"If I had been a really dedicated person, and really worked hard, I think I could have accomplished more."

Jaime Diaz labels it a "startling confession" from Jack Nicklaus, and it's hard to disagree:

Addressing a number of topics during a 90-minute conversation, Nicklaus displays a new candor. He used to say, "My record is my record. I did all I could do." Today, he casts a more analytical and sometimes critical eye on the nuances of his career, starting with a self-effacing haymaker: "If I were to look back on my work, I think I accomplished probably about 70 to 75 percent of what I could have. Maybe 60 percent. Somewhere in that area; two-thirds of what I could have accomplished. If I had been a really dedicated person, and really worked hard, I think I could have accomplished more."

Comments

[Used to be Former S&T convert]

All great golfers probably feel that way. High achievers always believe that there is more that they could have done. Not surprising

[Alex H]

I can't stand BS statements of this nature - could have, should have, would have, did not. The ability to focus, commit, and dedicate yourself is part of your given skill set - it's not really a valid argument to think you simply could have flipped a switch and dedicated yourself more. That itself demands a certain talent, work ethic, etc. - in the end, he achieved all he could with the tools that were given to him.

It's really a flat out self-appreciating statement, an attempt to further enlarging his own greatness. It's like saying after a match: "Well, you beat me, but I only gave it 75% - so in reality, I still win." No, you don't.

I don't know - I like and respect Nicklaus, but this doesn't sit well with me.

[Bob S.]

Jack has always been about himself ... me, me, me, I, I, I, ... just another way to keep himself in the news ... (he was also a womanizer but he doesn't want those stories in the news)

That's why Arnie is still the King, which I'm sure eats at Jack almost every day ...

[Lip Out]

Are you guys telling me that if Jack Nicklaus had kept himself in better physical condition he wouldn't have had a longer career? I think he would have. By 1986, he was practically a broken down old man! Even in 1998, in horrible physical condition, he contended briefly at Augusta.

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

Oh, please. Does anyone think Jack called up Jaime and said, "Hey, let's talk about me for 90 minutes so I can keep my name in the news?" Does Jack have a very large, healthy ego and a sense of his place in the Game? Absolutely. But no one deserves it more. And, really, who hasn't looked back and thought that he could have accomplished more if only he had worked a little harder or a little differently? If he or she has accomplished anything at all, that is. Jack has known for over 50 years that life is a marathon, not a sprint. And that is why he is still interesting, even to those who don't know him but don't like him nevertheless. And on another not unrelated topic, this is just one of hundreds of sit-down interviews he has given since the late 1950s. Hmm...

[dbh]

Nah, I don't think that's very close Alex or Bob S.I don't think it's self aggrandizing. It's senior Jack looking back at primetime Jack and thinking, 'What if?' People do that over the course of their life.
ie: Young parents completely forget what it was like to be a kid and think, 'If only I'd had more structure' and enroll their kids in umpteen regimented activities (to the kid's detriment).
Jack did just fine. Better than most! :)

[Buffett]

Womanizer? That's a really cheap and utterly irrelevant shot.

[sir real]

Hey Jack, Ya still got time big fella!

How about REALLY giving back for the rest of your life to help a game that has done so much for you and the family. We're waiting. .

[jb]

Ky, dbh and Buffett - thanks. I never likes him like Arnie but I sure do respect the man. And let's let him have a little reflection.

jb

[Doug]

Nicklaus had a goal... 12 majors... if he had a higher goal he would have reached higher (and given the amount of runner-up finishes, a little work would have gone a long way)... He did spend a lot of time with the family, especially once he got to 12... Its not to say that he didn't make the correct call on where to focus...

[jjshaka]

Trevino once said that Jack was " a legend in his spare time"- I'm guessing Jack is acknowledging that but probably wouldn't change it- it being his family and other things.
As far as Jack cheating, Bob S- produce the links or it didn't happen.

[RickABQ]

I wasn't into golf during the Nicklaus years of domination so I never really followed him. What was most interesting to me reading the article was the confessed lack of a short game by Nicklaus - I hadn't realized that he was poor in that area. If he'd only taken those chipping/wedge lessons earlier in his career we wouldn't be speculating whether Tiger can get 4 more majors to catch Jack - we'd be wondering if Tiger could get 10-15 more to catch Jack. Much of the article just sounds like late-life reflection from one hell of a high achiever.

[5.0]

Fat Jack's full of hot air.

