Jack Nicklaus II reflects on life lessons learned from parents in new book

Jack Nicklaus II had gone downstairs on Monday evening to get a glass of water.

There, sitting at the kitchen table was his dad, arguably the greatest golfer of all time, his head buried in a book. But it wasn’t just any book. It was the one Jack II had just written with Don Yeager -- “Best Seat In The House: 18 Golden Lessons From A Father To His Son.”

Jack Nicklaus had read some snippets of the book – “I’ve read a lot more of it than you think” he told his son, no doubt thanks to wife, Barbara, who served as “our chief editor,” Jack II says. But this was the first time the elder Nicklaus had read the book in its entirety.

When Jack II found his dad sitting in the kitchen on the eve of the Memorial Tournament he hosts, the Golden Bear had about 50 pages to go.

“Jack, I think that it’s fantastic,” the proud father said.

No book review will ever mean more.

Jack II has been working on the book, which was published on May 17, for his entire life. He just didn’t realize it until 1986 when he caddied for his 46-year-old father on that magical – and improbable -- ride to a sixth Masters championship.

“I always felt like, wow, nobody saw that victory better than I did,” Jack II says. “I always felt like I had the best seat in the house for that victory. And I don't know why that stuck with me.”

But it did. He started keeping notes and journals and even recorded some of the conversations he had with his dad. Jack II soon realized that the story he wanted to tell went way beyond what happened at Augusta National that extraordinary Sunday.

“I have felt that I've had the best seat in the house to watch a great man, a great career and a great life,” the eldest of the Golden Bear’s five children explains.

Jack II sat down to write the book on more than one occasion over the last four or five years. He just didn’t know how to organize his thoughts like he does the architectural plans for the more than 50 golf courses he’s designed across the world.

A conversation with motivational speaker John C. Maxwell during a fundraiser at the home of his parents proved pivotal in that quest, though. Jack II mentioned that he wanted to write the book, and Maxwell told him that he knew the perfect co-author.

Enter Yeager, a New York Times best-selling author and corporate speaker who lives in Tallahassee, Florida. The two hit it off immediately and started working on the book in January of 2020. By October, the publisher had their unedited draft.

“It's all my thoughts,” Jack II says. “… I would say 99 percent of it is verbatim what I wrote, but Don helped me organize my thoughts and put them into you know a manner that made sense to a reader.”

The book consists of 18 chapters full of behind-the-scenes stories about life with Jack, and Barbara, Nicklaus -- “I could never mention my dad without in the same sentence, the same breath, saying Mom, because they’re such a great team,” Jack II says. Some will be familiar to Nicklaus fans while others might surprise.

Did you know there were times when he got death threats, for example? Once, a policeman escorting him to his room at the Hotel Bel-Aire even gave him a gun and Nicklaus, still feeling unsafe, left in the middle of the night and walked to a nearby Holiday Inn, checked in and bolted the door.

Or that once after a round of golf President Bill Clinton asked him how to choose between meeting with a donor and taking his teenage daughter, Chelsea, horseback riding? Nicklaus’ answer was simple: Chelsea wouldn’t be a teenager much longer – and turns out, Clinton followed his advice.

And there was that phone call on Father’s Day in 1980 when Jack II was going on-and-on about the squirrely shots he hit and the disappointing finish in a local golf tournament he’d played. And after 20 minutes or so of patiently listening, his dad asked, “Don’t you want to know how I did today?” Of course, Jack II, said. Well, he’d just won the U.S. Open for the fourth time at Baltusrol.

That story, and all the others, speak to Nicklaus’ legacy and the way he and Barbara raised their four sons and daughter.

Nicklaus rarely played more than two weeks in a row to make sure he had time with the family. And there were times when he flew home after an early tee time on Friday to watch his sons’ high school football games then headed back to the tournament site. And Nicklaus was in the gallery for every round of match play as Jack II won the 1985 North & South Amateur at Pinehurst No. 2.

Jack II has made the same effort to be present for the important dates in the lives of his five children, who range from the age of 31 to 22. In fact, last weekend he was in the stands watching his son Will and his UNC teammates play Virginia in the NCAA lacrosse semifinals.

“The one lesson that I took from Mom and Dad, and I still watch them, is being there and not just like on location, but being present for all of our activities, being there for our lives,” Jack II says. “And I watched my mom and dad do that for their 22 grandchildren.

“It's amazing to me that with all the commitments that my mom and dad still have at the age of 81, but even throughout their career, when Dad was traveling all over the world, they were always there for us. We always felt like we were their number priority.

“And honestly, I believe we were.”

The stories anchor chapters about staying focused on what you can control, being a parent first and a best friend later, how to stay mentally tough and giving more than you take in relationships, among other topics. But it’s written in an easy-to-read, conversational style and has as much value to younger readers as it would to parents.

“I hope for it’s for both and all the above -- for moms and daughters and fathers and sons and all those combinations,” Jack says. “I really just set out to write a book that would honor my mom and dad.

“And if somebody takes something that helps them in their lives that's a huge bonus for me.”