New equipment is huge in modern golf, both in the pros and among amateurs, but the great Jack Nicklaus proved it wasn't that way in the old days as an incredible stat proves.
Ahead of The Memorial Tournament that Nicklaus hosts on the PGA Tour, some lesser-known facts about the Golden Bear came out - including a stunner about his equipment set-up.
As although he changed clubs here and there, incredibly Nicklaus used the same 3-wood for 37 years! That's a spell that took in all of his amateur championships and every one of his 18 Majors.
Nicklaus had the 3-wood in his bag from 1958 to 1995 and remarkably again he only had it re-gripped just the once - in in 1983.
The club in question was a MacGregor 693 3-wood, which stayed in the bag until 1995 before being put on display in the Jack Nicklaus Room at the USGA's museum at its Far Hills, N.J. headquarters.
It's mind-boggling to think about in this day and age when technology advances almost on a daily basis, with launch monitors, swing analysis and all kinds of hi-tech materials going into club development.
You'd hardly get the case now where a player won a Major with anything older than a couple of years in his bag, apart from his putter, and it's especially the case for drivers and fairway woods.
So the fact Nicklaus rocked up to the 1986 Masters and duly won a sixth Green Jacket after wielding a 28-year-old 3-wood around Augusta National is hard to comprehend.
"Jack hardly changed anything," MacGregor designer Clay Long told Golf Digest about his time working with Nicklaus on his clubs from 1980 onwards.
"I think that helped him become so great. That took a variable out of the game for him."
Playing that one 3-wood for so long is just one of a number of brilliant Jack Nicklaus stats the PGA Tour released on X just ahead of The Memorial, with some of the best below.
Fun facts about 18-time major champion and @MemorialGolf host @JackNicklaus that you may not know:• Jack used the same 3-wood 1958 to 1995. A 37-year span which included each of his amateur championships and all 18 major victories as a pro. He only re-gripped the club one time… pic.twitter.com/uxJyUg0krKJune 5, 2024
Amazing Jack Nicklaus stats
- Through the 1970s, Nicklaus had 35 top-10 finishes in 40 Majors, winning eight and coming lower than 10th just five times.
- Nicklaus played in a record 146 consecutive men's Major from The Masters in 1962 until the 1998 US Open.
- Along with a record 18 Major championship victories, Nicklaus also has a record 19 runners-up spots in golf's big four tournaments, and holds a further record for top 10s with 73.
- Nicklaus is the only man to win The Players three times - lifting the first ever running along with the second and fifth.
