Jack Nicklaus Quotes

Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one's level of aspiration and expectation.

I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head.

Success depends almost entirely on how effectively you learn to manage the game's two ultimate adversaries: the course and yourself.

Pursue what you love, what you are passionate about. Don't let somebody else dictate your life's path.

Resolve never to quit, never to give up, no matter what the situation.

Confidence is the most important single factor in this game, and no matter how great your natural talent, there is only one way to obtain and sustain it: work.

Talent isn't as important as the work and dedication necessary to become competent.

The worse you're performing, the more you must work mentally and emotionally. The greatest and toughest art in golf is "playing badly well." All the true greats have been masters at it.

I'm a firm believer that in the theory that people only do their best at things they truly enjoy. It is difficult to excel at something you don't enjoy.

A kid grows up a lot faster on the golf course. Golf teaches you how to behave.

Sometimes the biggest problem is in your head. You've got to believe you can play a shot instead of wondering where your next bad shot is coming from.

It takes hundreds of good golf shots to gain confidence, but only one bad one to lose it.

Pressure is what you live for...if you are going to be successful in life, you're going to have pressure.

Don't be too proud to take lessons. I'm not.

Focus on remedies, not faults.

If there is one thing I have learned during my years as a professional, it is that the only thing constant about golf is its inconstancy.

If I had only one more round to play, I would choose to play it at Pebble Beach. I've loved this course from the first time I saw it. It's possibly the best in the world.

Pete Egoscue has totally changed my life. Never have I experienced such complete pain relief as I have by following the Egoscue Method.

Learn the fundamentals of the game and stick to them. Band-Aid remedies never last.

Pete Dye introduced me to golf course design back in the 1960's. He came to my hometown Columbus, Ohio to work on The Golf Club.

Complacency is a continuous struggle that we all have to fight.

Ask yourself how many shots you would have saved if you always developed a strategy before you hit, always played within your capabilities, never lost you temper, and never got down on yourself.

Once you play a tournament, you're playing against the golf course, you're playing against yourself and trying to do the best you can.

I never missed a putt in my mind.

Age doesn't make a difference either. Whether you're 20 or 70, you can still play together. There are so many different things you can do with golf that you can't do in other sports.

You have to love something and have a passion for it to be disciplined. My commitment was purely to golf

Confidence is believing in your own ability, knowing what you have to do to win. My confidence was developed through preparation.

There is no room in your mind for negative thoughts.

The best way to cope with trouble is to stay out of it as much as possible.

Concentration is a fine antidote to anxiety.

If a guy is a good athlete, he'll end up being a pretty decent golfer if he just takes it up. But you never master it; even the best players in the world never master the game.

Golf is not, and never has been, a fair game.

Scoring comes from being able to preserve what you've got and play your smart shots when you need to play them and not do stupid things and take advantage of things when have you them.

It's great to win, but it's also great fun just to be in the thick of any truly well and hard fought contest against opponents you respect, whatever the outcome.

Tee your ball high...air offers less resistance than dirt.

People only do their best at things they truly enjoy

I've said many times before that Pebble Beach is a wonderful thinking-man's golf course. That is why it is such a great U.S. Open venue.

I think that Pebble Beach is my favorite golf course to go to. I think Augusta is my favorite place to go play golf.

If you want to hit it farther, hit it better.

Keeping the head still is golf's one universal, unarguable fundamental.

Golf is a game of precision, not strength.

The one strongest, most important part of my game is that I want to be the best. I won't accept anything less that that. My ability to concentrate and work toward hat goal has been my greatest asset.

In 1979, when I was 39, I had such a bad year, I thought it was all over. Thankfully it wasn't.

I first saw Arnold Palmer when I was just a kid and he came to Columbus to play in a tournament. I watched him on the driving range hit balls that day. We went on to become great friends.

The importance of my legacy is not the golf course, it's what my life is, and what my life is intended to be. The game of golf is a game. My family is my life.

Before every shot, I go to the movies

When I want a long ball, I spin my hips faster.

Professional golf is the only sport where, if you win 20% of the time, you're the best.

There's a guy who won't be in contention. There's another one I don't have to worry about.

He had a lot of talent, but didn't have much dedication, wasn't organized, didn't know how to learn, didn't know how to comprehend what he was doing, didn't try to learn how to get better.