David Graham - "Our Friend Jack" SHORT TRACK

Mike Gonzalez 0:16

Let's move on to the major championships and and and talk a little bit just uh maybe in chronological order in terms of how they typically uh laid out during the year. The Masters was generally the opening event, it is today. Uh 14 starts in the Masters, uh only one miscut, one WD. Uh you played a lot of practice rounds there with Jack Nicholas, did you?

David Graham 0:36

A lot. Yes. Um he always liked to to play Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday the week before. And he had a nice little airplane, and I had started I actually star had started to work for him uh with when he purchased McGregor Golf Club Company. And we would go up and play Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and then we would go back to the I think that was the Radison Hotel downtown in those days, and he would have McGregor golf balls by the gross. And we would sit there, he had a little steel ring and we'd sit there and we'd eat dinner in the room, and we'd sit there and we'd drop golf balls through the ring, and the ones that went through went in the A bucket, and sometimes the ones that didn't go through went in the B and C bucket, and then he'd take all the ones out of the A bucket and we'd take them out on the golf course, and it was kind of really raw, because he would hit a couple of drives like on number two, and he'd one would hit the sprinkler and go 40 yards past the other one, he'd say, Now that ball's really good. I mean keep that one. And then you'd get on twelve, you would never put a new ball into play on twelve.

Bruce Devlin 1:56

Because you weren't sure how far it was going to go.

David Graham 1:59

The balls were so bad. So if you played the tenth hole and like Jack would hit a couple of six irons, and if the ball went the exact distance, he'd say, Well, that's a perfect ball, and he'd use it on eleven and hit it, and he would he you would never put a new ball in play on the twelfth tee because you had no clue how far it was gonna go.

Mike Gonzalez 2:19

Oh, it's fascinating.

David Graham 2:20

Yeah, and he he would sort out golf balls, and I'd I'd sort out mine too, because we both played McGregor's. And he was uh he was um he was terrific to play with. And I think Bruce would attest to it. I I don't know of a of a player that was more respectful on the golf course than Jack.

Bruce Devlin 2:44

Yeah, not only that, he was uh he was a very uh interesting guy to to like David said to play with because uh you you could tee off and as you're walking from your tee shot down to your second shot, you could talk about anything with him. Yeah, it didn't matter what you wanted to talk about, he'd talk about it.

David Graham 3:03

Until he got three under porn.

Bruce Devlin 3:05

And yeah, but even then, even then he'd talk to you between shots, but you know, about fifteen yards short of the golf ball, it was that was it, baby. That was uh the conversation's over. I gotta do my deal. I think mentally I think mentally he was the strongest player that I ever come across that could go from having a basic conversation about anything and then just center in on what his next shot was.

David Graham 3:36

Yeah, I I think you'd have to put Tiger Woods pretty close to that category. I mean, he got he got so focused. He may not have had the the conversation that you did with Jack. No, I don't think Tiger Woods could get into another zone, I mean, he'd get into another world. I mean, what he did as a golfer is just amazing. But Nicholas was always you'd always, if you played with him, you know, you'd have to kind of go halfway up the little hill to the twelfth T, but you'd have to stop. And you'd have to let him walk on the T. And about fifteen minutes later you could get on the T and you'd hear one person going, Yay David, yay, David, and gotta be your wife. He was amazing, yeah. You know, he never he never left the green until you finished putting out. I mean, he was he was amazing.

Bruce Devlin 4:30

Uh David'll attest to this too. I've said I've said to Mike uh in in just off you know off the record con conversations, Jack Nicholas was one hell of an athlete. Oh God. He was a great tennis player, you try to, you know, one-on-one basketball with him, he played knock you over.

David Graham 4:48

Yeah.

Bruce Devlin 4:48

He was a terrific athlete, Jack.

David Graham 4:50

Well, he used to bring like Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendell and all those guys, Pete Sampris, they'd all come and play with him at his house.

Bruce Devlin 4:59

He was a he was a really great athlete, Jack.

Mike Gonzalez 5:02

I I think about how aggressive a pass he took at the golf ball uh back in the day when you guys were trying to hit a sweet spot that was about the size of a dime or smaller compared to today's technology. And really, I think you had to sort of play within yourself with those smaller headed clubs than than the players of today. Am I right?

Bruce Devlin 5:22

Yeah, I think we were more concerned uh well, no, I was. I was more concerned on control, you know, keeping keeping the ball in the correct area rather than how far I was gonna hit it.

David Graham 5:34

Yeah. I remember playing a practice round with him at Royal Hobart one year when he came in. I was changing my shoes in the locker room, and it was it was a Wednesday afternoon, and he had only just arrived, and he opened up his bag and about four or five pairs of shoes fell out. And he said, You want to go play nine? And I said, Sure, I'd love to. Well, let's go play the back nine. He said, I haven't seen I'll I'll see the front nine tomorrow or something. And we he had a local caddy, caddying for him, and I think it was like number 12 or 13 was a pretty severe dog leg to the right. And it was uh everyone was hitting like two irons off the T and then hitting wedges on the green. And I walk on the T and he said, Well, what do we do here? I said, Well, Jack, just we just just hit something down there and it's just a wedge. He said, Where's the green? And I said, Well, the green is over there behind the trees. He said, Well, if I go over the trees, can I knock it on the green? And I said, Well, I don't think that's a smart thing to do. He said, Well, let me try. And he pulled out this three-wood and he said, Is it just like left of that tree there? I said, Yeah, it's right about there. And he hit this three-wood, and how the ball just went straight up and there over the trees. So we walked down to where our layups were, and there's a ball already on the green about 15 feet from all. It was his T-shot. The 18th hole was a par five and it was howling with wind left to right. And I mean, nobody in the nobody in the field could get it on in two. And he hit this low, low cut drive that started left and went down the middle of the fairway, and he just rifled a one-iron on the green and said, you know, how do you beat somebody like that? You know. It went straight down the middle. And you couldn't. I mean that's how it's pretty hard to beat.

Mike Gonzalez 7:25

Yeah, bro. We hope you've enjoyed this short track of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, but it's a good, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 7:49

It went smack down the fairway. And it's time to slice just mid-to-plance. It's headed for two, but it must stop. My caddy says as long as you're still in the state, you're okay.