It wasn't wise to be like Jack.
That's what Tom Watsonsaid Wednesday aboutJack Nicklaus. Watson, the Memorial Tournament's honoree this year, said Nicklaus wrecked more golf swings than anyone else. It wasn't Nicklaus' fault, mind you, but nonetheless the Golden Bear left some damaged swings in his wake back in the day.
"I don't care who you are, you pattern yourself after the best player in the game," Watson said following an emotional ceremony that brought Nicklaus to tears when he spoke of his former rival. "Today's kids, I don't know whether they do that. They have swings that are very similar. We tried to pattern ourselves after the guy that swung it best, like Jack. I was upright and I drove my legs, the reverse C into the ball, hit the ball straight up in the air, that's what I patterned my game after."
But some players took it too far.
"Tom Weiskopf was awfully good, but Jack was awfully good with the 1-iron, and he ruined more people's games because they had to be like Jack. They had to have a 1-iron rather than the hybrid," said Watson, who won eight majors and famously got the best of Nicklaus in the Duel in the Sun to win the 1977 British Open at Turnberry.
"When I grew up I had a hybrid in my bag when I was a kid. We had this Wilson 3½ wood, had a sole plate. It was beautiful. And I used that until I wanted to be like Jack, and I had to hit a 1 iron. I could never hit a 1-iron. There was only one guy that could hit it, and it was Jack.
"So he ruined a lot of people's games, and maybe that was part of his thought process: I'm the only guy that can hit a 1-iron, everybody is trying to be like me, and that's good."
Watson's game wasn't exactly ruined, as he was smart enough to know soon enough that he couldn't hit the 1-iron. But the club did help him a few times.
"Actually, I only hit the 1-iron off the tees most of the time, and it helped me at the British Open," said Watson, who won five Opens. "I used the 1-iron off the tee a lot over there."
