On Go Playground: https://play.golang.org/p/UMBzhz3JErE

methods_on_nil.go

// This illustrates how you can call a method on a nil pointer type
// if it doesn't dereference the nil value.
package main

import "fmt"

type T int


func (t *T) hello() string {
   return "Hi there!"
}

func (t *T) ensure() *T {
	if t == nil {
		t = new(T)
	}
	return t
}

func (t *T) set(x int) {
	*t = T(x)
}

func (t T) String() string {
	return fmt.Sprintf("The value is %d\n", t)
}

func main() {
	var t *T
	fmt.Println(t, t.hello())
	t = t.ensure()
	t.set(4)
	fmt.Println(t)
}