't as important as the work and dedication necessary to become competent.Collection: Dedication
I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head.Collection: Inspirational
The worse you're performing, the more you must work mentally and emotionally. The greatest and toughest art in golf is "playing badly well." All the true greats have been masters at it.Collection: Art
It takes hundreds of good golf shots to gain confidence, but only one bad one to lose it.Collection: Golf
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.Collection: Golf
Confidence is believing in your own ability, knowing what you have to do to win. My confidence was developed through preparation.Collection: Confidence
Pressure is what you live for...if you are going to be successful in life, you're going to have pressure.Collection: Successful
There is no room in your mind for negative thoughts.Collection: Mind
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.Collection: Nice
If there is one thing golf demands above all else, it is honesty.Collection: Honesty
Golf is not, and never has been, a fair game.Collection: Golf
Complacency is a continuous struggle that we all have to fight.Collection: Struggle
If there is one thing I have learned during my years as a professional, it is that the only thing constant about golf is its inconstancy.Collection: Golf
If you want to hit it farther, hit it better.Collection: Golf
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.Collection: Golf
We don’t have to do a bunch of things to figure out how to win the Ryder Cup. Just go play golf. ... I’m a little bit too casual probably about a lot of things, but you can’t force good play. Good play comes from good hard work and actually being prepared to play, not being forced to play.Collection: Hard Work