The Great Jack Nicklaus

Every sport has its icons. An icon isn’t just a star. A star can be fleeting. The NBA has an overload of stars, like Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Love. These people don’t transcend the sport and take on a greater cultural relevance though. That’s an icon. Michael Jordan is an icon. Same with Larry Bird and Julius Irving. Wayne Gretzky is a hockey icon (maybe THE hockey icon). Babe Ruth and Willie Mays are icons of baseball, Joe Montana and Walter Payton are icons of football. I’m sure even curling has its icons (okay, that’s probably a stretch). Golf certainly has its icons, one of them being Tiger Woods, still active. For all of his personal faults, Woods revolutionized the game and made it popular again. Books have been written about him. He is a cultural figure that golf has rarely seen. But even Woods regularly admits he’s not the best player the PGA has ever produced. Ask him, and he’ll answer you with another undisputed icon: Jack Nicklaus. Jack Nicklaus was born on January 21, 1940 in Columbus, Ohio. He started showing interest in golf at the early age of ten. His father Charlie, who was himself quite an athlete, encouraged Jack in his golfing endeavors, and entered him in several competitions and hiring a coach when Jack was only 13. Before that coach was hired, Nicklaus won his first of five consecutive Ohio State Junior titles at the age of 12. His handicap at this time was +3, the lowest for anyone in the Columbus area. There’s no doubt that he was a prodigy. And yet, he was considering pursuing a career in basketball in said, as he was known to be an exceptional shooting guard as well. Many colleges came calling with scholarship offers, asking him to play for their teams. Who knows how Nicklaus would have turned out as a basketball player. He could have been just as phenomenal as, say, Oscar Robertson or Clyde Frazier. We do know, however, that Nicklaus would win more major tournaments than any golfer in the history of the PGA, his record holding steady at 18, including six wins at the Masters. Until Tiger Woods matched the achievement in 2008, Nicklaus was the only golfer to achieve the grand slam three times. He won the award for PGA player of the year five times, including four times consecutively. Sports Illustrated even named him the athlete of the decade for the 1970s. Nicklaus ended his 44 year professional career in 2005, retiring as the second winningest golfer in the history of the sport (behind only Sam Snead). Nicklaus now spends his time designing golf courses with his sons and son-in-law. Together they have designed over 200 golf courses, including Shoal Creek, Castle Pines. He also frequently appears an analyst and commentator for golf tournaments on ABC. His book Golf My Way is regarded as one of the preeminent golf instructional books ever written. To say the least, Nicklaus has devoted his life to the game of golf, and golf is the better for it. If you’re interested in Branson golf courses and Branson attractions, check these out.