Jack Nicklaus

No. 40 The Greatest Shot Jack Nicklaus

No. 40 The Greatest Shot Jack Nicklaus

People have always asked me. "What is the greatest shot you have ever seen?" There could only be but one. Time-1959 Trans-Mississippi Tournament. Problem - ball in two feet of dense thick wet rough (the thickest I have ever seen) no air under the ball - grain against him (an expert would have difficulty in wedging it out) 50 yards away loom large pine trees that must be cleared. Here we see Jack Nicklaus meeting this challenge. The gallery, thinking wedge to the fairway, was stunned as Jack pulled out a four iron, turned and faced the trees. With his young super strength, the club ripped the ball out of the tangled grass, cleared the pines, and settled just short of the green, 275 yards away. Unlike other great shots where the crowd explodes with anxiety - and outside of a few witnesses that didn't understand the enormity of the shot - there was a dead silence, no one could comprehend what they had seen. This unbelievable shot helped lead to his 3-2 victory over runner-up Deane Beman. This shot could never be duplicated again. Not even by the great man himself. The Trans-Mississippi was Jack's first major championship and the first ever defense of a long list of major titles.

Print signed by artist Loyal H. Chapman (unframed)