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~5~ I have always dealt my life's priorities in one simple hand: One, family; two, golf; three, business. Over the last couple of decades, numbers two and three have perhaps swapped places, but certainly for most of my life and career, I rarely shuffled the deck. There are special places that I have been with my family: memorable places I have golfed and spectacular places that I have worked that create a lasting memory for each of my life's priorities; but Colorado presents that rare opportunity to put everything into one frame. I have always been an avid outdoorsman. I love to fish. I love to ski. I love to simply commune with nature. Colorado has for decades been among my favorite playgrounds. In fact, my family and I have always spent parts of our winters and even summers in Colorado, and to this day, we maintain a family getaway there. If you had to trace my golf career back to one day that might be the genesis of all the wonderful things that have happened to me, you might rewind to 1959 and The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. That is where, in the United States Amateur Championship, I defeated Charlie Coe— one of history's great amateur players and the defending champion—in a finals' match that was not decided until the last putt on the 36th and final hole. That victory at age 19 was my first national championship and served as a springboard to a career in which I have been very blessed. I returned to Colorado the next year to taste championship golf on its highest level, when I was paired with Ben Hogan for the final 36 holes of the U.S. Open, which was played at Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver. I finished second, two shots back of my future rival and long-time friend Arnold Palmer, but to be just 20 and able to walk the fairways with one of golf's true legends taught me lessons that I was able to carry into the rest of my career. Ironically, if you fast-forward 33 years, I was able to return to Cherry Hills as a senior and win my second and final U.S. Senior Open Championship to provide a fitting bookend to my special connection to golf throughout the state of Colorado. Just as the Champions Tour has given many professional golfers a second chance, golf course design has given me a second life. And few states represent my passion for the art of course design better than Colorado. By the end of 2006, my firm, Nicklaus Design, had been involved in a dozen courses open throughout the state—10 with which I have personally been involved. Each one has been a unique and special experience, because few settings and canvases are as spectacular as those you find in Colorado. Whether it is the trees, streams, foliage or the rugged terrain of the mountains, nature always seems to determine what type of course I create. I have always kidded that Mother Nature is my co-designer, but in Colorado, she takes the lead. Anyone who has the opportunity to play in the state, whether they do so on a regular basis or as an occasional visitor, is fortunate in that they have a wide variety of wonderful golf courses from which to choose. Golf is, at its foundation, the perfect opportunity for man to meet nature. As a player steps to the first tee and gazes out over a magnificent landscape that might feature a forest of pines, a fast-moving river or a snowcapped mountain peak (or perhaps all of that and more), the experience immediately becomes that much more pleasurable. This has always been the backdrop Colorado brings to the golf experience, whether that is in competition, as part of work or with your family by your side. Or in my case, all three. Good golfing, FOREWORD by Jack Nicklaus Photograph courtesy of Jack Nicklaus Foundation 5 I believe golf in Texas is unlike anywhere else in the country and that those who play in our state benefit from that fact. When I was growing up, the challenges of playing on hard turf and changing weather created a great training ground for those who really wanted to develop their game. Course conditions today might be better, but the variety is still there. We can play all year in different climates and different agronomy without leaving the state. As golf was beginning to grow in Texas, we were also fortunate to have the Texas Open, which began in 1922. It was a very important tournament and all the best golfers came to play in it. Watching those players heightened Texans' interest in golf and brought more people into the game. And with more players, Texas began to develop into a very competitive golfing area. In my day, Texas was considered the breeding ground for champions. Consider that Ben Hogan, Lloyd Mangrum, Jimmy Demaret, Ralph Guldahl, and myself were playing at the same time and doing quite well. We especially did well at the Masters. Texans won eight of the first 17 Masters, almost making it a Texas tournament. Today, with improvement in construction and with so many great designers in the business, there are wonderful new courses and lots of spectacular holes to play. But that's not to say we didn't have challenging holes when I played. They might have been different, but they were still challenging. I played in the Texas Open eight times in my career and really enjoyed the tournament. Of course, beating Ben Hogan for the championship in 1940 (in a playoff) might have had something to do with it. There was a par-5 on the back nine at Brackenridge Park (which hosted the Texas Open 21 times) that I remember was really tough. The hole was reachable in two wood shots, but there was a little creek in front of the green and trouble behind the green. And just to make it interesting, the green was relatively flat and hard. That made it difficult to keep your second shot onto the green. I have always remembered the challenge of that shot. There are plenty of challenges in today's game, of course. Two of my favorite holes in the state are the 14th and 17th at the TPC-Four Seasons, Las Colinas course (site of the Byron Nelson Classic). One of them has a narrow landing area off the tee and a difficult second shot over water and the other is a downhill par-3 with water and a tough green. Those holes are beautiful, but they also reward good shots and penalize bad ones. They are just two of the holes that make golf in Texas so special. In the following pages you might recognize a few more. If you are a golfer who plays in Texas, consider yourself lucky. Enjoy the climate, these courses and the special challenges of the game as it is played in our state. ABOVE: This statue of Byron Nelson greets all golfers at TPC Four Seasons, Las Coliinas, the site of the PGA TOUR's Byron Nelson Classic. F O R E WO R D (Spectacular Golf of Colorado) (Spectacular Golf of Texas)

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