I have never met Jack Nicklaus. Most of us haven't although a colleague of mine, Robert Thompson, interviewed The Golden Bear at one of his latest golf design projects in British Columbia.

From all I have heard, Nicklaus is a fine man.

He has remained married to the same woman for many, many years through a period when one of two marriages in North America fails. He has raised his kids to be solid citizens and he has created some excellent courses around the world.

In short, he has walked his path with honor and integrity in my mind.

Mulligan Stu at WaggleRoom golf blog, one of the best on the web, adds some stories about Nicklaus in his post from December 28th.

He talks about interviewing a golf course owner and developer who had done work for Nicklaus. The owner claimed that Nicklaus was not a nice man at all.

Stu then relates several anecdotes and stories supporting the other side of the coin - that Nicklaus is in fact a nice man, after all.

What this serves to remind us all is this. No one is nice every day of their life. Sometimes we have bad moments, bad days or bad weeks.

What we do need to remember when we judge someone, be they a celebrity or an "average Joe", is that our view is only that: a view, a possible way of looking at that individual. It is not the truth about that individual.

In Nicklaus' case, the body of evidence supporting his qualities as a person overwhelms the negative view of that golf course owner.

And I appreciate Stu's conscious effort to make that point in an eloquent post.

By the way, Stu, happy first birthday to WaggleRoom!!

And Happy New Year to all!