65 Best Golf Quotes for Inspiration and Motivation
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Top 65 Famous Golf Quotes of All Time
Golf is a game that is special and unique in that there is always something to learn. Not just in the game, but that can be applied to life, relationships and one’s mindset.
Here is a list that I have compiled over the years of my some of my favorite golf quotes.
I hope you can use them for your game and as inspiration. Enjoy!
Great Golf Quotes
1. “Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated; it satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening – and it is without a doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented.” — Arnold Palmer
2. “Confidence is the most important single factor in this game, and no matter how great your natural talent, there is only one way to obtain and sustain it: work.” — Jack Nicklaus
3. “A great shot is when you pull it off. A smart shot is when you don’t have the guts to try it.” — Phil Mickelson
4. “A shot that goes in the cup is pure luck, but a shot to within two feet of the flag is skill.” — Ben Hogan
5. “For true success, it matters what our goals are. And it matters how we go about attaining them. The means are as important as the ends. How we get there is as important as where we go.” — Old Tim Morris
6. “No other game combines the wonder of nature with the discipline of sport in such carefully planned ways. A great golf course both frees and challenges a golfer’s mind.” — Tom Watson
7. “Golf is very much like a love affair. If you don’t take it seriously, it’s no fun, if you do, it breaks your heart. Don’t break your heart, but flirt with the possibility.” — Louise Suggs
8. “Trust is one of the most important qualities in the game of golf. With trust, it feels like you and your golf club are partners dancing as one. Without trust, it feels like you and your golf club are on opposite sides of a tug-of-war.” — Dr. Joseph Parent
9. “Like chess, golf is a game that is forever challenging but can never be conquered.” — Harvey Penick
10. “If you win through bad sportsmanship, that’s no real victory.” — Babe Didrikson Zaharias
11. “I have always had a drive that pushed me to try for perfection, and golf is a game that perfection stays just out of reach.” — Betsy Rawls
12. “I smile at obstacles.” — Tiger Woods
Quotes About Golf
13. “There are no absolutes in golf. Golf is such an individual game, and no two people swing alike.” — Kathy Whitworth
14. “Keep your sense of humor. There’s enough stress in the rest of your life not to let bad shots ruin a game you’re supposed to enjoy.” — Amy Alcott
15. “Golf puts a man’s character on the anvil and his richest qualities—patience, poise, restraint—to the flame.” — Billy Casper
16. “Golf tips are like Aspirin: One may do you good, but if you swallow the whole bottle you’ll be lucky to survive.” — Harvey Penick
17. “Golf is a lot like life. It will test your patience. It will dazzle and baffle you with highs and lows, successes and frustrations.” — Amy Alcott
Inspirational Golf Quotes
18. “The formula for success is simple: practice and concentration, then more practice and more concentration.” — Babe Didrikson Zaharias
19. “There’s no sense in going to a tournament if you don’t believe that you can win it.” — Tiger Woods
20. “Fear comes in two packages – fear of failure, and sometimes, fear of success.” — Tom Kite
21. “I have been able to hope for the best, expect the worst, and take what comes along. If there has been one fundamental reason for my success, this is it.” — Gene Sarazen
Golf Quotes About Life
22. “Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots, good breaks from bad shots – but you have to play where it lies.” — Bobby Jones
23. “If everything was given to you, it wouldn’t feel as good when you achieve it.” — Annika Sorenstam
24. “As you walk down the fairway of life, you must smell the roses, for you only get to play one round.” — Ben Hogan
25. “How you handle failure determines how successful you will be.” — Muffet McGraw
26. “Of all the hazards, fear is the worst.” — Sam Snead
27. “My three keys to success: One, work hard. Two, be your own person. And three, have a passion for what you’re doing.” — Juli Inkster
28. “Always keep learning. It keeps you young.” — Patty Berg
29. “In your approach to golf, no one can tell you what to do. Just as in life, you are presented with options; it’s up to you to decide which ones suit you best.” — Sandra Haynie
