Big Jack, Final Round

Big Jack is so great he deserves a two-part blog post, like The King earlier. 

Classic Design

            When I was a youngster my family was privileged to be a member of Westchester Country Club in Harrison, New York.  Golf fans should be familiar with Westchester.  Westchester has hosted a PGA golf tournament almost continuously for close to 50 years.  The club hosted its first PGA tournament when it hosted the Thunderbird Classic from 1963 through 1965.  The winners were Arnold Palmer, Tony Lema and Jack Nicklaus! (Not a bad lineup– more on Tony Lema in a later post.)  The club then hosted the Westchester Classic, starting in 1967 through 1975.  After that date, the Classic changed sponsors several times until it morphed from the Buick Classic to the Barclays Classic in 2005, with the Barclays leaving the club after its tournament in 2007 (not without controversy – check it here.  Most recently, Westchester hosted the fourth Senior major, the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship,  in 2011, won by Freddie Couples  in a playoff with John Cook.       

The Club Opened in 1922

            The “Classic” as it was known to the locals, really saw its heyday in the period from ’67 through ’75.  Because of its proximity to New York City, it always drew a formidable field.  It didn’t hurt that the tournament also offered the largest purses on tour.  For example, in 1963, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus played in the tournament.  The total purse was $100, 000, and first prize was $25,000.  The same year, the first prize for the US Open was $17,500 and for the Masters was $20,000.  (The British Open title was worth 1,500 Pounds Sterling or approximately $5,000.)

The Classic

            The inaugural Westchester Classic in 1967 had a purse of $250,000, the largest in golf history at that point in time.  The first place prize for the Classic in 1967 was $50,000, the biggest purse in tournament golf.  (Both the Masters and the US Open did not raise its winner’s purse to $50,000 until 1979.)  Jack Nicklaus defeated Dan Sikes by one stroke in a rain-delayed tournament to become the first Westchester Classic winner.

            So, circa 1967, knowing I was going to the tournament, and armed with members badges that allowed more generous access than almost any other tournament (see article link above) , my dad advised me to not only wander the course for action, but also to watch the golfers warm up before their round, something I had never done, and never contemplated doing.   I took him up on his advice, and it turned out to be a stroke of good fortune to have listened.    

The South Course

            At Westchester, there are two 18-hole courses.  At the time, the club used the first hole of the second course, the South Course,  as the practice range.  At the time the first hole was 360 yards long, straight, with little but rough lining the fairways (with a large tree down the right side).  Approaching the green, there were two traps, one on each side of the green.  The green itself was rather wide, sixty feet or so from one side to the other and one hundred feet deep.  The tees were moved down the fairway about sixty yards from the regular tee box, so the players were hitting about 300 yards from the green in the middle of the fairway straight up to the green. 

            This particular time I watched several golfers warm up, with their caddies in the fairway with their shag backs picking up the golfers’ shots as each one fell in the fairway.  Then Nicklaus came out to warm up.  Keep in mind, here is the greatest golfer in the world, and there might have been twenty people there to watch this ritual.    No ropes, no burly, surly security guards with handsets or pigtail wires in their ears, just one or two other golfers,  Nicklaus and his caddy.

The West Course

            Jack’s performance was absolutely amazing.  He had his caddy, with shag bag in hand, serve as his target and pick up each ball after he hit his shot.  As the other golfers had done, as most golfers do (perhaps Jack’s one link to the rest of us golfing mortals) he started by hitting the more lofted clubs (PW-9-7 and so forth), then moved up through the higher irons to the woods (real woods, not metal woods.)  Jack would wave his caddy back up the fairway after every shot as he moved up in club number, so that the caddy was positioned perfectly to pick up each shot.   

