Tee Time with The Bear
JMU Graduate Scott Tolley takes on a new game as Jack Nicklaus' publicist and director of communication for the Nicklaus Companies
Story by Jeff Tomik
Lugging the heaviest bag on the PGA Tour over his right shoulder, James Madison University alumnus Scott Tolley approached the opening tee shot of the legendary Jack Nicklaus during a Palm Beach golf tournament in January of 1997. Nicklaus asked the inexperienced caddy how far he was from the pin. Tolley made his best approximation; having received training just hours before the event. Nicklaus, puzzled by Tolley’s response, realized how inaccurate the calculations were. “The first hole, and you can’t get it right,” Nicklaus facetiously commented to the newly trained caddy. “Don’t quit your day job.”
Ironically, Tolley’s day job later would become publicist for Jack Nicklaus and director of communications for the Nicklaus Companies. The two men continued to joke around and create a nice rapport as the day went on and, six months later during the 1997 U.S. Open, Nicklaus approached Tolley on the driving range and offered him a position. “The Golden Bear” needed someone to handle his media and public relations concerns as well as assist him in his writing. According to Nicklaus, the position was very open-ended, and Tolley could make of it what he wanted.
“When we hire someone, first we look at their qualifications,” says Jack Nicklaus II, the oldest of five Nicklaus children and president of Nicklaus Design. “Beyond that we look at personality and whether they are a good person and someone we could work with.”
Tolley jumped at the chance. “It was a great opportunity to learn the corporate side of the golf industry, and who better to work for than the greatest golfer in history,” Tolley says. “I feared I would become a dinosaur, ” he says, referring to the direction of the newspaper industry. “But I failed to realize that nothing beats a cup of coffee and a newspaper in the morning.”
Long before Tolley caddied for Nicklaus on the links in South Florida, he was a high-school student in Lynchburg writing short stories and poetry and loving sports. It was while attending the Virginia Governor’s School for the Gifted, a two-week summer program for high-school students wanting to further their education, that he was first introduced to journalism. He attended several writing classes there, including a sports-writing class in which he covered some minor-league baseball games.
Tolley’s grandfather also greatly influenced his choosing to pursue a career in sports. His grandfather was a huge sports fan, and one of his last wishes was for Tolley to play football. So in the spring of his freshman year, Tolley suited up and played for the JMU football team. After his freshman year, he left the football team but pursued other sports-related avenues, such as writing for The Breeze.
Tolley was a communications major with a concentration in journalism while attending JMU. At JMU he was sports editor for The Breeze and managing editor for Curio, where he learned a lot about design and magazine layouts. “It was a great experience and a great atmosphere,” Tolley says. “Every interview I went into after graduation, they cared less about my grades and more about the hands-on experience I received working on The Breeze and Curio.”
After graduation in 1985, Tolley went back to his hometown of Lynchburg and covered sports for The News & Daily Advance. He focused on Washington Redskins, Liberty University athletics and sports in the Atlantic Coast Conference. With a minor-league baseball team based in Lynchburg, Tolley also went to Florida each year for spring training, and began to fall in love with the Sunshine State.
In 1989, The Palm Beach Post began getting a lot of recognition as one of the top newspapers in the nation, as well as being the country’s fastest-growing newspaper, and Tolley wanted to be a part of it. Without a job waiting for him or any certain future he packed up his things, left Lynchburg and moved to Palm Beach with ambitions of working for The Palm Beach Post. Tolley “crashed the doors” of the newspaper and asked for a job doing anything.
His first job was as the outdoors writer in 1989, but he later became the Florida State University and ACC beat writer and eventually worked his way up to covering the Florida Marlins and Major League Baseball. It was his work as golf beat writer in 1996 that led him to his future employer, Jack Nicklaus.
Tolley’s beloved grandfather had introduced him to golf at a young age. “My grandfather loved golf,” Tolley says. “He used to sit in his recliner and watch golf every weekend ... and I hated it. I guess you could say I developed a love for the sport.”
In August of 1997 Tolley was officially part of the Nicklaus Company. Although writing for Jack and his family is only one aspect of Tolley’s job, it may be the most challenging, especially when he is asked to write speeches for the family.
“He has such a talent for his writing ability,” Jack Nicklaus II says. “He is able to assess what crowd we are talking to and gives outlines and bullets of what we need to talk about.”
Tolley assisted Jack Nicklaus on two speeches he gave as a part of campaign rallies for President George W. Bush. Tolley described the experience as very rewarding and meeting the President was another of his “most gratifying experiences.”
One of Tolley’s most rewarding moments came in 2000 when Nicklaus took a draft of a speech to review on his private jet, and cried while reading it. Although Tolley doesn’t get a byline for the speeches he writes, he says he finds satisfaction knowing his boss is happy and Nicklaus’ anxiety is reduced.
As the years have passed, Tolley has gained more responsibilities and “wears many different hats around the office.” Tolley has a hand in the world’s leading golf course design company, Nicklaus Design, which has close to 300 golf courses open around the world and another 100 projects currently under development. He also assists design clients with positioning and promoting the Nicklaus association, organizes events and grand openings at Nicklaus golf courses and supports the marketing efforts of clients. Tolley jokes that his job is sometimes like “an agent but without the commission.”
In 2002, Mark Peterson, CEO and Publisher of Media Partners Publishing, Inc., had ambitions to develop a magazine branded with the Nicklaus name. He approached Tolley, and in December of 2002 the first issue of Nicklaus was distributed across the country. Peterson describes Nicklaus as “a country-club lifestyle magazine for golf enthusiasts and fans of Jack.”
“I wanted us to do this magazine as an exercise in branding because, as Jack plays less golf, it’s helpful to have ways to keep his name out there,” Tolley says. “It is a nonpaying gig, but it brings me back to what got me in the business.” Tolley is the publication’s editor-in-chief, and his job includes input on editorial direction, story assignment, photography and art, some layout and editing — and he even writes occasionally.
“Of course, Tolley does a lot more than write for the magazine, but we use hundreds of freelance writers and, if he is not the best writer, he is one of the top three,” Peterson says. “He has a very creative mind and is instrumental in the direction and focus of the magazine.”
After years of working side-by-side, Tolley and Nicklaus have become close in their personal lives. Tolley has learned that there is more to Nicklaus than his legendary golf career, and he sees Nicklaus as a “father figure.” “Jack has been an inspiration and a role model to me,” says Tolley, a father of three. “Jack is a great family man and I have learned a lot from him on how to balance your professional and personal life.”
For more than 40 years, Nicklaus has kept a promise to his family to never stay away from them for more than two weeks at a time. Nicklaus also is proud that all his children and grandchildren live just five minutes away from his North Palm Beach home.
“I am a bigger fan of the person than the legend, not that there is anything wrong with his legend,” Tolley says. “This job has been one of the most unbelievable opportunities I could have ever scripted. The people I have met have been amazing and I cherish all of the friendships I’ve made.”