30. “To find a man’s true character, play golf with him.” — P.G. Wodehouse
31. “The harder you practice, the luckier you get.” — Gary Player
32. “One of the most fascinating things about golf is how it reflects the cycle of life. No matter what you shoot – the next day you have to go back to the first tee and begin again and make yourself into something. — Peter Jacobson
33. “In golf as in life, it is the follow through that makes the difference.” — Anonymous
Funny Golf Quotes
34. “I give the ball some sweet talk. I tell it that this isn’t going to hurt a bit. I’m a friend and all I’m going to do is give it a nice little ride.” — Sam Snead
35. “Golf’s three ugliest words: Still your shot.” — Dave Marr
36. “I always said you have to be really smart or really dumb to play this game well. I just don’t know where I fit in.” — Beth Daniel
37. “Happiness is a long walk with a putter” — Greg Norman
38. “Golf is a puzzle without an answer. I’ve played the game for 50 years and I still haven’t the slightest idea of how to play.” — Gary Player
39. “Golf is an awkward set of bodily contortions designed to produce a graceful result.” — Tommy Armour
40. “They call it golf because all the other four letter words were taken.” — Ray Floyd
41. “The worst club in my bag is my brain.” — Chris Perry
42. “It’s not just enough to swing at the ball. You’ve got to loosen your girdle and really let the ball have it.” — Babe Didrikson Zaharias
43. “I never prayed that I would make a putt. I prayed that I would react well if I missed.” — Chi Chi Rodriguez
Quotes for Golfers and Mindset
44. “Success depends almost entirely on how effectively you learn to manage the game’s two ultimate adversaries: the course and yourself.” — Jack Nicklaus
45. “First and foremost, you must have confidence. Your second mental problem is concentration. Think the shot through in advance before you address the ball. Draw a mental image of where you want it to go and then eliminate everything else from your mind, except how you are going to get the ball into that preferred spot.” — Sam Snead
46. “If you worry about the ones you missed, you are going to keep missing them.” — Walter Hagen
47. “A bad attitude is worse than a bad swing.” — Payne Stewart
48. “A golfer has to train his swing on the practice tee, then trust it on the course.” — Dr. Bob Rotella
49. “You can talk about strategy all you want, but what really matters is resiliency.” — Hale Irwin
50. “The greatest single lesson to be learned from golf is mental discipline.” — Louise Suggs
51. “Success depends less on strength of body than upon strength of mind and character.” — Arnold Palmer
52. “A good golfer has the determination to win and the patience to wait for the breaks.” — Gary Player
Golf Quotes To Help Your Game
53. “Days when you just don’t have it, you don’t pack it in, you give it everything you’ve got. You grind it out.” — Tiger Woods
54. “Correct one fault at a time. Concentrate on the one fault you want to overcome.” — Sam Snead
55. “The most important shot in golf is the next one.” — Ben Hogan
56. “But there is a difference between playing well and hitting the ball well. Hitting the ball well is about thirty percent of it. The rest is being comfortable with the different situations on the course.” — Mickey Wright
57. “Grip the club as if you were holding a baby bird.” — Sam Snead
58. “There is no such thing as a natural touch. Touch is something you create by hitting millions of golf balls. — Lee Trevino
59. “Figure out your weakness and don’t make it your weakness anymore.” — Stacy Lewis
60. “Instead of worrying about making a fool of yourself in front of a crowd of 4 or 40,000, forget about how your swing may look and concentrate instead on where you want the ball to go. Pretty is as pretty does.” — Harvey Penick
Golf Quotes About Competition
61. “I never learned anything from a match that I won.” — Bobby Jones
62. “Golf is a compromise between what your ego wants you to do, what experience tells you to do, and what your nerves let you do.” — Bruce Crampton
63. “Golf is about how well you accept, respond to, and score with your misses much more so than it is a game of your perfect shots.” — Dr. Bob Rotella
64. “Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.” — Arnold Palmer
65. The mark of a great player is in his ability to come back. The great champions have all come back from defeat.” — Sam Snead
For more great quotes on life, golf and from books and authors, check out this site and this site.
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