TOKYO — So you win nearly $300,000, capture six major tourney championships, score a near miss in capturing pro golf's "Grand Slam" and are named the Professional Golf Association Player of the Year — all in 12 short months.

Can you rest on your links laurels?

Not if you're Jack Nicklaus. You strive to improve still further.

That philosophy has earned golf's "Golden Bear," the perfectionist from Columbus, Ohio, a record $1,700,000 on PGA tour earnings alone in 10 years as a pro. And the end is nowhere in sight.

Nicklaus, in Japan to design and help plan a new golf course some 100 miles north of Tokyo, expounded on his competitive views at a press conference in Tokyo's Imperial Hotel Thursday.

Cautioned Nicklaus: "If a golfer doesn't strive to improve ... if he thinks he's on top of his game, he's actually on the way down.

"Many people have commented on my place in the game compared to the greats, but I want to set myself apart from the other golfers. That gives me the incentive to improve and get better.

"I felt better on the pro tour this year than last year. And last year I felt better than the year before. I believe a golfer reaches his peak in his 30s (.Jack is 32) and I was fortunate to have much success in my 20s. I hope to keep improving on the tour for five six, seven more years."

Nicklaus, considered by many as the greatest golfer of them all, said his ambition is to "win more major championships than anyone else."

"I think everyone who gets near the top would like to be remembered at the too. My aim is no different than that of Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Gary Player or any of them-to set a record no one else has achieved ... to be set apart completely."

Nicklaus is only one win away from that pinnacle. He won his 12th and 13th major championships in 1972 — tying the record of the late Bobby Jones. And big Jack is the only golfer in history to win each of the four major titles twice.

A "Grand Slam" victory?

Nicklaus said the chance of winning professional golf's four big tournaments — the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA — in one year is "not a probable thing, but a possible thing."

Jack, you will recall, took the "slam's" first two legs this year but then was stopped by one stroke in the British Open by Trevino and later finished 13th in the PGA championship won by Player.

"I felt I could win the 'slam' this year," Nicklaus said. "I felt I had a good chance on each course individually. And when I took the Masters and the U.S. Open, the sweep possibility became very real thing.

"Well, I failed to win it all, but I did win something else — enthusiastic reception and encouragement from fans around the world. That was a very warm thing for me.

"Actually, chances of winning the 'Grand Slam' are very thin. The very first tourney — the Masters — is not an easy one to win. Your whole hopes hinge on that first tournament.

"Try again for a 'slam' in 1973? I try to play the tourneys one at a time. We'll sec what happens from there," he said.

Nicklaus, making his third trip to Japan, will help design the "New St. Andrew's Golf Course" in Otawara, Tochiga Prefecture, some 100 miles north of Tokyo. The course will be modeled after the famed Old Course at St. Andrew's in Scotland.

Nicklaus, who has been involved in the construction of eight stateside courses in the past fear years, explained:

"It will be impossible, of course, to create an exact replica of the Scot course in Japan because the topography, soil and so on are different. The Scotland layout is a seaside course and here it will he in the mountains.

"But the theme of St. Andrew's is what we want to carry out — a type of course to put golfers in situations they will face as close to St. Andrew's as possible."

The only round of golf Nicklaus will play during his eight-day visit here will be with Japan Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, U.S. Ambassador Robert S. Ingersoll and other dignitaries Sunday at the Koganei Country Club course near Tokyo.

Nicklaus was tabbed "President Nixon's golf ambassador to Japan" by the Tokyo press upon his arrival in Tokyo Wednesday, but clarified:

"I'm here in no official status. But the State Department is aware of my visit and I worked with them in arranging my exhibition match here. I'm representing the pro golfers in America in extending good will to Japan."

Japanese golf officials expressed disappointment that Nicklaus was invited but was unable to appear in three recent Japan tourneys — the Pacific Masters, Japan Open and U.S.-Japan Golf Team Championships.

Nicklaus pointed out:

"I play in about 25 tournaments a year. That's the pattern I follow and it is impossible to accept all the additional invitations from Europe, Australia, Japan. I'm a strong family man and like to spend as much time as I can at home with my wife, Barbara, and four children.

"Also, the pressure of trying for the 'Grand Slam' got so that I wanted to take a rest. I skipped most of the fall tourneys in the United States.

"Playing in 25 events or thereabouts, I feel just as fresh at the end of the year as at the beginning. I want to play golf for a long time to come and want to pace myself. Any additional tourneys in a year might tire me, make me lose the incentive."

Nicklaus said he understood there has been a substantial increase in golf popularity in Japan and said he hoped to visit here again in 1973 and coordinate some of those trips with playing in Japanese tourneys.

"There has been a world focus on Japan golf in recent years since interest here is growing at such a tremendous rate," he said.

Explaining his absence in the 1972 World Cup event that started in Melbourne Thursday (the U.S. team is composed of Tom Weiskopf and Jim Jamieson), Nicklaus said, "I had commitments elsewhere, and I played in Australia less than a year ago.

"The purpose of the World Cup tourney is to promote international good will through golf and there are many fine U.S. pros who haven't yet had the opportunity to play in the event."

Big Jack was on the winning U.S. team in the 1963, 1964, 1986 and 1967 World Cup events and won the individual title in 1963 and 1964.

Nicklaus will compete in one more tourney this year, the Disney World Golf Tournament in Orlando, Fla., Nov. 30-Dec. 3.

He is the defending champ there and even a third or fourth-place finish would bring his 1972 earnings to more than $300,000 — a record. His current total is $290,542.

"That would be a nice record to set," Nicklaus admitted, but stressed that "I think too much focus is put on the amount of money a pro athlete earns."

"It disturbs me," Nicklaus said, "that golf prize money is steadily increasing because it makes admission prices go up and there is a limit to what the general public can, or will, pay. I hate to see price wars and skyrocketing athletes' salaries force the golf, baseball, football or basketball fan to pay more for his ticket."

"Still." Nicklaus grinned, "it's nice to make more than $300,000 in a year hitting a little, white round ball around the fields."