Motivational Quotes From Golf Legends To Drive Your Success

In the realm of competitive sports, golf mirrors life’s highs and lows. There are days of triumphant victories and others where frustrations abound.

In challenging moments on the course, a well-chosen golf quote has the power to inspire and uplift. Even in the face of a match loss, these quotes guide you to handle defeat with true sportsmanship.

Beyond motivation, many golf quotes carry a humorous touch, perfect for breaking the tension during intense moments on the course. Whether gearing up for a duel or enjoying a round with golf buddies, these quotes prove to be valuable companions.

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Motivational Quotes From Golf Legends

1. “Golf is like a love affair. If you don’t take it seriously, it’s no fun; if you do take it seriously, it breaks your heart.” – Arthur Daley.

2. “The value of routine; trusting your swing.” – Lorii Myers

3. “The most important shot in golf is the next one.” – Ben Hogan

4. “This is a game. That’s all it is. It’s not a war.” – Jack Nicklaus

5. “If you focus only on the target you’ll play darn good golf.” – Dr. Bob Rotella

6. “To some golfers, the greatest handicap is the ability to add correctly.” – Unknown

7. “The first thing golf teaches is humility, the second; empathy, and the third patience.” – Kirs E Wilson

8. “If you watch a game, it’s fun. If you play at it, it’s recreation. If you work at it, it’s golf.” – Bob Hope

9. “If you’re caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a iron. Not even God can hit a iron.” – Lee Trevino

10. “Golf is a game in which you yell fore, shoot six, and write down five.” – Paul Harvey

11. “Golf is 90 percent inspiration and 10 percent perspiration.” – Johnny Miller

12. “I started watching golf for the first time yesterday. I’m really worried about myself. I was actually enjoying it.” – Ewan McGregor

13. “Pressure is when you play $5 a hole with only $2 in your pocket.” – Lee Trevino

14. “I know I am getting better at golf because I am hitting fewer spectators.” – Gerald R Ford

15. “The difference in golf and government is that in golf you can’t improve your lie.” – George Deukmejian

16. A bad attitude is worse than a bad swing ~ Payne Stewart

17. A good golfer has the determination to win and the patience to wait for the breaks ~ Gary Player

18. 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

19. Achievements on the golf course are not what matters, decency and honesty are what matter ~ Tiger Woods

20. Aggressive play is a vital asset of the world’s greatest golfers. However, it’s even more important to the average player. Attack this game in a bold, confident, and determined way, and you’ll make a giant leap toward realizing your full potential as a player ~ Greg Norman

21. As you walk down the fairway of life, you must smell the roses, for you only get to play one round ~ Ben Hogan

22. 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

23. 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

24. Forget the last shot. It takes so long to accept that you can’t always replicate your swing. The only thing you can control is your attitude toward the next shot ~ Mark McCumber

25. Golf gives you an insight into human nature, your own as well as your opponent’s ~ Grantland Rice

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Best Golf Quotes Of All Time

26. 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

27. Golf is a day spent in a round of strenuous idleness ~ William Wordsworth

28. Golf is a fascinating game. I’ve taken nearly 40 years to discover that I can’t play it ~ Ted Ray

29. Golf is a game that is played on a five-inch course – the distance between your ears ~ Bobby Jones

30. Golf is a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into an even smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose ~ Winston Churchill

31. “Success in this game depends less on strength of body than strength of mind and character.” –Arnold Palmer

32. “I get to play golf for a living. What more can you ask for, getting paid for doing what you love.” –Tiger Woods

33. “Stay true to yourself and listen to your inner voice. It will lead you to your dream.” –James Ross

34. “If you worry about making bogeys, it makes the game that much more difficult. You put more pressure on yourself without even noticing it. It makes a difference to take it easy when things aren’t going right.” –Sergio Garcia

35. “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing!” –Anonymous

36. “Golf… is the infallible test. The man who can go into a patch of rough alone, with the knowledge that only God is watching him, and play his ball where it lies, is the man who will serve you faithfully and well.” –P.G. Wodehouse

37. “Arnold’s place in history will be as the man who took golf from being a game for the few to a sport for the masses. He was the catalyst who made that happen.” –Jack Nicklaus

38. “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

39. “I have to believe in myself. I know what I can do, what I can achieve.” –Sergio Garcia

40. The more I work and practice, the luckier I seem to get.” –Gary Player

41. “One reason golf is such an exasperating game is that a thing we learned is so easily forgotten, and we find ourselves struggling year after year with faults we had discovered and corrected time and again.” –Bobby Jones

42. “I have a tip that can take five strokes off anyone’s game: it’s called an eraser.”- Arnold Palmer

43. “You don’t know what pressure is until you play for five bucks with only two bucks in your pocket.”- Lee Trevino

44.The mark of a great player is in his ability to come back. The great champions have all come back from defeat ~ Sam Snead

45. “They call it golf because all the other four letter words were taken.”- Raymond Flyod