[BenSeattle]

I was a tyke when Nicklaus come on the professional scene back in 1962 and he was IMMEDIATELY the best of a very good bunch. It was common knowledge (and recently repeated by a Nicklaus contemporary -- sorry; forget who) that "If Jack didn't win the Masters, he basically lost interest for the rest of the year because the Grand Slam was gone." THAT'S who we're talking about, boys. The guy who never spent more than two weeks away from his family, the guy who never missed his kid's football game and the guy who didn't just build golf courses but who for years has spearheaded the drive to build the Miami Children's Hospital Nicklaus Care Center. That's why statements such as this are, clear and simple, a brazen display of ignorance:

"How about REALLY giving back for the rest of your life to help a game that has done so much for you and the family. We're waiting." WTF?

Say, pal, the rest of us are waiting for you to remove your head from your ass.

I'm still waiting for Tiger Woods to explain how he can travel the world with a posse of agents, trainers, coaches, gofers and hangers-on then shack up in hotels with every skank, party girl, stripper and porn star from Miami to Mecca then tell the world that "It was all my doing. Nobody else knew and I got no help" and ACTUALLY EXPECT US TO BELIEVE THIS BLATANT FALSEHOOD. His marriage was over when he decided to lie to the world, keep that oh-so-loyal posse and bolt back to the golf course in March rather than salvage this precious family that apparently only became dear when it was disintegrating.

The difference between Nicklaus and Woods? Night vs. day.

[Bogey train]

Interesting. I always thought there would be some revisionism on Nicklaus' record as Tiger approached but thought it might be harsher on Jack for not capitalizing on more of his chances, all those 2nd places!!

He did seem to have some arid stretches including after 1980 wins and again after 1986 Masters, never sniffed it again until that last (1998?) Masters. If he'd been supermotivated he could have won more senior events/majors too, but even as part-timer barely trying, he has more senior "majors'' than anyone else, amazingly. Just shows his ability to get up for big occasions.

I'd love to hear what if anything he said about Tiger's troubles "off the record." Maybe nothing. He's taken high road in assessing Woods the whole way.

[Taylor Anderson]

So we're going to be critical of a guy who looks back and says that if he'd been more dedicated that he could have accomplished more? Wow, I know that there is, in general, a cynical streak among the commentors here, but this approaches a new low.

I guess when you're the top dog, everybody wants to take shots at you, even from the peanut gallery.

We should all be so introspective on where we are in life and what we've done. Maybe the world would be a little better place if we did.

[digsouth]

Well, I haven't finished the read, but I am intrigued.

My first thought was JN doing a litle CYA, but he speaks the truth,

the more interesting thought was about Jack having a life outside golf, Lee's comments and Beamans....and TW may have sealed the bricks: himself into the wall.

time will tell.

I have never been a big JN fan. but I am a bigger one today,,,

ds.

[CBell]

Well played, BenSeattle.

If Jack had taken better care of himself, worked more on his short game, and placed his golfing legacy (tournament by tournament) ahead of his family, it's a near certainty that he would have won more majors. No matter what number Tiger finally wins, I'm wondering if he'll end up saying, "If I had simply stuck with one swing, instead of wasting all those tournaments when I was changing swings..."

As for giving back to the game, Nicklaus's sportsmanship alone is a towering gift to at least one generation of professional golfers, maybe more.

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

@Bogey train: All those second places, I think there were 19 of them. I've had this argument with friends before. I'm not going to look it up again, but IIRC here is who finished first in many of them:
Trevino: 4
Watson: 4
Palmer: 2
Player, Ballesteros, Lema, De Vicenzo: 1 each
That's a pretty stout group of champions; even a wedge in the bag might not have helped much on those occasions.

@CBell: To repeat a post from a US Open thread:
"As with so many things in my makeup, the answer derives from Charlie Nicklaus. My father taught me the single hardest thing a professional athlete has to learn, which is how to lose gracefully. Dad convinced me very early in my involvement with sports that I had to accept the bad with the good; that, however much it hurts inside, you smile and keep a stiff upper lip; that you shake the hand of the man who's beaten you, and tell him congratulations, and mean it."

[Kelly Blake Moran]

Thanks BenSeattle and Taylor Anderson for restoring truth and decency to this thread. Jack was my hero as a kid and I am grateful for that, it was a great ride.

[digsouth]

@KLG

added the 1, 2 ,and 3rd place finishes at almost 50!!!!!

staggering. Second place, unlike Ricky Bobbie's dad's pronouncement, is not coming in last, and 3rd is only one less.

