Originally Posted by
greybeard
Not for nothing, but Nicholas' injured hip happened in 1963. He took 25, count em, cortisone shots in that hip in 10 days, which allowed him to play in that year's Masters and win it. He attributes his need for hip replacement to those shots, but has never said how many more over the years were needed to keep him going. He had the surgery just after the FDA approved a ceramic instead of the old metal stuff to be used in replacements. The latter worked poorly, according to Nicholas, and he became a spokesperson for the company that made the new joint-replacement parts.
The cause of Nicholas' hip problem is that he based his swing on the turn-in-a-barrel model originated by a guy name Percy Boomer. Nicholas explained that his thighs were 29 and 28 1/2 inches thick and that he pushed into that right hip without his right knee moving a centimeter, and made a 110 degree turn. The pressure buildup in the hip joint was enormous. Nicholas, unlike present day golfers, used to lift his left heal way off the ground as he turned back, down began by replanting and with an explosion beginning ground up through the hips back through the barrel. To win the Masters, Nicholas, who played his entire career before and since with a light fade, learned how to draw the ball which he said without explaining did not create the same kind of pressure into his hip. That, he said, was what allowed him to play in and win his first Masters a few months later.
A little slide was a component of most swings in those days (I read this same places I got the above information from); Jack's ability to eliminate it was huge.
But, what made Nicholas the Champion that he was, according to a pro I know who came up with him, was Nicholas' ability to nail 4 irons which were quite normal on par four second shots because, according to the pro, he was on his own level in alignment when it came to hitting them just where he wanted. Alignment, or as Bagger would put it, seeing the field. One can only imagine the boost that gave to his confidence regarding the rest of his game. You be nailing greens when other guys are missing them, what's a long putt? Alignment, seeing and being able to execute what nobody else can.
The long iron to the green has gone the way of persimmons; nobody has that shot anymore and nobody needs them, except before all those injuries to Tiger. Everybody loses some off the Tee into nasty stuff, especially in Majors. Everybody lays up in one fashion or the other, except Tiger. He is smash-mouthing towering 3 irons out of some nasty, nasty stuff and finds himself putting for birdie or eagle. The rest, why that is what guys like Tiger and Jack lived for, because they could do what the other guys couldn't.
I think if you go back to the Nicholas's last Masters, you will see that those long irons on the back nine on Championship Sunday were huge.