What was Jack Nicklaus' best season ever? Career highlights explored

Jack Nicklaus is one of the most decorated golfers of all time. He has won 18 Major championships, the most of any golfer in history. He has 73 wins on the PGA Tour, the most anyone has ever had. He holds numerous records and has earned tons of accolades in his iconic career.

It's his 85th birthday today (January 21), which means it's a good time to reflect on the incredible career he had. His total output is impressive, but how much of it came within a single season? Nicklaus had a few good seasons, but one stands out above the rest.

The 1972 season stands out for Nicklaus due to a lot of reasons. Golf.com formulated a points system to predate what the PGA Tour has now to rank seasons. One point was awarded for every win, and four points were awarded for every Major win.

Nicklaus ended up with three of the 20 best seasons by the above-mentioned metric. In 1972, he won the Masters and the US Open. He dominated them from start to finish and ended up winning each by three strokes.

He did fall two shots shy of winning the British Open, which would've given him all four Major trophies. He would go on to take home another five trophies from Tour events that year and finish runner-up at three other events for his best season by that metric with 17 points.

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Jack Nicklaus' two other exceptional seasons

The other two seasons ranked that well on Golf.com's list were 1963 and 1975. 1963 was Nicklaus' true breakout season. He won the first of six green jackets (more than any golfer has), and his first PGA Championship of five (tied for the most of all). He also won the first Player of the Year award of his career.

He had five other wins to accumulate 13 points in that season. It wasn't the first win of his career nor his first-ever Major, as he already had those before 1963, but it was the first season that shifted the golf world from Arnold Palmer's sport to Jack Nicklaus'.

Jack Nicklaus has 18 Major victories (Image via Imagn)

In 1975, he was already a force to reckon with. He added two more Majors, the final two of his career at the age of 35, to take his tally to 18. No one has come close to that many except Tiger Woods, who has 15 wins to his name.

Jack Nicklaus also won five more tournaments in a single season, which was the seventh time he'd done that in his career. It was the final time he did that, so it was one of his last truly dominant seasons. He earned 13 points for this one as well.