Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus are two of the most successful players to have ever graced the game of golf.
Nicklaus has 73 PGA Tour wins to his name, including 18 major championships, while Player has won 159 tournaments worldwide, with nine majors thrown in for good measure.
Player and Nicklaus dominate many PGA Tour records and were both hugely successful during their primes.
Nicklaus and his one-time adversary Player are very close friends now, and they are often found agreeing about some of the pitfalls of the modern game.
Professional golf today is a completely different world away from the sport which Nicklaus and Player mastered.
And the American and the South African had some stern words to say about one specific aspect of the modern-day game back in 2018.
Gary Player said something modern-day players do as ‘very hard to understand’
Player is never shy with airing his opinions, and he regularly shares his controversial takes on the modern game.
That was no different seven years ago, when he was speaking to the media ahead of The Masters at Augusta National.
Back in 2018, Player and Nicklaus both let rip at modern-day players using any kind of green-reading book.
Of course, green-reading books were banned in the professional game in 2022, but players are still allowed to use their own books with notes informing them of where the more subtle slopes are on the surfaces.
Let’s take a look back at what Player and Nicklaus said about green-reading books.
“I’m flabbergasted,” Player said. “I’m not gonna criticize it, but I find it hard to understand when you have in a tournament, I see these guys bringing out a book when they get on the green to look where to putt.
“Really I find this very hard to understand. I and Jack have played many golf courses and exhibitions that we never played the golf course before we broke the course record. I go to a golf course, you can put me on any golf course in the world, I can read the putt as well as if I played it ten times. I’m a professional golfer, this is something I’ve got to be able to do.
“When I go to a golf tournament and you see guys having three practice rounds, then they play two rounds, that’s five rounds on a golf course,” Player continued. “Now they’re playing in the tournament and they look at the book where to putt.”
Jack Nicklaus said using green-reading books is ‘absurd’
After Player’s comments, Nicklaus chimed in with his view on green-reading books.
He said: “I think you’re absolutely dead right,” Nicklaus agreed. “I think it’s absolutely absurd. You’ve gotta swing coach, a mental coach, a chef, a pilot. You got everything. And now you’ve gotta book to tell you how to do it.“
It does feel like much of the skill has been taken out of the game over the past couple of decades.
Drivers are easier to hit now while golf balls fly straighter with minimal curve.
60, 62 and even 64 degree lob wedges have come into play, making flop shots and bunker shots to tight pins far easier to execute.
And now we have the bane of the quick golfer’s life – Aim Point. Golf has become more mechanical rather than the creative, imaginative sport that it once was.
Green-reading books have at least now been outlawed but as mentioned earlier, players still have the option to create their own books during practice rounds.
Much like every other sport, golf has moved on beyond all recognition over the past 20 years, and many aspects of the game now are better as a result.
However, it’s hard to escape the feeling that we have lost some of the shot-making skills along the way and that’s a real shame.
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