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The Man Behind Jack Nicklaus' Greatest Putter

The Man Behind Jack Nicklaus’ Greatest Putter



The Man Behind Jack Nicklaus’ Greatest Putter

On this episode of Between 2 Bags, I traveled to Carlsbad, California to sit down with legendary golf club designer Clay Long—the man behind Jack Nicklaus’ iconic 1986 Masters-winning putter, the MacGregor Response.

Subscribe for more conversations from the world of golf.

Check out Clay’s putters at https://rollyourball.com/ and follow him on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/claylongdesign/

Music Credit:

“Sawgrass” by Steve Nguyen / Studio APA
Used with permission.
Explore more of Steve’s music here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0uWdW9U87jBwkzaz0Ts8p6?si=KVDrvxlUSi-Y05DdI1hTxA

Videography and Editing Credit:

David McIntosh

@dmac_golfs on Instagram

Videography credit:

Kai Johnson
@kaijohnsonphoto on Instagram

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41 comments

  1. Felicitaciones.conozco de tu inteligencia,pero hoy me has sorprendido por la excelente conducción que le has dado a este material.eres un profesional de la comunicación.materiales como este conducen tu canal a otro nivel.me ha gustado mucho

  3. i used to have a copy of the oversize nicklaus macgregor putter that came out in the late 80's, it was huge and they were numerous.

  5. Clay Long is from Meridian Ms. and finished runner-up in the SEC Championship while playing for Ole Miss. wonderful man and great friend. Clay, Mississippi loves you.

  7. Ok, it was an interesting video, but how do golfers take anyone talking golf seriously when the interviewer is wearing a baseball hat?

  9. New subscriber, hello from the UK, fantastic content.
    Anything to do with my golfing god Jack is always gold.
    Good luck with your excellent channel 😁😁👍👍👍

  10. My wife gave me a Response ZT in 1986. Prior to that, and like most golfers, I had owned many putters and used them until my putting deteriorated for whatever reason. I still use the ZT and yes partly because it was a gift from my wife, but from a "user perspective" I will not give it up because I am "connected" to it. It is pure in feel and gives me the best sight picture of every putter I've used. When my putting slumps, I never blame this putter because of my confidence in it, I just pick days when I go to the club with only my ZT in hand and regain the feel and my confidence in "myself". My ZT and my "7 Iron" are my favorite clubs in the bag. Every strike for every fairway distance is based on the precise 150 yards (plus or minus 20 yards for other clubs) the 7 Iron produces. And yes … there have been many golfers, but in my opinion, only a few "Champions", with Jack Nicklas being at the top. As a player and as a person, he "never" let me down.

  13. Nicklaus’s GREATEST putter??? Definitely WASN’T the Response ZT featured here. While it did factor in his greatest Masters victory in 1986, let’s remember that Jack won 17 of his 18 MAJORS with a George Low Wizard 600 model putter (and also came second 19 times with it in major championships). Numbers don’t lie…

  16. Some of the most fun I ever had was traveling from Eufaula, Alabama about ten times a year to the MacGregor factory in Albany, Georgia. Everyone was always so gracious. I bought a lot of merchandise in that place. I also enjoyed playing the golf course over there. Again, some of the nicest folks ever. Really enjoyed the video.

  17. Fitting your hand around those legend's grip impressions made me think of the swing robots where you can kind of experience the mechanics of swings of modern pros. Adding the grip impressions to that might be pretty cool. Definitely needs to be in HoF and copies made so that it could be an interactive exhibit.
    Great video, this is going to bring a ton of attention to your channel.

  18. Being connected to your clubs is so important to success. Jack is reputed to have used the same 3 wood for his entire career and only changed his grips a couple of times in 40yrs. His McGregor 1 iron is a club he loved the most and hit for safety…yet would scare anyone today.

  22. Why is this called Nicklaus' "greatest putter"? He won 17 of his 18 majors using a George Low/Tommy Armour/Ironmaster-style blade putter, a classic.

