Oakmont, you’ve got to be playing slope. — Jack Nicklaus

You don’t think anything about age when you’re playing [golf]. I mean, why would you ever think about that. — Jack Nicklaus

I have a couple [of grandsons] that are in college playing lacrosse. It’s great and it’s fun. But they all also play golf a little bit. — Jack Nicklaus

Once you play a tournament, you’re playing against the golf course, you’re playing against yourself and trying to do the best you can. — Jack Nicklaus

Over the first three rounds you’re playing the course. In the final round, if you’re in contention, you’re playing the man. — Jack Nicklaus

I think my boys handled it pretty much the same way with their children, but my grandsons all ended up playing football or lacrosse. — Jack Nicklaus

I play the Father/Son every year on the PGA TOUR Champions. I split it between Jackie and Gary as my playing partners. — Jack Nicklaus

We called [my son] Gary ‘Little Herschel’ when he was in middle school–but then he didn’t grow any taller. He ended up playing golf and being a really nice golfer. — Jack Nicklaus

My workout was playing other sports and I always played tennis, football, basketball, threw a baseball–I was always doing something to keep me active. That’s how I kept my body going. — Jack Nicklaus

Golf is you against yourself. — Jack Nicklaus

If there is one thing golf demands above all else, it is honesty. — Jack Nicklaus

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

Golf was my vehicle to competition and I can’t play if I can’t compete. — Jack Nicklaus

I like trying to win. That’s what golf is all about. — Jack Nicklaus

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. — Jack Nicklaus

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. — Jack Nicklaus

What’s interesting about golf is that most athletes end up gravitating toward golf because it is such a difficult sport. — Jack Nicklaus

All I ever wanted to do was play competitive golf against the best players in the world. — Jack Nicklaus

Age doesn’t make a difference either. Whether you’re 20 or 70, you can still play together. There are so many different things you can do with golf that you can’t do in other sports. — 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

It takes hundreds of good golf shots to gain confidence, but only one bad one to lose it. — Jack Nicklaus

I don’t play much golf anymore. I can’t–if I break 80, I’m doing pretty well. — Jack Nicklaus

I thInk that everybody was happy to see arnold out on the tee, I thInk arnold was happy to be on the tee. I thInk he would have preferred to hIt a golf ball. — Jack Nicklaus

He has the finest, fundamentally sound golf swing I’ve ever seen. — Jack Nicklaus

Golf is a better game played downhill. — Jack Nicklaus

I played in a basketball league until I was 40 years old. I played every Monday night and the guys would say, ‘You take him out, and you’ll see us afterwards. — Jack Nicklaus

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

I didn’t push any of my kids into golf, and they played golf because they wanted to. — 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

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

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. — Jack Nicklaus

You have to love something and have a passion for it to be disciplined. My commitment was purely to golf — Jack Nicklaus

Pursue what you love, what you are passionate about. Don’t let somebody else dictate your life’s path. — Jack Nicklaus

My kids all do love to hunt and fish. When they get together, I think that’s what they get together more for than anything else. — Jack Nicklaus

It’s difficult to excel at something you don’t truly enjoy. — Jack Nicklaus

I think that Pebble Beach is my favorite golf course to go to. I think Augusta is my favorite place to go play golf. — Jack Nicklaus

Augusta National is a young man’s golf course, and you really need a young man’s nerves to play on it. — Jack Nicklaus

And, of course, I’m constantly energized by designing courses around the world. — Jack Nicklaus

A big part of managing a golf course is managing your swing on the course. — Jack Nicklaus

I’ve said many times before that Pebble Beach is a wonderful thinking–man’s golf course. That is why it is such a great U.S. Open venue. — Jack Nicklaus

The golf course is always in good shape. Paul Latshaw does a reasonable job. — 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

A kid grows up a lot faster on the golf course. Golf teaches you how to behave. — Jack Nicklaus

Success depends almost entirely on how effectively you learn to manage the game’s two ultimate adversaries: the course and yourself. — Jack Nicklaus

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

The importance of my legacy is not the golf course, it’s what my life is, and what my life is intended to be. The game of golf is a game. My family is my life. — Jack Nicklaus

Grand Haven will challenge the skilled player yet, because of some width to the holes, it also will be a fun course that the average player can enjoy. — Jack Nicklaus

If you design something pretty with good golf shots in it, then I think that’s the combination that creates a really nice golf course. — Jack Nicklaus

I’ve always tried to play golf with a golf club. I have a hard time driving with my rifle. I mean, 18 is really narrow … I have no problem with the course, except for the tee shot on 18. — 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

I love design in general, the creativity. Whether it is golf courses, my apparel line, ads we do or our business with AriZona, design is fun. — Jack Nicklaus

Golf really excites me only when the course is difficult and challenging. I love competing. The pressure of competition against fine holes and fine players makes me feel very much alive. — Jack Nicklaus

Talent isn’t as important as the work and dedication necessary to become competent. — Jack Nicklaus

Nick O’Leary loves to compete. His work ethic is fantastic, and that’s what I like about him. He works, and works, and works; and if he has to get better, he gets better. — Jack Nicklaus

My ability to concentrate and work toward that goal has been my greatest asset. — Jack Nicklaus

The fact is, I diet every day of my life. I have to work at it. But I diet so I can pig out. — Jack Nicklaus

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. — Jack Nicklaus

Confidence is the most important single factor in this game, and no matter how great your natural talent, there is only one way to obtain and sustain it: work. — Jack Nicklaus

I suppose I get a lot of questions about Tiger. But Tiger Woods is a tremendous talent. He plays well. He has a great work ethic. He’s probably as talented of a golfer as anyone who’s ever played. — Jack Nicklaus

The one strongest, most important part of my game is that I want to be the best. I won’t accept anything less that that. My ability to concentrate and work toward hat goal has been my greatest asset. — 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

Pressure is what you live for…if you are going to be successful in life, you’re going to have pressure. — Jack Nicklaus

Crises are part of life. Everybody has to face them, and it doesn’t make any difference what the crisis is. — 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

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. — 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

Pete Egoscue has totally changed my life. Never have I experienced such complete pain relief as I have by following the Egoscue Method. — Jack Nicklaus