JN has been conversing with a local reporter, and has been pretty candid about a number of things, and I gotta say, his reasoning for not going to St Andrew's made me really respect him, his thoughts, and his take on where he is in life, and as a person. (He said goodby, and birdied the last hole...why mess that up!)

Thru all those years, if he only had had a Ping Eye 2 wedge or 2!

No telling what TW would be chasing, I mean other than the the pancake hostess.


sorry. uncalled for.


digsouth

ps : good post TA

[Martin Del Vecchio]

This isn't the first time he has said this.

I believe that it is true.

But I believe that it's true for just about every athlete in just about every sport.

Even Michael Jordan, one of the greatest and most relentlessly driven athletes in history, just lost it and played baseball for a year. There's a great "30 for 30" on ESPN about it.

[pt]

so much thats written about Jack is old news - this article was actually interesting

i wonder if Jack ever thought of it this way: if he HAD worked at it harder, might he have gotten burnt out early and only won 10 majors??

reminds me of his response when a writer said to him "Jack, if you played a more aggresive style of golf you could have won 30 majors"...Jack's reply was "maybe..but i might have only won 20"

he looks better and better as the TW drama continues to unfold

[Taylor Anderson]

I think a lot of people look back and think they could have and should have done more. There's always a cost associated with it. Jack actually attaches a number to it - how he arrived at it would probably be an interesting discussion. It would have cost Jack time with his family - something he probably wouldn't have sacrificed. It's not regrets, just looking back and thinking "what if".

I'm not a professional athlete and am still fairly young, but I look back occasionally and think about how I could have applied myself better in college. How I should have been more assertive at the start of my career. It's not that I didn't have a successful college career or am floundering in my professional life. It's a process of reflecting - taking stock of what you've done, what you haven't and what you'd could have done differently (even if you wouldn't do it if given the opportunity).

Thanks DS and KBM. KBM, not to make this into some sort of lovefest, but I'm a big fan of your work and hope things are going well for you.

[weg]

" I'm not going to look it up again, but IIRC...." You RC:

Palmer
Palmer
Lema
Nichols
Marr
de Vicenzo
Trevino
Player
Coody
Trevino
Trevino
Trevino
Miller
Watson
Watson
Ballesteros
Watson
Watson
Sutton

Tiger has Beem, Campbell, Z Johnson, Cabrera, Immelmann and Yang.

[Chuck]

I'm not sure that I understand a lot of this criticism of the way that Nicklaus "took care of himself." I'll be the first to admit that Jack Nicklaus never worked out like a defensive back or an NBA point guard, as has a certain Mr. Woods. Then again, at the end of his career, I suspect that we will have seen a much more-injured Tiger Woods, than the Nicklaus who won a Masters at age 46.

Jack Nicklaus might not have had the physique of a defensive back; but the careers of NFL defensive backs generally last about five or six years.

Jack was doing something right, physically, to have won more majors, over a significantly longer period of time, than anyone in history. Jack's longevity (and maybe it waqs just luck) is at least as remarkable as his number of Firsts and Seconds in majors.

[Colin MacGillivray]

Too much mention of Tiger Woods.
And don't forget Bobby Jones. How much would he have had achieved if he had turned pro and stayed healthy and "been a really dedicated person, and really worked hard" .

[DRM]

Coulda, shoulda, woulda. No one is perfect in any endeavor, so we can all look back on things we've done in our lives and think, "What if?"

[chico]

Weg-got to agree with you there.
Woods opposition although deeper has nothing like the real stars of JN's era.

[sir real]

Hey Ben Seattle,

I'll well aware of what Greedy Jack has done in Florida...I was born and live there. No sense stooping to your level. He'd be giving ALL THAT CHARITY MONEY to Uncle Sam there wizard. He knows some good PR when he sees it as well. Sorry, but I've never bought into the JN adoration many have tried so hard to foist.

How much has he given relative to how much he's MADE from golf....MINISCULE PAL!

Jack is EASILY as greedy as Tiger. Maybe worse. Tiger seldom talks about the money. Jack has... defends what he charges with the "take care of my family" line.


I've been in his company plenty....NEVER been impressed. In his later playing days, If he wasn't playing well, he was often a sour, grumpy old man.

Know YOUR facts and show some class, you're cheapening the site.

[Taylor Anderson]

sir real, facts? You want to tell Ben Seattle to know his facts after a post like that?

Let's see...

"I'll well aware of what Greedy Jack has done in Florida" - Opinion. Greedy is not a fact.