  23. Completely knows nothing about LAB or Lie Angle Balanced??? This guy is stuck in the 80's – I'm 64 and NEVER since the Anser has new technology been introduced since the Anser – now we have lie angle balanced and this guy did not even know what it was or how to discuss – heck he has never used it.

  24. 10:10 Interesting that Jack won only one major with the Resonse and it's called his greatest putter. What about the George Low he won the vast majority of his majors with? I played college golf in the '60s and I'll bet 80% of all the players used Bullseyes – they had more feel than other putters because they were made with soft brass. It's fun to watch the guys like Bob Charles, Gene Littler, Frank Beard – the pros who were considered great putters using Bullseyes – each to his own but I thought the Response was kind of clunky and I don't recall any pro other than Jack who ever used one.

  25. I enjoyed everything about this video. Except one. I am not knowledgeable enough to know what putter is depicted in the thumbnail. However, the implication is that it is the putter that Jack used to win his sixth Masters and that somehow that putter was illegal. I have never met anyone who, regardless of their favorite player, had anything bad to say about Nicklaus concerning his respect of the game and his personal integrity. He was and is a true gentleman sportsman. I personally take exception to the words “Jack Nicklaus” and “cheating” being linked, either expressly or implicitly.

    It was an enjoyable, educational video. My hope is that misleading thumbnails are a thing of the past on this channel.

  27. I started playing golf in 1983 and purchased the MacGregor Response I still have after I saw Nicklaus win the ‘86 Masters with it. The reason it got so much attention after that win was the fact it was so huge compared to other putters then or now and made out of Aluminum not steel with brass inserts in the heel and toe to balance it.

    It is a copy of Karsten Solheim’s Anser design which according to accounts I’ve read was inspired by him using an old Bullseye Brass putter and realizing its extreme vertical hanging | toe bias was twisting toe/face < / open in the back stroke and closed > in the forward stroke when using a curved around feet =) stroke. The goal for adjusted heel-toe balance in the Anser variants is to have the heel-toe balance automatically keep the face square to that ) curved path.

    By making it wider MacGregor increased the MOI and tendency to do that but then needed light material to avoid it being too heavy. 😊 I stopped using it in 2008 because I’d started collecting and comparison testing putters from thrift stores and scored several PING Anser variants.

  28. Clay is the best. I was a kid back in MS and he was a member at the club I played in Natchez. He must have been right out of college, was definitely someone I looked up to and still do today.

  32. Imagine how many of these stories are waiting to be told and shared. I wish you the best in finding these gems and sharing them with all of us on youtube.

  33. Thank you for your previous response

    Today I still play with the Jack Niklas Iromaster putter,…
    Oh What a Feeling..

    Try it if you can

    Cheers

    Guy B!

  34. I have one of the original Macgregor black big blade putters with the Jack signature on the bottom and the yellow painted sweet spot lines on top! It was my absolute favorite putter of all time until I damaged the shaft putting a wedge into my bag perhaps a little to firmly Yikes! That'll teach Me. The shaft that small line indentations near the bottom of the shaft so there was no repairing it Soooo! One year I made a long Pole Lacrosse stick for the Ohio State Head Lacrosse Coach Nick Meyer out of wood with colored wooden Inlay strips and Engraved it by hand with a wood burning lettering iron with all the names of that years team that went to the National Championship Game Against Maryland. I sent it to Coach and he actually called one day to Thank me for that and a hanging Plaque I made with my new laser engraving machine with details of the seasons awards. Coach invited me and my family down to the Lacrosse teams Annual Golf tournament at the Ohio State University Gray Course Where i Made another long pole trophy for one of the ex players from the Lacrosse team. Ok Back to the Putter ….
    I took a hack saw and cut the putter head off of the shaft about a foot from the head and made a 4 foot lacrosse stick with the same scarlet and gray wooden inlay and no Lacrosse head and engraved it with all Jack Nicklaus logos and stats and details that i could remember with All the ohio State logos I could fit in various places And Jacks name right in the middle. I drilled a hole in the end of the wooden Shaft and inserted the head with the 12 inch shaft and it fit perfecly and secured it with 2 tiny hidden screws. I repainted the head exactly as original and it was a work of Art! I asked the Head Pro and Coach if Jack would ever be back to the Course so I could make him a gift of it. They said he got back that way once in a while so I left it behind and have never heard if he ever got back to recieve it Hope that he did! Great putter made into an Ohio State University Lacrosse/Golf putter Trophy in a way only a nutjob like me could do LOL Still hope he got it! great video thx guys!!!

