Jack Nicklaus, 71, is probably the best golfer who ever swung a club. But his accomplishments off the greens are just as important to him.
Nicklaus and his wife, Barbara, are the guiding lights of the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation, which supports numerous pediatric health-care services in South Florida and nationwide. They’ve raised $15 million in less than six years.

On Oct. 25, they are hosting an evening of cuisine and Jack Nicklaus wines at Morton’s The Steakhouse in West Palm Beach, with proceeds benefiting the foundation.

The Nicklauses have lived in North Palm Beach since 1965, and in the same home since 1970. They have five children and 22 grandchildren.

Jack’s favorite things about Palm Beach County and beyond, answered via email:

Favorite place for a quiet dinner?
Home.

Favorite restaurant to take out of town guests?
I am someone who bases many decisions on convenience. So if I were deciding on where to take out-of-town guests, I would prefer to take them to The Bear’s Club, my home club in Jupiter. Chef Brian Sode is fantastic, as is the club’s service. But, if I were choosing a restaurant, it would be Limoncello or Spoto’s Oyster Bar.

I like that they’re both very casual and close, and they both have excellent food. If I want Italian, I would go to Limoncello; if I want seafood, particularly oysters, I would go to Spoto’s.

Favorite event of the social season?
The Jake, our annual fund-raiser for the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation that we host in March at The Bear’s Club. Not only does it give us an opportunity to raise significant dollars to support pediatric health care programs in South Florida and beyond, it also gives Barbara and me the opportunity to renew old friendships with people and golf professionals who have been kind enough to give of their time and money to help a great cause. The event is named after our late grandson, so it allows our family, especially his parents, Steve and Krista, to pay special tribute to Jake and, inspired by his memory, raise money for children and families in need.

Favorite way to spend a Sunday afternoon?
Many weekends, I enjoy having friends over to play tennis. Also, we frequently gather the kids and grandkids together for a family dinner. Of course, if it’s the fall, there’s usually a little — or a lot — of football on TV in the background.

Favorite reason you love living in Palm Beach County?
It was the golf that originally brought me here in the mid-1960s, but there are so many other things that have kept us here. There’s the wonderful weather; the casual nature of things; and while it’s not overcrowded, the population is large enough to provide that energy you want.

Perhaps because so many well-known athletes and celebrities live here, when you go out, people respect your privacy.

There are many things to do in this area if you are an outdoor person, from, of course, golf to tennis, which I mentioned is one of my passions. And because you have the access to water, the variety of water sports, boating and fishing — all the things many golfers seem to love to do in their spare time — are available to you.

I moved here because of a better quality of life. But when you move somewhere, no one does so thinking that will be your home for the next five decades.

Yet as we have traveled to seemingly every corner of the world, there is no place we are ever happier than when we come home. This is just a nice place to live.

Favorite place to vacation, anywhere, just you and your wife?
Wherever Barbara and I go, we try to enjoy the opportunity, the sights, the experiences and, basically, make the best of it.

We certainly have special places we have enjoyed visiting, such as Argentina, South Africa, New Zealand, Iceland and many others. I think we’ve had the most fun in New Zealand and South Africa. New Zealand has fantastic fishing and Barbara and I both love to fly-fish, especially trout.

We have friends down there we enjoy spending time with. As for South Africa, we love the game-watching and the variety of places to visit. We also go down quite often to see Gary and Vivienne Player, both of whom are two of our closest friends.

Favorite family vacation spot?
We enjoy taking family and friends over to the Bahamas for a little fishing — fly fishing and bone fishing. When we go with the family, there is a little more diving and offshore fishing, but it’s a combination of everyone together having a good time; it’s a lot of fun.

Someone, living or dead, that you’d like to have dinner with?
If it couldn’t be my father or mother, I would say Bob Jones. As I grew up, Bob Jones was my idol. Although I never saw him hit a golf shot, I knew so much about him because he won the U.S. Open at Scioto, the club in Columbus (Ohio) where I learned to play golf, and he was also someone my father admired greatly.

I did have dinner with him on several occasions at Augusta National and the Masters Champions Dinner during the 1960s. He is a very interesting man and he provided me a lot of sound advice and a great number of good things for me to follow as I grew up. I always looked up to him, and it would be wonderful to sit down with him once again.

Achievement or award you’re most proud of?
Being happily married for 51 years, raising five wonderful children, and now being able to enjoy 22 grandchildren.

Favorite golf course anywhere in the world, and why you like it best?
I would prefer to say one of the almost 300 golf courses I have designed around the world. But if I pick one, I would have a couple hundred others mad at me. So if I were to choose one golf course that I did not design, I would have to say Pebble Beach. I fell in love with Pebble Beach the first time I played it before the 1961 U.S. Amateur. To this day, I have said that if I had one more round of golf or one more golf course to play, it would likely be Pebble Beach.

I would also have to say that St. Andrews and Augusta National are two of my favorite places in golf. My favorite course, from a design perspective, is Pinehurst No. 2, and I think that the most difficult course I ever played a tournament on was Carnoustie.

Best book you’ve read lately?
I have to confess that I haven’t read anything lately, but I do enjoy adventure/action/mystery stories, such as Robert Ludlum and Sidney Sheldon. An author I’ve always enjoyed is Wilbur Smith, because of the stories he tells of Africa. Most of his writing is fiction but it has a nonfiction base. I have read many books by him.