46. “I know I am getting better at golf because I am hitting fewer spectators.”– Gerald Ford

47. “Although golf was originally restricted to wealthy, overweight Protestants, today it’s open to anybody who owns hideous clothing.”- Dave Berry

48. “Give me golf clubs, fresh air and a beautiful partner, and you can keep the clubs and the fresh air.”-Jack Benny

49. “A major golf tournament is 40,000 sadists watching 144 masochists.”- Thomas Boswell

50. “I regard golf as an expensive way of playing marbles.”- G. K. Chesterton

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Inspirational Golf Quotes

51. “Golf is a game that mirrors life. Golf is both a mystical journey of joy and sorrow and a physical journey of cause and effect.” Matthew E

52. “If you are caught in a storm and are afraid of lightning hold up a 1 iron. Even God can’t hit a 1 iron.”-Lee Trevino

53. “Golf without Jones would be like France without Paris: leaderless, lightless and lonely.”- Anonymous

54. “If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball.”

55. “Golf is a good walk spoiled.”-Mark Twain

56. “Don’t play too much golf. Two rounds a day are plenty.”-Harry Vardon

57. “Golf is a puzzle without an answer. I’ve played the game for 40 years and I still haven’t the slightest idea how to play.”- Gary Player

58. “While playing golf today I hit two good balls. I stepped on a rake.”- Henny Youngman

59. “The main idea in golf as in life, I suppose is to learn to accept what cannot be altered…”- Bobby Jones

60. “It took me 17 years to get 3,000 hits in baseball. It took one afternoon on the golf course.”- Hank Aaron

61. “I have a tip that can take off five strokes of anyone’s golf game. It’s called an Eraser” – Arnold Palmer

62. “If you drink, don’t drive. Don’t even putt.” – Dean Martin

63. “The older you get, the stronger the wind gets; and it’s always in your face.” – Jack Nicklaus

64. “To find a man’s true character, play golf with him.” – P.G Wodehouse

65. “Swing hard in case you hit it.” – Dan Marino

66. “They call it golf because all the other four- letter words were taken.” – Raymond Floyd

67. “The better you putt, the bolder you play.” – Don January

68. “I am not feeling really well, I need a doctor immediately. Ring the nearest golf course.” – Groucho Marx

69. “Much of anyone’s game is played (or should be played) in the short six- inch course between the ears.” – Louise Suggs

70. “Half of golf is fun; the other half is putting.” – Peter Dobereiner

71. “Concentration comes out of a combination of confidence and hunger.” – Arnold Palmer

72. “Forget your opponents. Always play against par.” – Sam Snead

73. “Sometimes the biggest problem is in your head. You’ve got to believe.” – Jack Nicklaus

74. “I smile at obstacles.” – Tiger Woods

75. “Competitive golf is mainly played in a five and a half- inch course…the space between your ears” – Bobby Jones

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Best Golf Quotes

76. “Confidence in golf means being able to concentrate on the problem at hand with no outside interference.” – Tom Watson

77. “If it goes right, it’s a slice. If it goes left, it’s a hook. If it goes straight, it’s a miracle.” – Unknown*

78. 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

79. Golf is a science, the study of a lifetime, in which you can exhaust yourself but never your subject ~ David Forgan

80. Golf is an awkward set of bodily contortions designed to produce a graceful result ~ Tommy Armour

81. 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

82. Golf is so popular simply because it is the best game in the world at which to be bad ~ AA Milne

83. 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

84. Golf puts a man’s character on the anvil and his richest qualities—patience, poise, restraint—to the flame ~ Billy Casper

85. 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

86. Golf… is the infallible test. The man who can go into a patch of rough alone, with the knowledge that only God is watching him, and play his ball where it lies, is the man who will serve you faithfully and well ~ P.G. Wodehouse

87. Grip the club as if you were holding a baby bird ~ Sam Snead

88. If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they’d starve to death ~ Sam Snead

89. If you are going to throw a club, it is important to throw it ahead of you, down the fairway, so you don’t have to waste energy going back to pick it up ~ Tommy Bolt

90. If you watch a game, it’s fun. If you play it, it’s recreation. If you work at it, it’s golf ~ Bob Hope

91.“For this game you need, above an are a matter of being quil frame of mind.” –Harry Vardon

92. “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 all over again and make yourself into something.” –Peter Jacobsen

93. “As you walk down the fairway of life you must smell the roses, for you only get to play one round.” –Ben Hogan

94. “I have found the game to be, in all factualness, a universal language wherever I traveled at home or abroad.” –Ben Hogan

95. “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

96. “A routine is not a routine if you have to think about it.” –Davis Love Jr.

