Michigan Golf Journal July 2019

practicing for the Ohio Amateur in Toledo in 1954 in a downpour rainfall. “I was the only golfer on the golf course on a Tuesday. Everybody else got off. Stubborn kid,” Nicklaus said about himself. “But when I got off the golf course there was some guy on the range. Pouring down rain; hitting balls. So, I sat back and watched this guy. He looked like Popeye. He’s drilling these short irons, just Quail high, little draws. And I thought, ‘man is that guy strong.’ I go in the locker room and ask, ‘who in the world is that?’ and they said, ‘Oh, that’s our defending champ, Arnold Palmer.’ That’s the first I saw him, and later that year he won the (U.S.) Amateur here in Detroit.” Nicklaus is well known for trying to get the USGA and the R&A to dial back the length of the golf ball. He said he’s been talking to both groups about the topic for 42 years, which certainly pre- dates the massive changes in technology the past 15 years or so. “Really, the golf ball is the controlling factor,” Nicklaus said. “If the golf ball goes shorter, you don’t need to keep adding land. We’re going to run out of water, we’re going to run out of money, were’ going to run out of time. Augusta National is the only club that I know that’s had enough money to keep the game relevant. “The first year I played the British Open (1962) we Continues on page 8 >> Michigan Golf Journal An Evening with Jack