Rubenstein: Don't Forget Nicklaus In '66

Lorne Rubenstein writes in his latest column (if the first link doesn't work, try this Google Canada search page) about a similar no-driver strategy employed by Jack Nicklaus in 1966.

Jack Nicklaus did something similar when he won the 1966 British Open at the Muirfield Golf Club in Gullane, Scotland, except that he used his driver 17 times out of 56 opportunities.

The ball didn't fly as far then, even for Nicklaus, so the strategies are comparable.

Nicklaus, then 26, and golf's powerhouse as Woods is today, used his driver on most holes during his first practice round. He used the driver fewer and fewer times in subsequent practice sessions, until, as he wrote in The Greatest Game of All, his early autobiography, he came to a conclusion.

"By the eve of the championship there was only one hole, the long fifth, where I planned to drive with my driver in any wind, and there were only a handful of other holes, all lengthy par-fours, where I planned to take my driver in certain kinds of wind," Nicklaus said. "Everything considered, this amounted to the best preparation I had ever given a tournament in terms of learning a specific course."

Rubenstein also shares some of his email exchanges with Donald Steel on the Hoylake and his design career.