On Golf: Lessons from America's Master Teacher Paperback - 2001

From The Foreword, by Jack Nicklaus

A great teacher in golf is that rare individual who’s able to go beyond the mechanics of the golf swing and take a genuine personal interested in the individual he’s teaching. If Jack Grout hadn’t taken a personal interest in an eager ten-year-old kid back in Columbus, Ohio — an interest in him as a person that went beyond teaching him how to play a game — I might never have become a golfer. It was that commitment to helping a person discover what he is capable of doing, not just teaching some formula, that set Jack Grout apart.

Jim Flick is that kind of teacher.

I first met Jim back in 1961 in Cincinnati, where he was the head pro at the Losantiville Golf Club. While I found him extremely personable and engaging, o paths didn’t cross that much at first. Later, in the 1970s and 1980s, I began to see more of Jim at Frenchman’s Creek in North Palm Beach, where I worked regularly with Mr. Grout. Jim, who by then was a widely respected golf teacher in his own right, would come by and quietly observe us. By nature Jim is a thoughtful, inquisitive person, and I think one of hi s great strengths is his power of observation.

But it wasn’t until 1990, at the PGA Senior Tour’s Tradition golf tournament at Desert Mountain in Scottsdale, Arizona, that I became fully aware of what a keen observer and gifted teacher Jim Flick really is.

The Tradition was my first tournament on the Senior Tour. On Tuesday afternoon, as I was heading out to play the golf course, I ran into Jim, who asked if he could come along with me. I hadn’t worked with anyone since we lost Mr. Grout the previous year, so I was happy to have an opportunity to get Jim’s input. As we walked up the eighteenth fairway, I asked Him what he saw in my swing. He looked me in the eye and said, “What I don’t see is Jack Nicklaus.”

We headed right to the practice range, and that was when I started working with Jim Flick. I went on to win the golf tournament, and I have been working with Jim ever since.
After Jim and I had been working together about a year, Jim approached me with an idea for making sure that the principles and the approach to the game that I had first learned from Mr. Grout — and that Jim had developed over four decades of teaching — were passed on to future students of the game. That idea became the foundation of the Nicklaus-Flick Golf School, which we established in 1991.

As much as anyone I’ve ever known, Jim understands that people have different abilities, different rhythms, and different timing, so one swing isn’t going to be right for everybody. He begins with a simple goal: to help a golfer feel where his club head is and then use it to find the ball. He teaches you to swing the golf club–and not to get tied up by golf mechanics.

Most important, though, is that Jim helps people understand and love the game of golf. His enthusiasm and commitment are infectious. When I talk to people who are repeat students at the Nicklaus-Flick Golf School, I get the feeling that they come back more just to spend time with Jim Flick than to improve their games.

The purpose of playing golf, after all, is to have fun and to enjoy yourself. I’ve never met anyone better at helping people enjoy themselves and have fun on the golf course than Jim. That’s because he brings to his teaching the commitment I mentioned earlier, the hallmark of a great teacher.

That personal commitment is the driving force behind this book and the legacy of a great golf teacher, Jim Flick.

Jim Flick, director of training and education for the Nicklaus/Flick Golf School, is one of America's most celebrated golf instructors. He resides in Scottsdale, Arizona, with his wife, Geri.
Glen Waggoner is the editor of "Rotisserie League Baseball" and the author of Divots, Shanks, Gimmes, Mulligans and Chili Dips. He works for ESPN's "Total Sports Magazine."