97. “The proper score for a businessman golfer is 90. If he is better than that he is neglecting his business. If he’s worse, he’s neglecting his golf.” –St Andrews Rotary Club Member

98. “A good player who is a great putter is a match for any golfer. A great hitter who cannot putt is a match for no one.” –Ben Sayers

99. “I think it’s more than whether or not you win or lose. It’s having that opportunity on that final round, final nine, to come down the stretch with a chance to win.” –Phil Mickelson

100. “You don’t have the game you played last year or last week. You only have today’s game. It may be far from your best, but that’s all you’ve got. Harden your heart and make the best of it.” –Walter Hagen

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Funny Golf Quotes

101. “Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots; you get good breaks from bad shots–but you have you have to play the ball where it lies.” –Bobby Jones

102. “Discipline and concentration are a matter of being interested.” –Tom Kite

103. “I would like to deny all allegations by Bob Hope that during my last game of golf, I hit an eagle, a birdie, an elk and a moose.”- Gerald R. Ford

104. “Golf combines two favorite American pastimes: taking long walks and hitting things with a stick.”- Anonymous

105. “The secret of golf is to turn three shots into two.” – Bobby Jones

106. “The ardent golfer would play Mount Everest if somebody put a flagstick on top.”- Pete Dye

107. “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

108. “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

109. “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

110. “A shot that goes in the cup is pure luck, but a shot to within two feet of the flag is a skill.”

111. “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

112. “Like chess, golf is a game that is forever challenging but can never be conquered.”- Harvey Penick

113. If you win through bad sportsmanship, that’s no real victory.”-Babe Didrikson Zaharias

114. “I smile at obstacles.”- Tiger Woods

115. “There are no absolutes in golf. Golf is such an individual game, and no two people swing alike.”- Kathy Whitworth

116. “Golf puts a man’s character on the anvil and his richest qualities—patience, poise, restraint—to the flame.”-Billy Casper

117. “The greatest thing about tomorrow is I will be better than I am today. And that’s how I look at my life. I will be a better golfer, I will be a better person, I will be a better father, I will be a better husband, I will be a better friend. That’s the beauty of tomorrow.”- Tiger Woods

118. “I’m a firm believer in the theory that people only do their best at things they truly enjoy. It is difficult to excel at something you don’t enjoy.”-Jack Nicklaus

119. “I get to play golf for a living. What more can you ask for, getting paid for doing what you love.”- Tiger Woods

120. “Stay true to yourself and listen to your inner voice. It will lead you to your dream.”

121. “The value of routine; trusting your swing.”-Lorii Myers

121. “Life is better when you’re golfing.” – Arnold Palmer

122. “Golf is not a game, it’s bondage. It was obviously devised by a man torn with guilt, eager to atone for his sins.” – Jim Murray

123. “There are no shortcuts on the quest for perfection.” – Ben Hogan

124. “Golf is a search for perfection, for balance. It’s about meditation and concentration. You have to use hand and brain.” – Celine Dion.

125. “I never learned anything from a match that I won” – Bobby Jones

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Quotes About Golf

126. “He that can have patience can have what he will.” – Benjamin Franklin

127. “A kid grows up a lot faster on golf course. Golf teaches you how to behave.” – Jack Nicklaus

128. “This 90/10 rule holds true in almost anything financial. Take the game of golf, for example. Ten percent of the professional golfers make 90 percent of the money.” – Robert Kiyosaki

129. “Golf is a game of endless failure and frustration.” – Michael Greenberg

130. “Golf is 20 percent talent and 80 percent management.” – Ben Hogan

131. “The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course.” – Billy Graham

132. 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

133. 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

134. 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

135. 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

136. Reverse every natural instinct and do the opposite of what you are inclined to do, and you will probably come very close to having a perfect golf swing ~ Ben Hogan

137. Success depends almost entirely on how effectively you learn to manage the game’s two ultimate adversaries: the course and yourself ~ Jack Nicklaus

138. Success depends less on strength of body than upon strength of mind and character ~ Arnold Palmer

139. The greatest single lesson to be learned from golf is mental discipline ~ Louise Suggs

140. There is no such thing as a natural touch. Touch is something you create by hitting millions of golf balls ~ Lee Trevino

141. There’s no sense in going to a tournament if you don’t believe that you can win it ~ Tiger Woods

142. They call it golf because all the other four-letter words were taken ~ Ray Floyd

143. 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

144. “Everybody can see that my swing is homegrown. That means everybody has a chance to do it.” –Bubba Watson

145. “Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.” –Napoleon Hill

146. “The game has such a hold on golfers because they compete not only against an opponent, but also against the course, against par, and most surely- against themselves.” –Arnold Palmer

147. “Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.” –Arnold Palmer

148. “Resolve never to quit, never to give up, no matter what the situation” –Jack Nicklaus

149. “I’ve heard people say my swing’s not perfect, and I know that. But golf’s a natural sport, very sensitive. It’s played a lot by feel. I don’t care if my swing is too flat. If it works, I don’t have to change it.” –Sergio Garcia

150. “Putting is like wisdom – partly a natural gift and partly the accumulation of experience.” –Arnold Palmer