KEY POINTS:
Jack Nicklaus holds out his arthritic hands on a chilly Taupo night and points to the damage.
"That one doesn't hurt any more but I can't hold on to anything with this one," he says, rubbing the hands tenderly.
These are the Golden Bear's paws and it is impossible not to stare at them longer than you would if they belonged to any other 67-year-old.
"It's all part of growing old," says Nicklaus, who was on a flying visit to open the golf course he has designed at Kinloch near Taupo.
This visit allowed the Herald a slightly rushed but much-welcomed conversation with the man who raised golf to, as yet, unmatched major tournament heights. He is charming, enthusiastic, and even during a hectic schedule never lost for a word.
It is two years since Nicklaus quit tournament golf although in hindsight, the great man says he should have put away the clubs a lot earlier. Those aching hands hadn't held a trophy for nine years, an emotionally painful experience for a legendary competitor. These days he rarely plays at all.
Nicklaus hardly needs an introduction, and there is not enough space here for even the roughest detail of one of the finest sporting careers. But let's go over the main points.
Having emerged from the shadow of Arnold Palmer, golf's first star of the television age, Nicklaus - from Ohio - went on to obliterate a small band of seriously good opponents in the major tournament department.
Between 1962 and 1986, he notched up 18 victories in the British and US Opens, US PGA and Masters tournaments, and came second a staggering 19 times. He won 73 PGA tour titles among a total of 112 professional victories.
In other words, Nicklaus - a somewhat podgy child prodigy - developed indisputably into the best golfer of all time - until Tiger Woods came along.
Woods has made the Nicklaus tally of 18 majors his target. Indeed, it often appears that a man who hasn't won a big championship for two decades is Woods' greatest rival, such is Tiger's command of the current field.
It is a relentless hunt by Woods, who has reached 12, although he is prepared to miss this year's British Open if it clashes with the birth of his first child.
But it is hunting of a different sort that Nicklaus is delighted to talk about before getting to the subject of Woods.
Nicklaus loves to fish and has been coming to New Zealand for that purpose since the late 1970s, most often to the South Island. Last year, on as fine a morning fishing as he can remember here, he nabbed six brown trout of 2.7kg or more. During this visit, he caught one even larger - "an eight pounder".
Nicklaus always puts the fish back.
He has also been a keen hunter, though in this case the prey was doomed.
"I used to hunt birds a lot but when my kids got to the hunting age, they didn't want to hunt birds," he says. "They wanted to hunt deer, elk, sheep. My kids wanted to do it, so I took it up.
"We took rifles and I thought 'this ain't hunting, this is just killing'. So we went bow hunting.
"That's still killing but the animal has got a heck of a better chance.
"We went to Montana elk hunting as a family for 12 years in a row and never drew the bow once. Never got a shot in - if I'd had a rifle we'd have killed 20 animals.
"But I quit five years ago - I've killed enough animals."
Which, to draw a reasonably long bow, seemed the perfect time to mention hunting, of the Tiger type.
"He's not doing it with a bow - he's got his rifle dead set on me," says Nicklaus, with a wonderful laugh. This, to be honest, is what I've been hunting for.
Does Nicklaus think Woods will crack the 18 mark? Does he care? How well do they know each other and is the magic number of 18 a topic of conversation? And is Tiger's chase a reminder of what went on during Nicklaus' prime?
As Nicklaus puts it, he never even bothered keeping a tally of his major wins until it got to 10.
Having just won the 1972 Masters, he walked into the media room.
"Bob Green, the AP reporter, yelled out 'congratulations Jack - you only need three more to tie Bobby Jones'," recalls Nicklaus. "That was the first time I ever counted them. All of a sudden Jones' record became a goal.
"I won more after I reached it but not for the record's sake. I just liked playing major championships.
"My focus was on 13 and once I got past that, it wasn't really important to me what number I got.
"If the record had been 20, maybe I would have got to 20. But what was important to me was to be the best I could during my time.
"I think we all believe we could have had a better record. But I wouldn't trade mine for anything.
"I've got five wonderful kids, a great wife and been married for 47 years. I spend time with my kids. I wouldn't trade that for two or three more major championships - it's not that important.
"If Tiger has the desire and stays healthy I think he'll break my record. But once he gets to my 18 I don't think he'll win much more. He won't have a focus beyond that."
Nicklaus is "flattered" by the attention Woods' career has put on his own achievements although he is happy to leave any picking over of his playing days to others. He believes indirect rivalry is a great stimulation for golf.
Nicklaus and Woods have never discussed the major matter, but the Miami neighbours are good friends.
"He's a great kid," he says.
Nicklaus is, however, far less enamoured with modern golf, saying the greater reliance on shot making of his day has been wiped out by an obsession with power.
He believes Woods has a great advantage in that he was taught well by his father, that his finesse gives him a massive edge over opponents brought up in a power regime.
The power revolution has also made a planet full of fine old golf courses obsolete as championship venues.
The answer is a simple one - reduce the capacity of the balls by about 10 per cent. Nicklaus believes the threat of court action by manufacturers is what stops golf bosses making that move.
With the game of golf out of his life, course design has become the area where his competitive juices are able to flow. He wants to be one of the best designers in the world.
Nicklaus has been designing courses for 40 years, the last 15 or so seriously. His company has created about 300 around the world, with Kinloch among those in which he has taken a strong personal interest.
His mantra is variety of design to suit the environment. He encourages average players to stay within their limits by removing the mid-range tees on these modern-day long courses.
Life is not just about golf. He is able to grip a tennis racket well enough to play regularly, and is relishing another year vigorously supporting the sporting endeavours of 20 grandkids. He almost never watches golf on TV and always departs Augusta before the first round of the Masters, fishing rod in hand.
Which brings us back to Tiger. The only round of golf Nicklaus watched last year was during the British Open.
He happened to flick on the TV and saw that Woods was playing well, and stayed with it.
So, might he pick up the remote control should word filter through - as it almost inevitably will in the next two or three years - that Woods is on the verge of cracking his majors record?
Not a chance.
"I don't care about it - the record isn't important to me. If he breaks it, I'll be the first to congratulate him," says Nicklaus, and you can see headlines involving a Golden Bear hug.
"I won't be sitting around biting my nails hoping he misses a putt so my record survives. I'm not into that - I'm the other way round."
There is, however, a tiger in the tail.
Nicklaus adds: "Tiger may be the best who ever played the game but until he breaks my record, he doesn't get that title."
You can still feel it, the famed fighting spirit of the greatest of golf champions.
