Jack Nicklaus’ 4 simple secrets for solid ball striking

Golf instruction is ever-evolving, but the best advice stands the test of time. In GOLF.com’s new series, Timeless Tips, we’re highlighting some of the greatest advice teachers and players have dispensed in the pages of GOLF Magazine. Today we have Jack Nicklaus’ four swing fundamentals from our September 2005 issue.

When it comes to golf’s Mount Rushmore, Jack Nicklaus‘ place is etched in stone. With 73 PGA Tour titles and 18 major championships to his name, he is the game’s greatest champion. The Golden Bear is synonymous with excellence in this game and beyond.

Nicklaus played the game in an era before social media and big-time TV contracts, so it can be easy to discount his greatness. But among those who were there to witness him play in person, there is little doubt that he is the GOAT.

No matter where you stand in the GOAT debate, there’s no arguing that Nicklaus is an all-time great. So, why not take a page out of his book and focus on some key fundamentals to improve your own swing?

Back in the mid 2000s just as Nicklaus was retiring from competitive golf, he joined GOLF Magazine to impart some of his best — and simplest — wisdom to our readers. Check it out below and implement them in your own game for better ball striking.

Jack’s 4 key fundamentals

For generations, all golfers shared the same goal: To play like Jack. The raw power, the crafty mental approach, the deadly putts. In his magnum opus Golf My Way (the best-selling instructional book ever), Jack Nicklaus told millions how. Here are a few of the master’s swing fundamentals that you can use during your next round.

1. Ball position

I play every standard shot with the ball in the same position relative to my feet. That position is opposite my left heel.

So far as my own game is concerned, I keep the ball’s position fixed, for the following reasons: First, simplicity is my ultimate objective in the golf swing. I strive to eliminate needless complexities from what must … always be a highly complex action. Unless one is forced to do so by angled terrain or the demands of unorthodox shots, moving the ball’s position at address is … a needless complexity.

Second, in a full, free, powerful golf swing, the clubhead travels along a straight path very momentarily. The talk you sometimes hear about swinging “on line for a foot or more through the ball” is so much bunk. The ideal is to have the clubhead traveling along the correct path … during that infinitesimal moment when the ball is actually on its face. In [my swing], all those things concur … with every club when the ball is positioned in line with my left heel.

2. Where to look

Although I’m right-handed, I feel my left eye is my master eye. At least, it has become my master eye in golf. It’s the one through which I predominantly “see” the ball. This has to be true because at the top of the swing on a full drive, my head is so positioned that my nose blocks my right eye’s view of the ball.

My right eye does have a role, however. Through … peripheral vision, I actually see the club start back from the ball. I can — and do — check that it’s on the correct path … predominantly with my right eye.

Although I consciously look at the ball until well after impact, I’m never conscious of seeing it hit. It just suddenly vanishes. But even without looking after it, I can tell exactly where it’s going from the “feel” of impact.

Usually I look at the ball whole, not at a particular part of it. But I have found on occasions that focusing specifically on the rear half of the ball helps me make better contact.

3. A ‘big-hit’ adjustment

When I’m really going for a big one, I make a slight stance adjustment that speeds up my leg thrust and hip turn. I simply point my left foot more toward the target. … This gives me, in effect, a “running start” in shifting my hips out of the way faster on the forward swing.

If you try this, be sure you start down with your legs. If you don’t, the “opened” left-foot position will make it very easy for you to spin your shoulders “over the top.”

4. Let your legs do less work

Sometimes, when I’ve laid off golf for a while, my legs aren’t in any condition to work correctly in my forward swing. Until I get my legs back in shape through practicing and playing, or exercising, I try to keep the upward movement of my left shoulder as slow as possible on my forward swing. (This) gives my legs a little more time to move laterally toward the target before my shoulders have a chance to take over the swing involuntarily and ruin the shot.

If you can keep that upward left-shoulder movement relatively slow as you start back to the ball, you’ll find that your legs are virtually forced to work toward the target.