The Golden Bear

[onebelow]

this may not be in the correct place but i just wanted to know what you guys think about what Jack said about not reaching his full potential on yahoo sports. he stated with jaime diaz only 60% to 75%. thats scary cause tiger will probably not catch Jack if he had less 2nd place major finishes of 19 times. what could have been. lets say if he manage to just change 9 of the 19 times....thats 27 majors..........???? here is the clip.

 

So, when the Golden Bear speaks of what he could have accomplished, your mouth drops. Jack spoke with Jaime Diaz of Golf Digest this month and said something that will make even the most famous golfers in the world do a double-take. Jack said he could have been better. A lot better.

 

"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."

 

It really is an astonishing thing to hear from someone so accomplished, but I'm assuming Jack can point to those 19 second-place finishes in major championships as a place he could have improved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[freshprince99]

Jack Nicklaus is a competitor, and like many competitors of that stature he is looking at himself and saying "what if i did this differently, what if i practiced harder, what if i sacrificed this or that in my personal life". I think this comment can be taken with a grain of salt, of course he could have won more majors judging by the number of second place finishes he had, but if that happened nobody else would have won any. and players like johnny miller and tom watson would not be held in the regard that they are today.

[spooky]

Gary Player always said a similar thing - something along the lines of Nicklaus being the greatest part-time golfer in history. I don't think the comment should be taken with a grain of salt - I think it is probably absolutely correct.

[birdieboy52]

[quote name='onebelow' timestamp='1283507909' post='2677027']
this may not be in the correct place but i just wanted to know what you guys think about what Jack said about not reaching his full potential on yahoo sports. he stated with jaime diaz only 60% to 75%. thats scary cause tiger will probably not catch Jack if he had less 2nd place major finishes of 19 times. what could have been. lets say if he manage to just change 9 of the 19 times....thats 27 majors..........???? here is the clip.

So, when the Golden Bear speaks of what he [i]could[/i] have accomplished, your mouth drops. Jack [url="http://www.golfdigest.com/magazine/2010-10/jack-nicklaus"]spoke with Jaime Diaz[/url] of Golf Digest this month and said something that will make even the most famous golfers in the world do a double-take. Jack said he could have been better. A lot better.

[indent]"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."

[/indent]It really is an astonishing thing to hear from someone so accomplished, but I'm assuming Jack can point to those 19 second-place finishes in major championships as a place he could have improved.
[/quote]


In one of his books he mentions how he really disliked putting practice. Didn't do much of it when at home and from what I've read of his words he didn't do much of anything related to his golf game in the off weeks. He truly was a part time player for most of his career

[zukszoo]

We can all say "what if" in our lives. Maybe part of that is to inspire others to work hard in life. But as one of my elders once told me about if; "son, if my aunt had 'em, she'd be my uncle". Ifs are pretty useless in the end. I am a huge fan of Jack's and think that his record, whether it is broken or not, is something to be very proud of.

[78blades]

I think many are forgetting that professional golf was much different when Jack started on tour. Heck, only the top 3 players made money. It was a lot harder on the road then as opposed to now. In an interview Jack said when he started out in professiional golf he was just trying to put meat on the table to feed his family and wasn't concerned about records. That changed, but not until his father passed away.

30 some odd years later Tiger becomes a professional golfer. Growing up he had a poster of Jack in his bedroom and his goal, even as a amature was to beat Jack's record. The only sprot Tiger played was golf. Jack OTOH played baseball and football thru high school.

Both of them are great golfers and some of the best ever, but from different eras. Heck it would be interesting to see how Bobby Jones would have done with modern equipment, who I believe should be included in that group.

[PGAMBR2007]

Jack will always be the best ever, all you have to look at is course condition back in the day, nothing compared to what it is now, and also the competition. How many multiple major winners were there when Jack played and how many have been in Tiger's day. With Jack you had Trevino, Watson, Miller, Palmer, North, Seve, Player, Faldo, Floyd, Peter Thompson, Larry Nelson, Billy Casper, Boros, Hale Irwin, Fuzzy, Sandy Lyle, Jacklin, Hubert Green, and Dave Stockton. With Tiger you have, Phil, Ernie, Paddy, Vijay, Retief, O'Meara, Cabrera. Nough said!!

[dalehead]

I think the part time player comments come closest.

Jack always played the minimum amount of tournaments he could get away with, usually 15 a year. He kept his promise to Barbara to never be away from home more than 2 weeks in a row. And when he was home he spent his time with his family, not playing or practicing. He usually went to see his teacher, Jack Grout, at the beginning of the season, and that was pretty much it. Grout was not on the practice tee at every tournament. Nor did Jack employ a short game coach, a putting coach, a psychologist, a nutritionist, and a conditioning coach.

So yeah, I kinda see what he is saying about being able to accomplish more if he had been more single-minded.

But when you combine achievements in golf and being a good family man, Jack and Arnold set records that may never be touched.