Jack Nicklaus Quotes

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

It's difficult to excel at something you don't truly enjoy.

Through years of experience I have found that air offers less resistance than dirt.

Temper is the one thing you can't get rid of by losing it.

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.

I don't believe in philosophies. I believe in fundamentals.

Golf is game of respect and sportsmanship; we have to respect its traditions and its rules.

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.

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

I like trying to win. That's what golf is all about.

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.

Golfers have a tendency to be very masochistic. They like to punish themselves for some reason. A lot of them like tough courses.

Golf is you against yourself.

Well, the biggest rival I had in my career was me.

The longer you play, the better chance the better player has of winning.

Nobody ever remembers who finished second at anything.

Essentially, he has been retired since he was 21.

Golf is a better game played downhill.

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.

Jones is the greatest golfer who ever lived and probably ever will live. That's my goal. Bobby Jones. It's the only goal.

I'm tired of giving my best and not having it be good enough.

The game is meant to be fun.

I had polio when I was 13. I started feeling stiff, my joints ached, and over a two-week period I lost my coordination and 20 pounds.

There are always new places to go fishing. For any fisherman, there's always a new place, always a new horizon

A perfectly straight shot with a big club is a fluke.

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.

I guess that's why they call it Hell.

He has the finest, fundamentally sound golf swing I've ever seen.

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.

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

We're not perfect every time. We make mistakes just like everybody else. But, we stay on top of it, and we stay with it, and we make sure we get it right.

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.

Every putt is different. Your feet dictate the stroke by how they feel on the green. I just never used the same stroke on every putt.

Athletes today get into a single-minded, one sport routine. I can't stand it.

I always practice as I intend to play.

This is a game. That's all it is. It's not a war.

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

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.

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

I know it sounds selfish, wanting to do something no one else has done. But that's what you're out here for - to separate yourself from everyone else.

Tiger Woods has been unlucky with his body. I don't know whether some of it is self-induced or some of it is just unlucky. But we never know what happens with guys.

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.

Public appearances are a headache. I hold mine down to a minimum.

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 don't think about winning the Masters as part of the slam. You want to win the Masters because of what it means to the game.

I think I fail a bit less than everyone else.

The holes are numbered.

I never thought about being No. 1. I just kept trying to be No. 1.