Posted on 05/28/2015 12:30:39 PM PDT by FlJoePa
How often do you buy new golf clubs? Every year, three years?
Would you use the same club for 37 years? No, you wouldn't, but Jack Nicklaus did and it helped him to 18 major titles.
Nicklaus used a 1958 MacGregor 693 3-wood to win all of his major championships and 73 PGA Tour titles. He stopped using it in 1995. It's now on display in the new Jack Nicklaus Room at the USGA's museum at its Far Hills, N.J. headquarters.
While the 3-wood is out of his bag now, he still uses what he called "small-headed" irons. Fans ask him why he hasn't upgraded to modern irons that are much more forgiving than the sticks he used so masterfully. His answer is a window into why he stuck with the 3-wood for so long.
He said, "I say, what do you mean how do I hit it? I hit it all my life, why would I have any problem with it?"
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
Because Jack's fingers were so short, there was no room for an underlisting, so he just wrapped double sided tape right on the shaft and wrapped the leather.
The "sound" difference is when the irons would clank together in the bag while he was selecting clubs. It made a much higher pitched sound than anyone else's clubs.
Jack can be a miserable guy at times, but his place in sports history is rock solid.
No doubt he could be difficult, but when you are the best there ever was or will be, it comes with the territory. At that level he can't think like you or me or he'd be just another duffer.
There is a story of the golf tournament Jack won, but is not counted in his career total:
Jack was practicing some chips and putts with his young son, Jack on a Sunday morning.
When they were done, Jack put his clubs into his bag.
Jack, Jr. placed his miniature putter into Jack Senior’s bag, unbeknownst to Jack Sr.
After he won the tournament later in the day he emptied his bag: 15 clubs (14 clubs are the max allowable in tournament play).
He turned himself into the tournament officials and withdrew from the tournament.
We need some of his honesty in DC.
Look at sports feats that may never be broken.
1. Secretariats time at the Belmont Stakes.
2. Gretzky’s points in the NHL.
3. Joe D’s 56 game hitting streak
4. Jacks 18 majors.
My wife sold my old persimmons when we moved six years ago. They had originally belonged to her dad since the early 60s. I never hit them as well as I do my new metal clubs but sometimes wish I had them for decoration in my man-cave.
The story about Jack keeping the same clubs is not surprising as it reflects the differences between then and now. Jack knew it was about the man with the skills holding the club while today the problem with my game is about the hardware rather than my skills.
I have not heard that story before. At which Tournament was it that this happened?
DiMaggio had the same bat for most of that streak, had it stolen and got it back. Today they use a bat about 10 at bats - 3 games.
Emmitt Smith’s NFL career rushing yards (18,355). As the game has transitioned to a passing league, fewer teams have single running backs that will carry the workload as he did.
I don't think Tiger was ever the same after he switched from steel clubs.
There was some study that, to this day, a lot of the longest HRs ever hit were by Babe Ruth. I think it was the gigantic bat. Today, they use toothpicks.
There might be a bit of skill difference between Jack and I.
There might be a bit of skill difference between Jack and I.
I hear it on Paul Harvey’s The Rest Of The Story years ago...
I wish I had kept the DVR tape I had taken at a local senior tour event at the TPC in Dearborn back around 1998 which included a brief video of him on the green on one of the holes.
I had been given a VIP pass to a hospitality tent on a Thursday, the first day of the event, provided by one of the event sponsors and when I first arrived I asked if my video camera would be permitted on the course. I was told it was OK just as long as it didn't flash or make any noise. Which it didn't.
I then set out with my companion to watch the event but not before again verifying with a course ranger that my video camera was allowed to which she verified that it was OK just as long as it didn't make noise or flash.......
So now I'm standing on a high knoll, surrounded by other fans, overlooking what I think was the 13th green as Nicklaus, Palmer and two others had just made their approach shots, videoing them coming down the fairway and ultimately putting out.
Well on that hole, Nicklaus bogeyed and as he was walking off the green, headed towards an attended golf cart that was going to drive him to the next tee, he looked up into the crowd directly at me and gave me the stinkiest eye I had ever received in my life.
After he got into the cart and headed towards the tee, myself and the rest of the crowd headed over to the next fairway where Nicklaus and his foursome would be hitting to.
I no longer got into position along the fairway with my camera at the ready when two security officers came up on both sides of me and demanded I put the camera away.
When I attempted to explain that I had been told my video camera was acceptable, the big guy said shut up and put the camera away or we will take it from you.........
Well, it's kinda hard to argue against that kind of advice so I put the camera in my pack and never pulled it out again.
What's at issue here is the fact that it was Nicklaus who saw me on the "grassy knoll" and obviously expressed his displeasure of me video recording him to the tournament security officers during a particularly bad round he was having.
It was either on the hole where I was ordered to put the camera away or the following hole where Nicklaus sliced a shot into the two foot high grass and took two shots just to get back onto the the fairway...........
Ruth did start using lighter bats as he got older. However, nobody has yet hit baseballs as far as Ruth hit them. A guy named Bill Jenkinson wrote a book about Ruth’s clouts “The Year Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs.”
PFL
Because Jack’s fingers were so short, there was no room for an underlisting, so he just wrapped double sided tape right on the shaft and wrapped the leather.
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I didn’t know that, but it is well known that Jack used very heavy clubs. They had a heavy swingweight and were also back weighted. He also used a driver that was shorter than standard, and still drove it further than anyone else when he was in his early 20’s.
He said “wood”.
Thanks! I’ve been trying to find where I heard that.
By today’s standards, Babe wasn’t all that big and strong. It must’ve been the bat.
Nicklaus used a 1958 MacGregor 693 3-wood to win all of his major championships and 73 PGA Tour titles.
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Sam Snead probably has him beat. I think he used the same Dunlop Gold Cup driver his entire career and possibly his irons, too. He said the grooves were worn off them, and the center of the face was actually cupped. He said he never could hit his 6 iron right, but never had it replaced. He would try to either hit a hard 7 iron or a soft 5 iron.
Today’s metal woods absolutely do lose their pop. I’ll bet my last dollar that Jack would not play with the same 3-wood for 37 years if he started today.
Wood, on the other hand, does not wear out.
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