jesse says on 27/Jan/10
In 1993 or 1994 I went to the Senior U.S. OPEN at Pinehurst North Carolina because I was stationed only about 30 miles away at Fort Bragg. Being in the Army I was measured and weighed precisely very frequently. I was consistently 5'11 and 1/2. At the tournament I was watching a bunch of the players warming up on the driving range in the morning. I heard a commotion behind me and I turned around (because of the crowd I was standing kind of in the middle of the walking path) and was standing directly in front of Jack Nicklaus. I was no further away than 12 inches. He was absolutely no taller than 5'8". I remember this vividly because I was shocked that he was no taller.

Hugh 191cm says on 22/Dec/09
5'10.75 peak. Saw him at a golfing event in 1992 here in Ireland. He looks between 5"9 and 5"10 today. 175-177cm

greg says on 25/Jul/09
Rob,this is a load of cobblers.I'm 40 and I was measured by an occupational nurse when I was 28, before taking a job as a forklift truck driver with Michelin tyres. She said I was 5'9".Following a bout of ill health last year , I had a full medical and the nurse said I was just over 5'10".You don't shrink appreciably until you're over 75. Jack's at least 5'10.5.

Pepe says on 27/Mar/09
Rob could you explain to me how Jack has lost 5cms. Human beings lose an average of 2-3 cms. I don't buy jack losing that many centimeters.

charlie says on 2/Feb/08
Have met Both Nicklaus and Palmer on several ocassions at the resort where I used to work and would say these figures by Viper and Misha are pretty close. Nicklaus does still put a nice swing on the ball, or did a few years back. Got to stand inside the ropes on the practice tee at the Father/Son in Orlando and listen to them tell stories bout the good ole days. Was quite an experience listening to them. Had a lot of big names at that event actually, and a very small crowd so getting close was easy. If you're a fan and can get to ChampionsGate just south of Orlando around the end of the year it's worth checking out. Don't know if either of them still play this tourny as it was about 4 years ago.

Pete says on 16/Mar/07
as most golfers hes always been a big sloucher

Misha says on 14/Mar/07
Hey, Viper, what's your handicap?

misha says on 10/Mar/07
Viper, I'm impressed with your knowledge of their heights (Jack & Arnie). I
think if you go down just a quarter of an inch and I go up a quarter, we're both dead on.

misha says on 8/Mar/07
Jackie is correct, though Arnie was always about an inch shorter than Nicklaus,
but very powerfully muscled - when he won the U.S. Open at Cherry Hills in 1960 he started by driving the green on the first hole - 426 yards.

In 1993 I and some other golfers spent almost an hour with Nicklaus on the 10th tee at Bel Air Country Club. He was trying out some new drivers, comparing them with each other, and once he found his range he was out there 285-290 every drive, with a few exceeding 300 yards. There were moments I spent talking to him when I was very close, three feet away, and well do I recall my girlfriend's exclamation as he approached us, need I say very quietly but with barely concealed amazement: "My God, he's so short!" At six feet I had a solid two and a half inches on him. I think he was nudging 5'11" in his prime and lost about 1.5 inches of height. Thus what he said per your quote, Rob, is exactly right, but this is in golf shoes, not a big difference really, as they usually have only about 3/4 of an inch of heel.

Golf height sightings are reliable if up close, because as some contributors have pointed out, lifts in golf shoes would destroy your rhythm and timing - your hips, knees, ankles and feet generate distance far more than the muscles in your arms and shoulders. If Brad Pitt attached spikes to the soles of his Frankenstein boots he'd have a hard time just getting the club face to contact the ball.

Jack brought Tiger Woods with him, who at seventeen was just exactly my height - he grew another 1.5 by the time he was 21, and is actually a little taller than his stated 6'1". I was standing facing him about eight feet away while he pounded 2-irons off the tee consistently in the 265-270 yard range, and I remember thinking to myself that I'd never seen anyone, not even the best players on the tour, hit a golf ball with the authority this high school kid was hitting it with. It didn't surprise me at all that within five years he was already beginning to be regarded by some as possibly the most gifted player of all time.

In general, the heights listed for the various current golf pros are extremely accurate - there's just nothing to be gained by trying to appear taller when it can adversely affect the hair-trigger timing so essential when playing the game at that level. A refreshing departure from the Hollywood height-crazed tricks and obsessions.

Editor Rob says on 23/Feb/07
He said in 2005:
"I was once almost 6 feet tall ... now I am barely 5-10"

JackieTreehorn says on 24/Jan/07
I saw Jack and Arnie at 2001 US Senior Open. I was within 10 ft. of both and I seemed much taller than both. I just had someone measure me to be 180 cm barefoot but I might have been 181 back then. I would put both in the 5-8 to 5-9 range but I can't put an exact number on it. People seem to shrink with age I guess.

mlp says on 23/Jul/06
said 5'11 in golf monthly

Steve W says on 21/May/06
Viper652 has it right. Jack & Arnie were 5'11" & 5'10" respectively in their pga tour days - but - being a little older now they are both about an inch shorter. I stood in a gallery beside both of them about 6 years ago and Jack is a solid 5'10" - no shorter.