JACK NICKLAUS II : There Is More Than Just One Heir to The Bear but the Heirs Still Play a Friendly Game of Golf

PONTE VEDRA, Fla. —  The tan, blond young fellow in blue shorts walking into the pro shop at the Sawgrass Country Club looked familiar. A familiar logo, a tiny golden bear, decorated the pocket of his yellow golf shirt.

He had a familiar name, too: Jack Nicklaus.

But this Jack Nicklaus was taller and slimmer than the original model, and he was in town to play in the Florida State Amateur tournament.

The scoreboard listed him as Jack Nicklaus II. The score he had shot in the first round did not remind one of that other Jack Nicklaus, either. An 84 had put him 11 strokes behind the leader and in danger of missing the cut.

Jackie Nicklaus wasn’t taking it hard, although he did say the day had been discouraging. A friendly competitor walked by while young Nicklaus was talking to a reporter and asked him how he played.

“Eighty-four,” he said. “The course brought me to my knees today.” To the reporter, he added, “I’m going to have to play my rear end off to make the cut.”

Nicklaus shot that poor round at an otherwise good time. His game had never been better than it has been this spring, he said. “It has really been positive for me. I have spent a lot of time with Dad since Thanksgiving, working on my game.”

After caddying for his father during the summer of 1984--he did that again last week in the U.S. Open--he played in the Bing Crosby tournament at Pebble Beach as his dad’s partner for the first time last winter and Nicklaus & Son finished second in the pro-am competition.

“That was a great motivator,” he said. “It really got me excited.”

Then, playing his fourth season on the golf team at the University of North Carolina, he dropped his scoring average from 77 to 73. Last month, he won the North-South amateur tournament.

Nicklaus, 23, attended North Carolina on a golf scholarship and graduated last month with a degree in recreation administration.

As for the degree, he said, “I have no vocational plans. It allowed me enough flexibility to play golf and take some other courses I wanted.”

Does all this mean that the pro golf tour will have another Jack Nicklaus soon?

“It has always been a dream of mine to turn pro,” he said. “I made a commitment to work hard on my game this summer, and then I’ll see.”

His dad approves. “He says, ‘Go for it,’ if that’s what I want,” Jackie said. “He hasn’t tried to influence me. He has always been supportive.”

Athletic excellence abounds in the Jack William Nicklaus family of North Palm Beach, Fla. Michael, 11, the youngest of Barbara and Jack Nicklaus’ five children, has honed a fair tennis game on his family’s own grass court. Nan, 19, is attending the University of Georgia on a volleyball scholarship, and Jackie and Steve, 21, were football stars at a small private school near the Nicklaus home. Gary, a 16-year-old sophomore at the same school, is the newest Nicklaus star, excelling in football, basketball and golf.

Their celebrity father has been his kids’ biggest fan--with the possible exception of their mother.

“I have had a good relationship with Dad,” Jackie said. “He always made it a point to arrange his schedule to meet our schedule. He missed only two games in the five years Steve and I played football in high school.” Nicklaus Sr., in fact, long ago made a commitment never to be away from Barbara and his kids for more than two weeks at a time.

Jackie played tight end and defensive end in high school at 190 pounds. Today he is 6-4 and weighs only 175 and said he is “eating like a horse to put on weight.” Steve, a non-starting wide receiver at Florida State, withdrew from school before the spring semester to go to work.

Jackie made sure the reporter understood that Steve withdrew from school. “It’s not like Steve to quit,” he said.

As good as Jackie is, he may be only the third-best golfer in the Nicklaus family. Gary was recently labeled “The Heir to the Bear” by Sports Illustrated.

Gary, 5-9 and 160, has all the tools to be good, Nicklaus Sr. told SI. Gary, in fact, has beaten his dad a couple of times on the Lost Tree Village course across the street from the Nicklaus home.

Jackie, who sometimes calls Gary, La Machine, was more flowery than his father in praising his younger brother. “No one Gary’s age is as talented as he is,” he said. “He has the potential to be as good as he wants to be. He is limited only by his desire. Others are limited by ability.”

Nicklaus Sr. started Jackie in golf when he was 10. “Dad’s strategy with me and Gary was different,” he said. “He let me enjoy the game. I just went out and played and had fun. As a result I developed some bad habits that I’ve had to work out.”

Gary is getting more time and help from Nicklaus Sr., Jackie said. “He’s learning more about fundamentals and the technical aspects of the game. Dad was afraid too many drills would turn me away from the game.”

Jackie did not lack for help, however. Besides taking lessons from his father, he got help from Nicklaus Sr.’s long-time teacher, Jack Grout of Columbus, Ohio, and professionals Gardner Dickinson and Phil Rodgers.

Recently, he said, he had a four-hour session with Australian professional Norman Von Nida, to get help on his short game, his major weakness. His dad listened in, he said.

The burden of being Jack Nicklaus’ son doesn’t bother him as much as it used to, Jackie said. “If there is any burden, it has been created in my own mind.”

Once, however, it did affect him.

“If I thought I was not living up to Dad, I was intimidated by the crowds,” he said. “I was concerned by other people’s expectations. But now I’ve started to live my own life. Rarely does anyone try to harass me. People have been supportive. I’m me; I’m handling myself. I hope I handle myself well.”

Gary, though, handles the Nicklaus fame better than he does, Jackie told SI. “Gary’s a ham. He gets a gallery and cameras in front of him, he starts playing great. He loves it.”

Nicklaus Sr. understands the problem, Jackie said. “My dad has been so successful, he has tried to keep us out of the spotlight. I see Jack Nicklaus, not as a great golfer, but as a great father. I have great parents.”

The Nicklauses play a lot of golf together. “Gary and I go at it often at Lost Tree,” Jackie said. “He has 10 times more ability than I have and he was probably a better player than I was a year ago. But I’ve worked hard on my game.”

The games get even more competitive when Nicklaus Sr. joins in. “Dad’s competitive all the time,” Jackie said. “He never eases up on Gary and me, but he’s always helping us with our swings.”

On his dad’s game, Jackie said, “He can still hit it out there. I can’t outdrive him. He always has about 20 yards in his back pocket.”

Jackie keeps a lid on his temper on the course. He has to. “Dad saw me get hot once when I was 11 or 12,” he said. “I kicked my bag in anger and he said, ‘If I see you do that again, son, that will be last set of clubs you’ll ever own.’ ”

The Sports Illustrated story, a major article that showcased Gary on the cover as “The Next Jack Nicklaus,” did not meet with unanimous approval in the Nicklaus home.

“Gary was most affected by it,” Jackie said. “It was the first time he was really aware of publicity. He was a bit overwhelmed by it and did not go to Augusta to play practice rounds with Dad because he said he wouldn’t feel comfortable.”

Nicklaus Sr. wasn’t happy with the story, Jackie said. “He thought it was more publicity and attention than Gary needed at the time.”

If Jackie doesn’t make it as a pro, he’s going to look into one of his father’s businesses. “I’ve traveled with Dad a little bit and got my feet wet in golf course design,” he said. “I’m going to look into that.”

Meanwhile, his game needs some more work. Needing only a 78 to make the cut in the Florida tournament, he shot 82 and missed it.

That, though, can happen to the best of golfers. In fact, it happened just last week to Nicklaus Sr. in the U.S. Open.