Okay, so I heard about this “Michael Nicklaus” guy, supposedly had some unique swing tips. Not Jack, someone else entirely, or maybe just some online guru using the name, who knows. Anyway, a buddy mentioned it, said it helped his short game. So, I thought, why not give it a try?
First thing I did was try to find anything solid online. Spent a good hour searching. Found a bunch of scattered forum posts, a couple of really grainy videos. Nothing official, just people talking about these ‘Nicklaus’ methods. It felt a bit like chasing a ghost, honestly. The main idea seemed to revolve around a really specific wrist action on chip shots.
Trying it Out
So, I grabbed my wedge and headed to the practice green. Watched one of the videos again on my phone. It looked simple enough on camera. You know how it is. Looked easy. Felt impossible.
I started trying to mimic the move. Total disaster at first.
- Shanked the first few balls way right.
- Then I overcorrected, started hitting them thin, screaming across the green.
- Chunked a couple, taking huge divots.
It was frustrating. The feel was just… weird. Not natural at all. It involved keeping the wrist really firm through impact in a way I wasn’t used to. My brain kept wanting to flip my wrists like usual.
Making Slow Progress
I stuck with it though. Decided to break it down. Slow motion practice swings first, just focusing on that wrist position. Then hitting super short chips, like only a few feet. Very slowly, I started to get a little bit of consistency. The ball flight was lower than my usual chips, with more spin. That was interesting.
Spent maybe another hour just drilling that one specific feeling. Hit maybe a hundred balls. By the end, I wasn’t shanking it anymore, at least. Maybe one out of five shots felt pretty good, exactly like I thought it was supposed to. The others were still kinda mediocre, but not total failures.
So, What’s the Verdict?
Honestly? It’s not some magic bullet. It’s just another technique. For me, it felt awkward, and while I saw some potential for certain shots (low spinners), it didn’t feel better than my normal chipping style for most situations. It required a lot of practice just to get moderately okay at it.
Maybe this Michael Nicklaus thing works wonders for some people, like my buddy. Or maybe it’s just forum hype. For me, it was an experiment. I tried it, I put in the time, but I probably won’t be switching my whole short game over. It’s good to try new things, keeps you thinking, but yeah, back to my old ways for now, mostly. At least I gave it a proper go.