            By the time Jack had worked up to his driver (wooden head with a steel shaft – don’t try this at home)  the caddy was standing on the green, in the middle.  Jack hit a couple of drives.  They exploded off the tee and flew straight as an arrow.  The ball bounced on the middle of the green, and the caddy took a step or two and picked up each shot.  Then, Jack, I kid you not, puts his hand up in front of him, and waves his hand, directing the caddy 30 feet or so to the left side of the green,  Whack.  The caddy picks up the ball without moving more than a step or two.  After a few of these, Jack waves him over to the right side of the green.  Whack. The caddy moves a step or two, picks up the ball and sticks it in the shag bag.  Satisfied with his warmup, Jack was done, and so, perhaps was the field.  (Nicklaus won the Thunderbird at Westchester in 1965, and the Classic in 1967 and 1972.)  Springsteen sang that he got this guitar and learned how to make it talk.  Nicklaus got a driver in his hand and could make it sing. 

            Another time I saw The Bear after a round hitting practice shots over hundreds of cars when the fairway on the South Course was used to park cars in the afternoon.  His caddy was standing several rows of cars away, almost out of sight.  I guess the round had not gone well for him.  As great as he was, you didn’t see any other golfers out their practicing after completing their rounds.

The Greatest Waves Goodbye On Swilcan Bridge

            When Nicklaus first hit the scene in 1960, he bore the brunt of Arnie’s Army and others because he was, well, over weight and not exactly a fashion plate.  With his crewcut and baggy clothes, he was the mirror opposite of the trim, dashing Palmer.  But his skills spoke for themselves, and as he started to push The King from his throne as the best golfer in the world, the golfing public responded with insults, starting to call him “Fat Jack” with taunts from the gallery and even in the press.   Perhaps in response, Nicklaus eventually lost weight, grew out his hair and left behind the image of his early years as he assumed the mantle of golf’s greatest, but never left behind his game.

            Bobby Jones, the iconic golf figure of the early 20th century, said after watching Nicklaus win the Masters in 1965: "Nicklaus played a game of which I am not familiar."  Nicklaus stood above all others during his golfing career, still does today, and in my book, always will.  So here’s to Jack Nicklaus, the Golden Bear, a giant of a golfer.

BIG JACK

Big John

Songwriter/Composer  - Jimmy Dean

Publishers  - Sony/ATV Acuff Rose Music

Every morning at the course, you could see him arrive.
He stood 6 foot even, weighed 225.
Kind of broad at the shoulders, broader at the hip.
And everybody knew you didn't give no lip to Big Jack.

Big Jack
Big Jack

Big Bad Jack

Big  Jack

He made a splash on the tour, and he took it by storm

Almost won his first event, he stayed in front from there on

He didn't say much, kind of quiet and shy
And if you spoke at all, you just said hi to Big Jack.

Somebody said he came from Ohio,
Got in a match with the King of the game.
And a crash and a blow from a fairway wood,
sent The King to the promise land.

Big Jack
Big Jack

Big Bad Jack

Big  Jack

Then came the day at the end of his time,
when Augusta rocked and grown men started crying.
Marshalls were praying, and hearts beat fast
but everybody thought they had seen the last
of  Big Jack.

Through the ‘zaleas and the ‘nolias  on the world famous course

walked a giant of a man that still was a force.
Jabbed a mighty putter and raised it aloft,
and as the putt fell the crowd roared to the heavens for Big Jack

Big Jack
Big Jack

Big Bad Jack

Big  Jack

Then with all of his skill, he made a mighty score.
Then a golfer yelled out, “that iron was a ‘fore’”.
And 13 men who were ahead or tied
were left behind by the greatest, Big Jack.
As Jack walked up Holly, the crowd rose as one,
then cheered so loud it shook the hallowed ground.
And as roars and joy flew up to the sky,
everybody knew it was historic, one for all-time, for Big Jack.

Big Jack
Big Jack

Big Bad Jack

Big  Jack

No one ever duplicated that priceless win,
and no ever, ever will do it again.
These few words can be said about him,
'In the history of the game, there’s only one at the top, Big Jack'

Big Jack
Big Jack

Big Bad Jack

Big  Jack.

AMDG