Nicklaus: 'No one likes to see pros hacking out of the rough.'
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Jack Nicklaus believes the world’s leading players should feel ‘worn out’ by the time they leave the 18th green at the end of a tournament round.
The Golden Bear (69) admits that when he was the world’s top golfer he would always look forward to playing tough and challenging courses and used to plan his schedule depending on the difficulty of the Tour venues. It was never simply about the prize money on offer.
Nicklaus, a winner of 18 professional Major titles and more than 70 on the PGA Tour alone between 1962 and 1986, confesses that he ‘liked playing venues that would improve my game’.
In an interview with Detroit News, he explained: "Tournament golf is hard work. It's like a doctor going into surgery, they're worn out when it's over.
"In tournament golf, you have to be thinking on every shot and when I played, I chose my tournaments based on how the golf course would be and how the challenge would be.
“I knew if I had a good challenge, it would not only help my game but improve my ability to prepare when I got to a Major."
An in an obvious criticism of those pros who maybe don't give of their best, take their appearance fees and run, he said: "To come in to town and collect money and get out again but not have a challenge was something I didn't want to do.”
He also stressed that simply growing heavy rough is not always the best way to provide testing conditions.
"The one thing I never liked as a golfer was to hack-out of rough," said Nicklaus. "I’ve always felt that if you put the ball in the rough, there should be some chance of playing a shot to reach the green even if you are not able to control the ball like you would normally. I think recovery is a beautiful part of the game."
Tell us on the forum about your view of tricked up courses that penalise professional golfers too much and have them hacking out of the rough. Or is it something you like to see at a tournament?