  35. Hi there. Just found your channel and subbed with Notis accordingly. I hail from Downunder, New Zealand where in my home town of Christchurch we had one course for just about every suburb and some had two or three so it evened out the non course suburbs. I do not have a clue but I would profer that it is quite a healthy ratio on a global scale for one city. Perhaps our overall amount of courses might be up there but only on a Per Capita as we have only 5 million peeps. We LOVE Golf as a nation. Looking forward to some quality product from you if this is to go by. Thanks.

  36. Interesting video, but why the description in the title "basically cheating"? there's nothing in the video about that.

  38. THAT PUTTER HAS NOTHING UNUSUAL . TODAYS PUTTERS ARE SO MUCH BETTER. AND IF YOU WANT TO PUT BETTER INSTANTLY BUY A BROOM STICK PUTTER AND SEE YOUR PUTTING TRANSFORMED. I AM RT HANDED ; MY PUTTING GOT TO BE TERRIBLE, ALIGNMENT , DISTANCE CONTROL. MISSING SHORT PUTS. I WENT TO LEFT HAND PUTTING FOR YEARS BECAUSE I PLAYED HOCKEY LEFT HANDED IT WORKED FOR YEARS BUT I WAS NEVER A GOOD PUTTER. THEN I TRIED A BROOM STICK PUTTER RT HANDED BECAUSE THAT WAS ALL THEY HAD ON A REAL GREEN AND MAGIC HAPPENED: STANDING UP I COULD SEE THE LINE AND ALIGNEMENT BETTER, THERE WAS NO MORE YIP RT HANDED ,4 FOOT PUTS WERE 95% AUTOMATIC THE FEAR OF GOING PASSED THE HOLE WENT AWAY, BEFORE I WAS SHORT MANY TIME WHY? I WAS AFRAID OF 3FOOTERS. NOT ANYMORE NOW THEY ARE AQUTOMATIC. NOW I MAKE TWICE AS MUCH 8-10 FEET PUTS AND THE OCASIONAL 20 FOOT PUTS OR I AM SO CLOSE THEY ARE TAP IN. NOW I GET ON THE GREEN AND ISAY TO MYSELF LETS DO MAGIC. I RECOMMEND THIS ''HIGHLY.'' GO AND REALLY TRY THIS, ON A REAL GREEN, MANY PLACES WILL LET YOU TRY THEM BECAUSE AT THAT PRICE YOU HAVE TO TRY THEM. .MY FRIENDS CANT BELIEVE THE CHANGE ; THEY DONT LIKE IT BECAUSE I USED TO 3 PUT OFTEN, NOT ANYMORE. ITS WORTH IT . ALL SHORT PUTTERS ARE THE SAME. I HAVE AN ENTIRE WALL OF SHORT PUTTERS AT HOME, I CALL IT THE WALL OF SHAME. AND THE LONG PUTTER I HAVE IS A CHEAP AMAZON LONG PUTTER 120 DOLLARS . HAD IT FOR 2 YEARS NOW AND I AM LOOKING AT LAB BROOMSTICK BALANCED PUTTER, MIGHT TRY IT BEFORE I BUY ITS 800 DOLLARS.

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