Categories: SPORTS

Great Golf Quotes

There are many sports that Americans spend far more time watching than golf. Basketball, baseball, football all draw massive in season audiences. But when it comes to actually playing a sport many Americans admit to being on course golf fanatics, longing for the weekend or the half day so they can go off to the golf course and enjoy a round or two. Some people become so engrossed in golf that their obsession starts to get the better of their mate. Whether you enjoy golf as an avid player or are just familiar with the game because it is all that your spouse or partner talks about, you probably understand enough about the game to enjoy these great golf quotes.

From Sam Snead. It’s not surprising that many of the truly great golf quotes come from people who play the game professionally. If you spend 40 hours a week or more on the links you are bound to think of something amusing or intelligent to say about the game.

Golfing great Sam Snead is one of the most quoted of golfing professionals. Among his more amusing quotes is this one: ” You can’t go into a shop and buy a good game of golf.” The real irony may well have been that Snead really didn’t have to worry about buying himself a good game of golf. He seemed born to play.

Bobby Jones A master of the game, Bobby Jones recognized that being good at golf was not only about having good woods and irons. Said Jones: ” Golf is a game that is played on a 5 inch course – the distance between your ears.” Bobby Jones had a lot of physical attributes going for him on the course but there is no doubt that he also recognized that golf was in part, a little like chess, and that there was a cerebral element without which the golfer faltered.

Arnold Palmer Arnie’s Army, a collection of Arnold Palmer’s fans, hung on every word and action of the great golfer. Palmer always insisted on the need to work on your game to get it right and that there were no short cuts. This quote proves his belief that in golf there are no shortcuts to greatness.. Palmer noted in this great golf quote: “I have a tip that can take five strokes off anyone’s golf game. It’s called an eraser.”

Palmer’s point here is that there is no such thing as an easy way to reduce your score, no magic wand that is going to turn you into a great golfer. Only hard work and practice can take you where you want to go.

Cathy Whitworth This outstanding female golfer holds the professional golfing record for all time tournament wins, so when she speaks, lots of people listen. Her words seem to say she agrees with Palmer. Poor golfing is a lack of effort on the part of the golfer, not the result of some fluke, bad equipment or the weather.

Whitworth pointed out: ” It’s usually the player who misses those three footers, not the putter.” For every player who throws his club after a bad stroke, as if somehow it was the club’s fault, there is a good deal of wisdom in this great golf quote from Cathy Whitworth.

Lee Trevino This Mexican American golfer was always full of wit and humor on the course as is demonstrated by this quote: ” If you are caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightening, hold up a one iron. Not even God can hit a one iron.”

Jack Lemon. With the unusual work schedules followed by many Hollywood types, golf is often a wonderful and relaxing pass time for movie stars. Jack Lemon sounds as if he saw a bit of time on the golf course which allowed him to observe: ” If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball.”

There is perhaps no place on earth where even shy people are more assertive than on the golf course. And Lemon is right to assert that if you want to meet someone quickly just mess with their lie.

Gerald Ford Dwight Eisenhower was often pictured playing golf during his White House vacations. Bill Clinton was accused of being a little too quick to call a mulligan. But Gerald Ford was probably the most athletic of Presidents who took to the course. Having been an outstanding football player in college, Ford looked forward to the opportunity to get out and do something athletic and probably therapeutic while in the White House.

In his often self deprecating way, Ford evaluated his own play when he said : “I know I am getting better at golf because I’m hitting fewer spectators.” It was the kind of remark that helped Ford’s public image as a down to earth, modest , leader of our nation.

Billy Graham. It’s actually surprising how many times we find jokes that put religious people or themes together with golf. Perhaps it’s because for many priests who follow the Catholic rules of celibacy, lots of time that might have been given to a family eventually is played out by necessity in places like the golf course.

Billy Graham was not a Catholic priest but he did have his own share of golf stories and great golf quotes. Graham once noted “The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course.” The idea of Billy Graham praying for help with his golf game is funny enough in itself considering the weighty issues that customarily take up his time. But even funnier is the idea that even God was uncooperative in helping Graham to get his game in order.

Winston Churchill. Golf is a sport nearly as popular among the British as in the U. S. But some like Winston Churchill hold it in low regard. Of golf Churchill observed: ” Playing golf is like chasing a quinine pill around a cow pasture.” While this might not be a simile that Americans appreciated, Churchill’s countrymen certainly understood his open disdain for the game.

Tiger Woods The current day leader among all American golfers and possibly the single greatest American player ever may well be Tiger Woods. His full career will tell the story of how great and durable an athlete he truly is. But already at the age of 30, Woods knows one important thing about the game and what it takes to win. Right now he believes that he possesses a critical element for professional golfers. . According to Woods: “I am the toughest golfer mentally”.
Whether that mental toughness will continue to carry him by his opponents or not remains to be seen. But if past is prologue, Woods and his mental toughness are on the road to unequaled golf glory.

In the U. S. Golf is such a common denominator that its fun to carry along a few great golf quotes to share with friends or at least to keep you in the conversation. This set of great golf quotes should help to get you off the first tee.