{"id":14671,"date":"2015-01-23T12:51:34","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T12:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/jack-nicklaus-imagination-for-golf-to-grow\/"},"modified":"2015-01-23T12:51:34","modified_gmt":"2015-01-23T12:51:34","slug":"jack-nicklaus-imagination-for-golf-to-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/jack-nicklaus-imagination-for-golf-to-grow\/","title":{"rendered":"JACK NICKLAUS: “Imagination for golf to grow”."},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWE HAVE TO INVENT NEW GOLFING EXPERIENCES AND ALTERNATIVES FOR THE SPORT TO GROW.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe return of golf to the Olympic Games will play a very important role in the growth of golf in the world and also in Spain\u201d. This is how Jack Nicklaus expresses himself in an interview granted to Madrid\u2019s <\/span>La Moraleja Golf Club, whose four courses bear his signature.<\/span><\/p>\n

Golf,\u201d continues the man considered to be the best golfer in history, and currently one of the world\u2019s leading golf course designers, \u201cmust grow more in Europe than in the United States, because the North American market is more mature, with some 16,000 golf courses, almost 10,000 more than in Europe.<\/p>\n

China, Russia, and parts of the Middle East are becoming new and thriving opportunities for the golf industry, along with Southern Europe and North Africa, where, in Nicklaus\u2019 opinion, golf still has many possibilities: \u201cI believe that in the next few years we will see a large number of good Chinese players emerge and that the Chinese government will realize the jobs that this sport provides. Just look at the United States: golf contributes about $70 billion to the economy and two million jobs. So, considering that China\u2019s population is four times that of the United States, the potential is immense. [\u2026] As for other countries, Russia intends to develop a good number of golf courses and, as a design company, we are very active there. In addition, I believe that countries with good climate, such as Spain, Portugal or Morocco, will continue to look towards golf as a development factor and an attraction for tourism. In my opinion, we will also continue to see golf grow in some areas of the Middle East,\u201d he concludes.<\/p>\n

Jack Nicklaus -as stated in the interview- believes that golf, despite the economic crisis suffered by Western countries, is in good health. \u201cI see a lot of positive indicators,\u201d he says. Indicators such as the number of junior players (3 million in the United States, the highest figure of the decade) or the record amounts obtained from the sale of the rights to some professional championships. Even so,\u201d he continues, \u201cwe know that we have to invent new golfing experiences and alternatives for the sport to grow. Create, perhaps, courses that can be played in 30, 60 or 90 minutes, that is, in the time available to the user. We just need a product to offer. Our sport is trying to be innovative, to bring ideas and new reasons for people to leave the couch and go out and play golf. <\/p>\n

\n

Golf course design<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nicklaus is currently one of the most valued golf course designers and his company, Nicklaus Design, has created golf courses all over the world and has offices in 14 countries. But he has a very special relationship with Golf La Moraleja: \u201cCourse 1 was my first design in Europe. We opened that course in 1976 and I\u2019m still very proud of it,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

And now he is also proud of Course 3 at the same club: \u201cIt offers very good, solid golf; the layout has great variety and is aesthetically very beautiful. It\u2019s a course that plays very differently depending on the wind conditions. No one will get bored playing this course.<\/p>\n

It is also a course built to facilitate environmentally friendly maintenance: \u201cIn today\u2019s age, there should be no excuse for not properly building a golf course that can be easily and properly maintained, because we have all the knowledge and technology that we didn\u2019t have 30 or 40 years ago\u201d.<\/p>\n

The last edition of the Ryder Cup, last September, was held precisely on one of its most praised layouts, the PGA at Gleneagles. \u201cI don\u2019t think the course had anything to do with the outcome of the competition,\u201d he says, \u201cthe Europeans simply played better. They got around 110 birdies to the Americans\u2019 78.\u201d But if he has to choose one of his courses, Jack Nicklaus sticks with Muirfield Village, because it is his contribution \u201cto the place where I was born and grew up as a person and as a golfer.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n

Impressive career<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jack Nicklaus was born in 1940 in Ohio. His impressive sporting career is widely known. This is just a very small summary of the most important milestones of a virtually unbeatable record: <\/p>\n

Total wins: 118<\/p>\n

On the PGA tour: 73<\/p>\n

In the Champions Tour: 10<\/p>\n

Other victories: 35<\/p>\n

Majors: 18<\/p>\n

6 Masters: 1963, 1965, 1966, 1966, 1972, 1975 and 1986<\/p>\n

4 U.S. Opens: 1962, 1967, 1972 and 1980<\/p>\n

3 British Open: 1966. 1970. 1978 <\/p>\n

5 PGA Championship: 1963, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1980<\/p>\n

6 Ryder Cup player: 1969, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1981<\/p>\n

1 Ryder Cup as captain: 1983<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWE HAVE TO INVENT NEW GOLFING EXPERIENCES AND ALTERNATIVES FOR THE SPORT TO GROW.\u201d \u201cThe return of golf to the Olympic Games will play a very important role in the growth of golf in the world and also in Spain\u201d. This is how Jack Nicklaus expresses himself in an interview granted to Madrid\u2019s La Moraleja […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[128],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}