Jack Nicklaus, a legend of the green, is one of golf’s fabled players. A record holder and one of the best to ever pick up a club, did Nicklaus break any records for how many holes-in-one he had?
Nicklaus has had a total of 20 holes-in-one over the course of all his combined official, practice, and friendly games. Official stats from the PGA say that 3 of those 20 aces were on official PGA Tour matches.
That’s a lot more aces than most of us are ever likely to see on the green and is just one of Nicklaus’ many achievements in the sport. Nicklaus had an incredibly long and successful career and still holds records to this day, but how do his hole-in-ones stack up against fellow professional golfers?
World Records for Number of Holes-In-One
Nicklaus’ 20 holes-in-one is definitely impressive, but when you have a look at some of the top numbers for the fabled ace, it’s shocking just how high the bar is. To get an idea of what the ceiling on the number looks like, the ace of getting aces Mancil Davis has managed to score an unbelievable 51 holes-in-one.
Despite jokingly referring to Davis as the “the ace of getting aces”, it isn’t too far from the reality of what his nickname is: “The King of Aces”.
The Texas-born golfer is famous in the golfing world for the one-shot magic that he’s managed to work over the years, building up a reputation and what can only be described as an entire brand around the glory of the hole-in-one.
Davis is so well associated with the hole-in-one that he even hosts what is called “Million Dollar Shootouts”. These are events that, as the name implies, compete for a large cash sum in an attempt to hit a hole-in-one, even using his renowned skill and prominent status to raise money for charity.
Other Hole-In-One Records
Although some of the hole-in-one numbers that have been achieved by both the aforementioned players and others that we didn’t get a chance to touch on are impressive, there are a few other interesting hole-in-one records.
Perhaps one of the most interesting is making a distinction between courses when discussing a hole-in-one.
Just as an example, a par-3 course will be up to 250 yards in length. It’s still a seriously impressive feat, but at least it’s a conceivable concept that someone could hit a hole-in-one.
A par-5 course, on the other hand, can be up to almost 700 yards. Considering the difficulty of hitting a hole-in-one on any course, the thought that someone would be able to swing an ace on a par-4, let alone a par-5, seems like something in the realm of fantasy.
For some of the par-5’s, the yardage of the course is slightly misleading when taking into account that the course may not have been straight, allowing for a shot that can essentially take a shortcut.
Verification is also difficult, with even some of the players themselves being unsure about the validity of the shot and whether or not it was a prank being played. Understandable when considering that there are barely even any recorded par-4 shots.
Nicklaus’ Wheelhouse
Nicklaus might not be the record holder when it comes to his hole-in-ones, but he has a few other records of his own to make up for it. Records that make it fairly obvious why he’s considered one of the greatest golf players of all time.
The Golden Bear, as he came to be known, is the proud holder of a multitude of accolades that could make even the most accomplished golfer green with envy. If the 70+ PGA Tour tournament wins that he has under his belt wasn’t enough, the number of wins that he has in major championships will do the trick.
Nicklaus has an utterly unprecedented 18 wins in professional majors. This number puts him so far out of the stratosphere of your average professional golfer, that there are in fact only two other golfers that come close.
One of those golfers is one that you might have heard of. A little-known golfer by the name of Tiger Woods, the legend and house-hold name himself, and one of the only other plays that have come anywhere near Nicklaus’ impressive record, and is perhaps the only one that has the potential to beat it.