Thanks RJ and Chris, I do think it's clear what Nicklaus is saying! It's sort of needless to speculate why he's saying it! Would it be because he would like to see something done to protect his career records? Personally, I doubt it, but even if that was the reason, who cares, if it helps a cause?
Nicklaus's overall point is there is no real reason NOT to strive to keep the "playing fields" level even through the eras as much as possible. If the regulatory bodies don't do that somehow they are going to get things to the point that golf architecture will need to be altered and redesigned to accomodate distance and that's never a good thing! It's expensive and I think even in Jack's mind it's sort of tragic for the game itself and certainly its "wonderful championship courses", as he said!
Tiger Woods is another thing entirely and I think it would be more than worthwhile for the regulatory bodies to explore very carefully where this young man is coming from!
I've said this a number of times on here but it's my strong supposition that Woods's ultimate motivation is coming from a place you would not believe and most have not realized and explored properly.
The young man knows how good he is and can be and his desire is not to be considered the best of his era but the best of all-time--the greatest golfer in the history of the game, in fact! He's too smart a young man to say that directly or blatantly but if you observe him carefully it doesn't seem hard to tell that this is his motivation! And it's not an idle motivation, it's one that burns as bright as a meteor.
He can never acheive that goal (which he understands is a bit of a perception given how things have changed in equipment and architecture) to be considered the best ever if he can't overcome in the minds of golf's world those that came before him first!! This is really important. And that includes Jack and even more so the elusive Bob Jones!
Woods knows this will be hard for him to do if his era (and him) are only considered "equipment aided"! Woods would like a rollback, I believe, to "level the playing field" between his era and those of the past! If you listen carefully he's said this before but very subtlely. It's the reason he really got upset when the USGA changed the par on #2 Pebble. He has almost never said a word about setup before, but that instance was significant, in my opinion!
Would he be able to do this with the power of his equipment company possibly wanting to go the other way? Hard to say, but you might be surprised what a man of his desire could get if he wanted it enough which I think he does--at least a competition ball for his level, in my opinion!
The USGA (and the R&A) should very much and very carefully explore this avenue and this possibility with a man like Woods and even in conjunction with Jack Nicklaus. Jack seems to know that Woods will break his records, he sure has predicted it enough--so to Jack it's a given! But Woods knows he has to take care of Nicklaus and Jones and the others who came before him before he continues on and sets some awesome career record of his own that noone may ever exceed!
I don't know him at all but I do know others who do and they do concur in this. At the very least the regulatory bodies should explore it too in any effort to do something about distance increases as Woods and Nicklaus would be one helluva one/two punch to help the effort.
Woods doesn't care if the ball is rolled back to a limit where even he might not exceed 280! He knows he will beat everyone anyway.
There is something I think we should all understand about golfers like Nicklaus and Woods. They don't really have to give themselves pep talks to convince themselves they can beat anyone! They don't need sports psychologists--never did! To them there is ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT ABOUT IT! They absolutely know they're better! There's no doubt in their minds they can win! And My God does that attitude help!!
It's interesting how Nicklaus did it throughout his career. He had enormous talent but he was actually quite a conservative course manager and to him it was as much a numbers game as anything else!
With Woods, to this point in his career, there's obviously some of that numbers game but there is far more "creating the moment", and at any particular time than I've ever seen in golf! It seem to happen endlessly--it's almost spooky, odd fate or destiny!
The regulatory bodies should look into this very carefully--it could really help them get what they all want!