Stepping on the scale is … a risk. At the very best, you’re satisfied. At the very worst, the sky is falling, death is around the corner and your golf game is going the way of the dodo. Very chill, very relaxed way of viewing the world.
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If it makes you feel any better, 18-time major champs can have the same weight fluctuations and mediocre eating habits as the rest of us. But sometimes, they step on that scale, don’t like what they see and change course—it’s easier said than done, but this is something we can all follow.
We’re being coy, but we’re of course talking about Jack Nicklaus, who looked down and saw his weight post-Thanksgiving in 1989 was at his heaviest “since 1969” and decided to do something about it. And we chronicled it all in our June 1990 issue of Golf Digest.
Yes, even the Golden Bear got a little too pudgy, and this was way before a handful of his senior major championships and his T-6 Masters finish in 1998. So, you’re far from alone. Don’t bank on winning any golf championships just because you’re eating right, but the next time you step on that scale, things could be moving in the right direction.
“He’s been on so many diets over the years,” Barbara Nicklaus said about her husband’s valiant attempts. “But this time he attacked with a specially tailored food plan, stressing effective combinations of ingredients.”
Over two weeks, Nicklaus dropped 15 pounds—down to a “svelte” 185—and then not long after won his Senior PGA Tour inaugural, the Tradition in Arizona, and then had a strong finish in the following week’s Masters.
“There’s a lot of food and I don’t go hungry,” he said about his new diet. “I feel better than I have in years. The eating habits and the treatment on my bad back all go together, and the result is that I feel really healthy, and my golf swing is freer than it’s been for seven years.”
Working with nutritionist Teri Fredericks, Jack put together the following strict menu based on his “age, height, weight and activity level,” but it’s the balancing foods and activity that really helped
Fredericks also made sure that Jack was hydrated—telling him to drink a minimum of 10 eight-ounce glasses of water a day—and the meals consisted of a mix of liquids, grains, proteins and carbohydrates. Along with moderate activity like golf, regular workouts in his home gym, stretching regimens and nominal weight lifting, Nicklaus was a new man. Or at least may have needed slightly slimmer shirts.
One typographical error (gasp!) by Fredericks stated that Nicklaus needed to eat only “1 oz” of chicken instead of 4, but the golf great took his new nutritionist at her word, trying out the one-ounce prescription for a couple of weeks until corrected.
“It shows what discipline this great golfer has,” Fredericks said. “I suppose if I had erred and said to eat one-half of an almond, he would’ve sliced one up.”