"He'd be giving ALL THAT CHARITY MONEY to Uncle Sam there wizard." - First, "all that charity money" wouldn't go to Uncle Sam, only a taxed portion of it. You're also speculating as to Jack's motive. No facts.

"How much has he given relative to how much he's MADE from golf....MINISCULE PAL!" - Opinion. Minuscule is a judgment call, not a fact.

"Jack is EASILY as greedy as Tiger. Maybe worse. Tiger seldom talks about the money. Jack has... defends what he charges with the "take care of my family" line." Full of opinion. In your opinion, Jack is easily as greedy as Tiger. You call "take care of my family" a line - again, you're speculating as to motive.

"I've been in his company plenty....NEVER been impressed." - Opinion. And so what? Newsflash to you - he's not trying to impress you. He obviously can't anyway for whatever reason.

So, instead of the facts, you give a lot of speculation and opinion. Well done.

[Billy]

For Jack there is not a sentence short enough that he can't get I or me into it.

[dsl]

I got into golf when Tiger turned pro. Maybe I was biased, but I always had a feeling that Jack had turned into a bitter old man at the exact moment Tiger came on the scene. He's seems like the kind of guy who says things with a purpose (but in a self deprecating way). Is he simply reflecting? Or, as I see it, looking to hedge against Tiger eventually surpassing his total?

I don't think Nicklaus realizes how much Tiger has done to keep his name in everyone's minds. Sure, Jack was always going to go down as the greatest for a few generations of fans. When Tiger came along, Jack's record was put front and centre for new generations and countless new fans. As we watch Tiger, we can't help but think of Jack. We realize just how great a feat it was for Jack to win those Majors. We wonder if Tiger will EVER break that record and, in doing so, give our respect to Jack for all he accomplished. Jack just doesn't seem to get that at all. If Tiger doesn't come along, are we even talking about Nicklaus and his record?

I guess time will tell, but I've long suspected that Jack will not handle it well if Tiger manages to break his record. As Tiger gets nearer to 18, the media will reach out to Jack more and more. We'll see how Jack reacts, but I'd bet it won't be pretty.

[FWIW]

sir real ... do yourself a favor and stop commenting on this. You are cheapening yourself.

[DRM]

DSL,

Jack has always been a gracious loser, so I don't expect anything else from him if Woods breaks the record. It's still a big "if" though.

[Shivas]

It just seems to me that the work ethic of golfers has increased dramatically in the past few decades, and specifically in the last decade or so. Nicklaus is responding to this NEW LEVEL of work ethic and basically saying that if he had worked as hard as the guys do now, he could have accomplished more. Who the hell could possibly disagree with that?

I'm sure Walter Hagen, after lwatching Ben Hogan and his work ethic, would have said the same thing: "boy, if I worked as hard as this Hogan fella does, I'd have accomplished a lot more."

I think this is a statement that's more about increased work ethics i the game, generally, than it is about Jack's ego...

[sir real]

Taylor and FWIW, Your free to love Jack all you wish. I stand by my comments.

[Phil the Author]

When it comes to money, it is so easy a thing for those without a lot of it to criticize those with more than their fair share for not giving more of it away.

Forgotten in here is that Jack almost had to declare bankruptcy because of not spending time in his design business while helping charities and was actually forced to play tournamnet golf far past the time he wanted to quit.

Jack has done far more than his share of aiding charities and worthwhile causes. Like Arnold, he has done the majority of this quietly and without fanfare, unlike today where so many athletes, including golfers, do it for the "photo op"...

[Smitty]

I am having trouble seeing what all the hubbub is about here. The problem of Jack's lack of dedication during times of his career is not new news at all. He has been candid about these periods throughout his career. He described them in his books "The Greatest Game of All" (1969) and "My Story" (1997). I don't believe that Jack has been nothing but sincere concerning this issue. He described the first period (1967-70) as resulting from being immature about his God-given talent and how he felt that he had disappointed his father by not living up to the sacrifices his Dad made for Jack's career. The second period (1976-1979) Jack described was basically being stale of the game and lacking the desire to make the necessary changes that his game required. However, what is new to me was his post-1980 funk mentioned in this article. In all of this, I think it merely illustrates Jack's attitude toward golf was much the same as it was for Bobby Jones: That golf was a game, and that Jack (and Bobby) wanted to keep the game in its proper place, namely, after family and other things.

[GolfFan]

The triplets? (Woulda, coulda, shoulda)

Heck just think if Charlie Nicklaus had had me for a son, sheeesh

I don't think Jack worked at it like tiger just as Jones didn't work at it like Jack did ...

pretty damned simple