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By John Maginnes
PGATOUR.com Contributor

This week, the PGA TOUR honors Jack Nicklaus as he once again hosts the Memorial Tournament. His 18 professional majors are the gold standard by which all great players to follow are measured.

Jack and Jackie Nicklaus (WireImage)

His playing career is, as of yet, unparalleled. When you listen to Mr. Nicklaus speak about his career and his accomplishments as a player and a golf course architect, though, he is quick to point out that his greatest accomplishment is his children.

The man who is chasing Mr. Nicklaus' playing records is about the embark on the greatest journey of his life. Not even Tiger Woods is exempt from pre-fatherhood jitters. If you are a father, you know what I am talking about. If you are not, then imagining doesn't even come close.

When you consider that Jack and Barbara managed to raise five children in relative normalcy while Jack created history, his career accomplishments become that much more impressive. Sports Illustrated's Best Individual Male Athlete of the 20th Century went to Little League games and is a certified boo-boo technician.

All five of Jack and Barbara's children and ever growing gang of grandchildren live within just a few miles of the house where they grew up in Florida.

It is virtually impossible to quantify success as a parent. Successes and failures, highs and lows, come daily. There is nothing in life that prepares you for all the little moments. Trying to describe what it is like to be a parent is like trying describe crimson to the blind or Mozart to the deaf.

In the golf world there has been a passing of the torch in recent years. The Golden Bear has found a worthy successor in Tiger. The game has never been bigger than it is today.

In the coming months, Tiger and Elin's child will be one of nearly three dozen newborns on the PGA TOUR. While few of the fathers will ever be able to emulate Mr. Nicklaus' accomplishments on the course, they can all strive to be the father that he is.

Some wonder how fatherhood will affect Tiger's career. The simple answer is that we will have to wait and see. Tiger's record at the age of 31 is the greatest in the history of the game. However, as Tiger will learn, those records and accomplishments mean very little when you are holding your child for the first time or chasing monsters out of the closet.

Tiger will have to learn the same balancing act of time and patience that all of those TOUR fathers before him learned. If he doesn't have it already it may be a good idea to get Mr. Nicklaus' phone number.