Jack Nicklaus dreams of golf in his sleep, including nightmares of not making it to the first tee

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Jack Nicklaus’ competitive contemporaries joke he could win golf tournaments in his sleep. Except it isn’t a joke.

“Years ago I used to dream about my swing,” Nicklaus said Wednesday at the Legends Luncheon, hosted by the Memorial Tournament. “If I was having trouble with my swing I’d give myself lessons quite often when I slept. Then I went out the next morning and tried it and it worked and I’d put it in.”

Nicklaus, who won 73 PGA Tour events, including a record 18 major championships, explained the swing lesson dream sequence usually came during a tournament.

“I went to the practice range after I played, which I did most of the time, and couldn’t quite figure out what it was,” he said of his conscious fix-it routine. “Then all the sudden it would hit me while I was sleeping. It’s the perfect time to think. You don’t have anything else to do.”

But the 83-year-old’s dreams were not always so sweet.

“I haven’t had it recently, but I used to have a dream all the time that it was my time to get to the first tee and I could never get there,” he said. “No matter what I did, somebody ran into me and kept me from getting to the first tee. I never quite got there, and I always woke up before it was my tee shot.”

But before his eyes popped open?

“I’d know the courses, usually, and know how to get to the first tee, but I’d … have to go to the bathroom; I don’t have a ball; I couldn’t find my caddie – just so many different distractions. Not getting to the first tee is a nightmare.”