Nicklaus was great. He could really hit the ball hard in his twenties.
He was hitting it with persimmon woods and golf balls that didn’t fly as far. I have an old set of persimmon woods, and I would say I get about 50 more yards with the metal driver. Plus, its just hard to het the sweet spot. In his day, with modern equipment, he would have given Tiger a run for his money with distance.
Tiger wrecked his back and his knee to gain distance. I think if he was more careful, smarter, he could have matched Nicklaus. There is no way he can do it now.
Tiger, like Bonds, McQuire & Sosa, will always have an asterisk next to his majors from his long use of PEDs provided to him by his convicted Canadian ‘doctor”