Jack Nicklaus played golf three times on his honeymoon – and lived to tell about it.
During the June 1 presentation of the Jack Nicklaus Award, given to the nation’s best college golfers, Division II recipient Adam Duncan, who is about to be married, asked the Golden Bear what advice he would give to a new husband who will be traveling the country playing golf.
“Is Barbara here?” Nicklaus asked the crowd. Upon learning his wife of 64 years, who is the 2025 Memorial Tournament honoree, was not yet in the media room, he added, “OK, good, I can talk.”
Laughter all around.
Nicklaus, who met Barbara at Ohio State when both were freshmen, shared how she wanted to see New York City following the couple’s wedding in 1960.
“She had never been out of Ohio and she wanted to go to New York City for her honeymoon,” he said.
‘There’s no golf in New York City.’ − Jack Nicklaus
Jack’s immediate thought: “New York City for a honeymoon? There’s no golf in New York City.”
A lot of guys would get “the look,” or worse, after a comment like that, but instead of taking a swing, Barbara got in the swing of things when her husband agreed to visit the Big Apple.
“We got married on a Saturday and drove over (to NYC) on a Monday and spent the night in Hershey, Pennsylvania,” Jack said. “The fellow who was the head pro at Hershey was an assistant where I grew up at Scioto, and I called him and played golf at Hershey and Barbara walked around with me.”
Nicklaus was just getting started.
“We went into New York and went to a couple shows and the second night we were there we went down to a little (jazz club) called Eddie Condon’s,” he said.
Nicklaus bumped into an acquaintance who wondered if “Nick”, as he was known, was planning to play at the famed Winged Foot Golf Club, located just north of the city.
“I thought you’d never ask,” Nicklaus said, with a wink. “Anyway, the next day I go to Winged Foot and it’s pouring rain, I mean buckets. Barbara went with me and a caddie and we were the only three people on the 36 holes of Winged Foot that day.”
The next day, Barbara admitted she didn’t want to spend two weeks in New York, so she suggested heading to Atlantic City, where she wanted to see the boardwalk.
“Of course you go right by Clementon, New Jersey, to get there,” Nicklaus said, eyes brightening. Clementon is the home of Pine Valley, among the most prestigious private golf courses in the world.
“So we go to Clementon and I walk into the clubhouse and … I say ‘I’m here with my wife.’ They go, ‘Your wife? Jack, this is a stag club, women are not allowed on the property.”
Uh-oh.
The club asked if he still wanted to play golf
“I said, ‘Oh yeah, I’d love to play golf.’ I was a 20-year-old kid,” he said.
The Golden Bear lives a charmed, nine-lives life
Clearly, the Golden Bear has nine lives, because he was still breathing after explaining to Barbara that she could not accompany him around the golf course.
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“They took her around the outside and she had to peer through the fence and see me play golf,” he said. “That basically was our honeymoon. We went to Atlantic City, looked at the boardwalk and said, ‘Let’s go home.’ So we did.”
Tongue firmly in cheek, Nicklaus added, “How many women get to see Hershey, Winged Foot and Pine Valley on their honeymoon?”
The epilogue?
“I’ll tell you what, Barbara never complained one time about any of that,” Nicklaus said. “She laughed and loves it and has been a great supporter. She’s been my partner for 65 years now. A pretty good deal.”
Sports columnist Rob Oller can be reached at roller@dispatch.com and on X.com at@rollerCD. Read his columns from theBuckeyes’ national championship season in “Scarlet Reign,” a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Dispatch. Details at OhioState.Champs.com
