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Hey, Jack (Can we call you that? Okay, cool), first of all, Happy Birthday to the Golden Bear himself! Your career life is a masterclass of patience, perseverance, and proving that simplicity can also be a statement.

Jack, you’ve done for the game what Beethoven did for music, what Picasso did for painting, and what wine does for a round of golf: you’ve made it bigger, bolder, and much, much better. But let’s not just talk about the 18 majors, 73 PGA Tour titles, and countless Ryder Cup heroics. We haven’t convened to settle the GOAT debate—these ridiculous stats have already made that argument redundant. 

Let’s also talk about the humbleness with which you greeted Arnold Palmer at the 1962 US Open. The graceful hug you gave Tom Watson after that scorching day under the Turnberry sun. And let’s also talk about the open embrace with which you welcomed countless children—who were just nameless faces in the outside world.

We could honestly go on and on about those moments. And about your unassuming swagger, the calmness, and of course, your grace. Not to forget your mischievous penchant for designing breathtaking golf courses that, quite literally, draw our breath away? So, thanks for those too!

But Jack, golf covers only half your legacy.

You’ve been an ideal husband, a model father, and a kind grandfather who’s never let career or business overshadow family. So today, we raise a toast to you and what you always stood for, Mr. Nicklaus.

Here’s to many more years of inspiring us all to aim for greatness with feet steadily grounded on humility. Happy Birthday, Legend.

With love and envy for your putting,
Essentially Golf

So, two golfers sniffed victory yesterday. Tyrrell Hatton took home the Dubai Desert Classic in the Middle East. Impressive, yes. But wait till you hear about an Austrian named Sepp Straka. A 2-under 70 at PGA West on Sunday is quite brilliant. More so, when that ends the 569 days of waiting for a title. Sure, Straka was on an emotional tipping point, as you can see here.

Then, he saw his one-year-old son’s face.

Right after his win, the three-time PGA Tour winner FaceTimed his son, Leo, while keeping up with autograph requests. Leo’s ‘goo goo ga ga’ (we guess it was his way of congratulating Dad) was enough to pull Straka on the verge of tears. Happy tears, of course. Just check out the cute clip here. If this doesn’t melt your heart…

You see, the Austrian’s first victory in two years is also his first as a dad. Another new father on Tour, Justin Thomas (look at his adorable daughter), was on the hunt. But Straka held his nerve. Something he couldn’t in the last year or so. Like every dad, Straka wanted to be the kind of hero his kid could look up to—cue the pressure.

2024 passed in a whirlwind. A year to forget, so to speak, filled with lots of frustration and not nearly enough top-tens (only four). Yet, he teed off in 2025 with one mission: to make Leo proud. Now, that’s what you call a gift to bring home for your son!

As we were analyzing the votes and going through your comments on the last poll, it was pretty clear what you all wanted. Short game tips. You’d be surprised to know Hideki Matsuyama was in the same boat once—46th in SG: Around the Green, 17th in scrambling. Then last year, he led the tour in the former (+0.580) and ranked 2nd in the latter. We looked into how he did it. And well, here you go.

• ‘Flop’ it for the win: Open your clubface and utilize the bounce to hit a perfect flop shot off the green. Watch here in slow-mo, how Matsuyama does it.

• Use only ONE arm: To perfect it, swing with only one arm on the range. This lets your club swing in its natural motion and helps you find a shallow angle of attack.

• A(nother) fun drill: On a par 3, set up three balls at 50, 100 and 150 yards. Putt all three, and assign points based on the number of strokes. Repeat.

Most importantly, don’t forget, it took him TIME to hit gems like this. So, yes, the oft-repeated phrase here: practice.

This clip of Daly and Woods hugging raised multiple ‘what ifs’ in our minds. Like, what if Wild Thing was a bit less… well, wild? And focused more on fitness? A fitter, John Daly, is a better one and holder of another couple more majors. Regular PGA Tour wins? In double digits.

The number of times injuries spoiled it for him! Still, Long John was the Tour leader in driving distance for… 11 full years. Heck, even Bryson’s bombs look timid compared to Daly’s monster drives (630-yard par-5 in two shots, really?!). Then there was that sublime short game. Now, you tell us that Daly couldn’t have converted at least five to six of those 23 top-fives to a podium finish. He was ready to be in, if not the Phil-Vijay, then at least the Couples-Duval territory.