Top 50 Jack Nicklaus Quotes

Words matter. These are the best Jack Nicklaus Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.

Did you know there's probably more golf played in Icela

Did you know there’s probably more golf played in Iceland than most places in the world? They play 24 hours a day in the summertime and the northern part is warmer than the southern part.
Jack Nicklaus
Sometimes the biggest problem is in your head. You’ve got to believe you can play a shot instead of wondering where your next bad shot is coming from.
Jack Nicklaus
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.
Jack Nicklaus
Golf is a better game played downhill.
Jack Nicklaus
I’m probably the only bottom-heavy golfer in the country.
Jack Nicklaus
I thoroughly enjoy working with kids, whether it’s The First Tee or the lesson tee with my grandkids.
Jack Nicklaus
I like trying to win. That’s what golf is all about.
Jack Nicklaus
He’s going to be around a long, long time, if his body holds up. That’s always a concern with a lot of players because of how much they play. A lot of guys can’t handle it. But it looks like he can.
Jack Nicklaus
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.
Jack Nicklaus
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.
Jack Nicklaus
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.
Jack Nicklaus
There are no maladies in my golf game. My golf game stinks.
Jack Nicklaus
I don’t believe in luck. Not in golf, anyway. There are good bounces and bad bounces, sure, but the ball is round and so is the hole. If you find yourself in a position where you hope for luck to pull you through, you’re in serious trouble.
Jack Nicklaus
Golfers have a tendency to be very masochistic. They like to punish themselves for some reason. A lot of them like tough courses.
Jack Nicklaus
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.
Jack Nicklaus
Resolve never to quit, never to give up, no matter what the situation.
Jack Nicklaus
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.
Jack Nicklaus
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.
Jack Nicklaus
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.
Jack Nicklaus
But if I played well and prepared myself properly, then all I had to do was control myself and put myself in a position to win.
Jack Nicklaus
A perfectly straight shot with a big club is a fluke.
Jack Nicklaus
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.
Jack Nicklaus
Concentration is a fine antidote to anxiety.
Jack Nicklaus
See, as much as I love the game, golf was my vehicle to competition. And I love to compete.
Jack Nicklaus
Public appearances are a headache. I hold mine down to a minimum.
Jack Nicklaus
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.
Jack Nicklaus
The longer you play, the better chance the better player has of winning.
Jack Nicklaus
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.
Jack Nicklaus
It’s hard not to play golf that’s up to Jack Nicklaus standards when you are Jack Nicklaus.
Jack Nicklaus
All I ever wanted to do was play competitive golf against the best players in the world.
Jack Nicklaus
Through the years of experience I have found that air offers less resistance than dirt.
Jack Nicklaus
The game is meant to be fun.

The game is meant to be fun.
Jack Nicklaus
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.
Jack Nicklaus
Why are we building golf courses? Because we enjoy being outside, bringing man and nature together.
Jack Nicklaus
Focus on remedies, not faults.
Jack Nicklaus
A Nicklaus Design golf course is done by the guys in my company that I work with, that have been trained in my vision, and they do what they think I might do. They might come in the office and ask me questions and I’d certainly answer their questions, but I’m not involved in the site visits or anything else.
Jack Nicklaus
Golf is game of respect and sportsmanship; we have to respect its traditions and its rules.
Jack Nicklaus
Well, the biggest rival I had in my career was me.
Jack Nicklaus
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.
Jack Nicklaus
I might cook occasionally, but I’m not a good cook. That’s not my passion.
Jack Nicklaus
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.
Jack Nicklaus
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.
Jack Nicklaus
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.
Jack Nicklaus
I’ve wanted to design golf courses ever since I was a kid. I suppose it comes from the way I’ve played the game. To find the proper way to play any hole, I’ve always begun by asking myself what the architect has tried to do with it.
Jack Nicklaus
This is a game. That’s all it is. It’s not a war.
Jack Nicklaus
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.
Jack Nicklaus
People don’t want to go to the dump and have a picnic, they want to go out to a beautiful place and enjoy their day. And so I think our job is to try to take the environment, take what the good Lord has given us, and expand upon it or enhance it, without destroying it.
Jack Nicklaus
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.
Jack Nicklaus
Pete Dye introduced me to golf course design back in the 1960’s. He came to my hometown Columbus, Ohio to work on The Golf Club.
Jack Nicklaus
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.
Jack Nicklaus