Nicklaus adds extra spice to playing in Morocco

CADDIE'S ROLE:WE WERE in Rabat, Morocco last week for the 37th Hassan II Golf Trophy. It has been some time since this venue has hosted a regular tour event and this year the trophy is part of the European Tour schedule in its amended pro-am format.

The Royal Dar Es Salam courses outside Rabat are Robert Trent Jones senior golf treasures hidden amongst the giant gum trees and mature oak trees just beyond the embassies and diplomatic residences of the capital. Built in the early 1970s, the red and blue courses have withstood the test of time and the rapid advances in technology that have rendered so many old courses obsolete for professionals.

The reason the courses have survived is they are well designed with clever dog-legged fairways and small punishing greens. The main reason the scoring was so low last week was there was almost no wind and virtually no rough. The course was sensibly set up this way because it made it more playable for the amateurs.

Despite the inconvenience of playing alongside amateurs there was not much complaining. Normally there is a pro-am on the Wednesday before the event, there was none last Wednesday. Instead the amateurs got to play Thursday and Friday and it was only professionals at the weekend. It is perhaps the way for the tour to combat the current economic difficulties in the future and introduce more semi pro-am events.

So we all congregated at the clubhouse to restart our seasons, many having enjoyed a three-week break. Some of the younger players were intrigued by the prominent notice on the board advising players that there would be a clinic the next day by the legendary Jack Nicklaus, accompanied by Tony Jacklin.

Apart from the usual exuberance of the younger players for just playing in an event there seemed to be an added amount of excitement about watching the 18-time major winner giving a clinic at the exotic location in North Africa. Some of them planned their practice rounds to fit in with the 10.30am appointment with Mr Nicklaus.

It was a beautiful, unseasonably warm day as the stand behind the range started to fill, mainly with players and caddies, all in anticipation of the arrival of the 70-year-old Golden Bear. It got hot in the raised seats as we all waited. Most of the younger players positioned themselves directly behind the balls that had been laid out for Jack to hit. Others sat in the stand square to the prepared hitting zone in order to get the side on view.

The cameramen assembled, the crowd thickened, the journalists arrived and finally a polite ripple of applause trickled across the range as the legend made his way onto the practice area.

The host of the clinic was the ex-broadcaster Peter Kessler, who was ready to run Jack through a range of shots for the largely young professional gathering. “Hi Jack, great to see you, are you ready to hit some shots for us?” Kessler asked expectantly. “I don’t have any clubs, no shoes, anyway I don’t play golf anymore,” was the legend’s response.

The young pros waited for the humorous aspect of the opening dialogue. It never came. Jack was serious. “I don’t have any clubs, I am not hitting any shots, I am here to promote the game of golf and make it grow in Morocco.”

Whoops, was the tacit look from the stand of young players.

Kessler is a seasoned broadcaster who is acutely aware of the dangers of getting on the wrong side of an irate, ageing superstar. He had worked for one of the big television channels in the US previously but lost his job due to comments that Arnold Palmer felt were inappropriate. He has since moved to radio commentary.

It seems Kessler has learned the importance of diplomacy, particularly with former giants of the game, because when Jack was adamant he was not hitting balls the compere did not attempt to force him.

Tony Jacklin made a timely entrance to the range as the clinic had got off to a non-start. He had his clubs with him, was happy to hit balls and Jack agreed to talk about the swing and his practice routine. Kessler had not lost his job over this little awkward situation, he had just had his momentum set back with Jack’s reaction to being asked to hit some shots.

I take it the organisers forgot to mention this to Nicklaus before his appearance on the range last Wednesday.

He softened somewhat as he talked about his practice regime and importantly, the difference between warming up for a competitive round of golf and a practice session. He maintained that before he played he was simply trying to warm his body up with hitting shots and the warm-up was based on the fundamentals of the game.

He had always left the course the previous evening with his mind clear about what he wanted to do on the course the next day. So the kinks were ironed out before he went home so that he could have some down time away from the course.

He continued that, in his warm-ups, he was preparing for the conditions of the golf course, so if it was windy he would hit shots accordingly. He always maintained that one of his main attributes was he was prepared to change his swing on the course if he felt he needed to. His coach Jack Grout, apart from guiding him, also helped him to be independent.

Having watched Tony Jacklin hitting balls Jack obviously got inspired, because he grabbed his driver, threw his sun glasses on the ground and started to hit some drives. The young pros who hadn’t gone back to their own practice sessions already had finally got to see the legend’s action live and were somewhat rewarded for shaping their strict regimes around a disappointing exhibition from Big Jack.

In the end Jack got to talk about course design in aspiring golf nations; it is business after all. Europe’s aspiring young pros at least got to see Jack swipe at a few drives and the announcer Kessler got to keep his job after what was looking like another prickly interlude with a golfing legend on the back of the range at the Royal Dar Es Salam Golf Club in North Africa. After all, Jack Nicklaus was there primarily to build golf courses and not to endear himself to young golf pros.