The United States Golf Association added another room to its enviable collection of golf history today – and even their inspiration was impressed.
The Jack Nicklaus Room joins other permanent galleries honouring Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer and Mary “Mickey” Wright in the Arnold Palmer Centre for Golf History in New Jersey.
The 111 square metre exhibit contains more than 80 artifacts, some of which Nicklaus had forgotten before the three-year process to build the room.
And the “Golden Bear” said the memories the process stirred were invaluable.
“There's a lot of things that … drew a lot out of me that I didn't even know I remembered, and to see it all compiled together is really very special,” the record 18-time major champion said.
“I asked, can I get a copy of that, and they said, sure. Some of the interactive things are just unbelievably done.
“There's a lot of things in there that are just very, very, very special. And they're all things that happened, which is kind of nice, when you walk in, you say, `Well, that isn't right’, or `Wow, did they exaggerate that?’ (or) I haven't seen that.
“(But) it was all factual. I liked that.”
Nicklaus, 75, joked that he had an even more important to bring the young members of his extended family to visit, rather than just to show them his achievements.
“The interactives surprised me,” he said.
“I'm not a tech guy, so I like to get my computer on and somebody shows me the button. Now I've got to get one of my grandkids to show me how to see it.”