Globe-trotting Nicklaus makes time for Castle Pines

Castle Pines Golf Club is a Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course.

Lynn DeBruin
Courtesy of the Rocky Mountain News

CASTLE ROCK - Jack Nicklaus will get his first Social Security check next month.

But anyone who thinks the golfing legend is retired should listen to where he has been since St. Andrews, Scotland, and where he's headed the next five weeks.

In a few minutes, the 65-year-old Nicklaus reeled off nearly a dozen states and seven countries.

And that's just through mid-September.

After that, he's head to the Washington area to captain the U.S. team in the President's Cup.

"Work, that's how I unwind," Nicklaus quipped Thursday as he came to Castle Pines Golf Club as part of The International's 20th anniversary celebration.

He wasn't kidding.

After attending a dignitaries dinner Thursday to honor the International's founder/president Jack Vickers, who will turn 80 on Monday, Nicklaus will fly to South Carolina today, then home to Florida, to another golf course Tuesday and to the PGA dinner in New Jersey on Tuesday night.

Wednesday, he's off to check out a golf course in Baltimore, then Sarasota, Fla., on Thursday, and another golf course in Orlando, Fla., on Friday. After a two-day break, he heads to San Antonio; Tucson; Palm Springs, Calif.; Montana; Utah.

Sure, he'll take time to fish for a few days, do an elk hunt, then on his way back home stop to work on another golf course before heading overseas.

Namibia. Zambia. South Africa. Italy. Portugal. Ireland. Russia. All in less than a week.

"That gets me to Sept. 9," he said with a chuckle.

Of course, it helps Nicklaus has a private jet and two pilots (he's taking a third on these latest trips).

"Most of these golf courses that I'm working on we'll finish up this fall . . . before the bad weather. Once I finish with that, then I'll have a little bit of fun, play a little bit of tennis," he said.

Sure, Jack.

Even Thursday, he arrived late for his 5 p.m. scheduled news conference because he was scouting some possible changes to the Country Club at Castle Pines - having designed both it and the championship course.

Returning to the area brought back memories of those early days.

"The first day we walked the property. I said, 'Here? I'm a flat-lander,' " he said, cracking up the room. "I remember grabbing onto scrub oak after scrub oak after scrub oak. Today, I would just say, 'Have a good time.' No way I would walk up these hills today."

But he knew it was a nice piece of property.

"He wanted to do something right," Nicklaus said of Vickers. "I love doing things right. It's not often you get the opportunity in the game to do something well and do it right, and he certainly is not afraid to spend an extra dollar to do it right."

While it's clear Nicklaus loves Castle Pines, he wouldn't rank it among all his others.

"I'm very proud of my friendship with Jack, very proud to have The International here, the success that Castle Pines has enjoyed. Proud to be a founder and a member," Nicklaus said.

"I've got 250 other golf courses that would be very mad at me if I said Castle Pines is my favorite place, vice versa. Same thing if I said it about Muirfield Village or anything else. You love all your children, right? Better not have a favorite child. The other children don't like it."

He said one thing he doesn't like in today's society is seeing athletes who go around, beat their chests and draw attention to themselves.

"That drives me insane," he said.

On Thursday, he couldn't help but be impressed with what he saw when he arrived at the media center - more than 30 minutes later.

Outside, tour rookie Sean O'Hair was waiting.

"Guess he had been waiting for a while . . . with his family just to say hello," Nicklaus said. "It's nice to see a kid like that, nice to see a kid that's enthusiastic - instead of saying 'Hey, man, I did this, look at me.' That was very nice."