Jack Nicklaus - "Focus on the Majors" SHORT TRACK

Intro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle. Then it started to hook just a lot of things.

Mike Gonzalez 0:16

One thing that your contemporaries sort of uh marveled at was how you managed your time, meaning scheduled your year, pointed to the majors. Did anybody else in your era do that, take that approach the way you did?

SPEAKER_02 0:34

Not many. I think uh I sort of was the approach that I sort of assumed that Hogan took. And uh I sort of liked a lot of the things Hogan did, particularly the way he the way he hit the golf ball and played. He always went in ahead of time and prepared for a tournament. And I looked at it and I and I sort of so I sort of played around with it. In 1962, I remember going to the Masters, of course it was the first major of the year, and I went to Greensboro the week before. And so when I got to Augusta, I had a couple of days of practice and I didn't win the golf tournament. And so I said, I didn't think I prepared well enough. The next year I skipped Greensboro and uh I went to Masters a week ahead of time, prepared, won the tournament. I said, that was pretty good. Next year Greensboro came around and uh I liked the people at Greensboro, they were nice people, and it was a nice tournament. And uh I went to Greensboro, I didn't win. Arnold won that year. The next year uh I skipped Greensboro and I won again. And I tried again, I skipped Greensboro again the next year and won again. I said, you know, my formula of of going in and practicing ahead of time served me a lot better than going to play a tournament the week before. So that was sort of been my was my mode. And I learned from that. It took it took a few years before I figured it out. Uh so I always went to the US Open earlier, the British Open earlier, PGA earlier, and those were my four main tournaments that I concentrated on. And uh, you know, through the years that my my results showed that I I was probably right with what I did. Now, I probably could have played a few more tournaments and probably wouldn't want as many majors. Uh, but uh uh, you know, that was what I did and it it worked for me. So it may not work for everybody, but I remember taking the Gary Player was always saying, gosh, I want to win the Grand Slam. He says, he says, I really want to have trouble with the U.S. Open. I said, well, why don't you go to Bell Reve with me the week before and and practice and and get and get so you really know the golf course? Oh, I can't take a week off. He says, gosh, I'm only over here for a few weeks. And he says, you know, it's it's precious time to me to gotta play tournaments. I said, Gary, try it. So we went to Bell Reve a week early, and Gary won the tournament. I didn't play very well, but uh uh Gary played beautifully and he won 1965. So uh, and then the next year he didn't do it. And then I said, Didn't you learn anything last year? Oh, yeah, but I can't afford that time. Okay, okay, that's your deal.

Mike Gonzalez 3:20

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Intro Music 3:42

Whack down the fairway. It went smack down the fairway, and it started to slice, just smidge off line. It headed for two, but it bounced off nine. My caddy says long as you're still in the state, you're okay. Yes, it went straight down the middle, quite away.