As readers of this blog are aware, I am an enormous fan of Jack Nicklaus and believe he is the greatest golfer ever. I'm thinking that, despite The Bear's public encouragement of his chasers to the contrary, Nicklaus is hibernating comfortably this winter, secure in the knowledge that his record of 18 majors will not likely ever be broken, certainly not in his lifetime, and certainly not by Tiger Woods. Woods, recovering from another major back surgery, will be lucky to play in the Masters and U.S. Open this year, never mind post a winning score. So, let's celebrate the GOAT by looking back at an earlier Golf Album post published in his honor.
***************
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
