Jack Nicklaus turned 70 in late January, has an artificial hip and plays golf less than once a month. But he can still hit the ball longer and truer than most purveyors of his courses and he knows this.
So listen to him talk about his designs — now numbering some 340 worldwide — and you hear him say things like “something for everybody.”
His latest, Bahia at Punta Mita resort development just north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, is like that, a championship 18 holes with a half-dozen water holes on one side and the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountains on the other.
It doesn’t have a trademark hole like “Tail of the Whale” island third at his neighbouring Pacifico course, but it overall plays less like a resort course and more like something a guy like Nicklaus would enjoy.
I’m glad for a new person to win the masters!