Jack Nicklaus reveals what his favourite part of the game of golf is

Jack Nicklaus said that it was difficult for him to isolate a part of the game of golf that he would say was his favourite.

Nicklaus said that there were great joys to be had out on the course and in doing the work of developing the game and its players.

In the end he would settle on a core lesson that he has learned from golf as whole.

“Well, the game of golf isn’t, isn’t a part, there are many parts of the game,” Nicklaus said ahead of the Memorial.

“From playing the game — people often ask me, what’s my favorite shot that I play, and I said, ‘It’s the one I’m playing right now.’ If that’s not your favorite shot when you’re playing it, then you better work on it until it becomes your favorite shot.

“I love what the game of golf does for people.

“These young men here growing up in the game of golf, they’re going to come out and represent their area.

“They have grown up around adults, they have learned how to handle adults.

“They have learned how to grow up and they have learned the courtesies of the game.

“There’s a lot of things within the game of golf that are so good. First Tee has been fantastic. First Tee has taught the lessons of life to so many kids. I think it’s unbelievable what they have done.

“We see the golf courses that are being done, the communities that are having tournaments, no different than the Memorial Tournament or Valhalla, when I went to Valhalla the first time, Dwight Gahm, the gentleman who did the golf course, he said, Jack, someday I want to have the PGA Championship here.

“That’s my goal. Well, he’s had what, five of ’em? He’s done pretty well.”

Nicklaus said that golf teaches its supplicants to rise to the challenges of life.

“There’s a challenge to everything you do in life,” he said. “And if you don’t like, if you don’t like challenges, go someplace else, because golf’s got a bunch of ’em.”

“I love the game of golf,” he continued. “It’s given me the opportunity — I wouldn’t be sitting here if I had missed about 10 five-foot putts.

“I wouldn’t be sitting here. Nothing, none of this would have ever happened. So I was blessed to be able to do that. I was blessed to be able to take what I did and what I learned and put it to better use.”