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Looking for the greatest golf quotes of all time? Here are the greatest golf quotes for motivation, life inspiration, and funny moments!
From the time I could walk, the golf course was my second home (whether I liked it or not). I can vividly recall carrying my plastic golf clubs and chasing after my own shadow in the early morning hours.
The legends of the game, especially the iconic Jack Nicklaus, were not just distant figures on TV, but heroes who whispered wisdom and inspiration into my eager ears. Their words shaped my journey, not just as a golfer but as an individual in so many ways.
So, if you, like me, and find solace in golf’s life lessons, then you’re in for a treat. Here is a collection of timeless golf quotes that have not only motivated me on the golf course but have also given me laughter and life insights off it.
Golf Motivational Quotes
Golf at times can be an endless pit of frustration. You can be hitting the ball great all day and then miss a shot you know you should have made. It happens to everyone but when it happens to you, it sure feels like the end of the world. That’s when you need a little motivation to remind you that golf is still a great game.
Here are some of our greatest golf motivational quotes:
1. “The mark of a great player is in his ability to come back. The great champions have all come back from defeat.” – Sam Snead
2. “Doubt yourself and you doubt everything you see. Judge yourself and you see judges everywhere. But if you listen to the sound of your own voice, you can rise above doubt and judgment. And you can see forever.” – Nancy Lopez
3. “The most important shot in golf is the next one.” – Ben Hogan
4. “There are no shortcuts to success.” – Annika Sorenstam
5. “There is no such thing as a natural touch. Touch is something you create by hitting millions of golf balls.” – Lee Trevino
6. “Happiness is a long walk with a putter.” – Greg Norman
7. “The more I practice, the luckier I get.” – Gary Player
8. “A leading difficulty with the average player is that he totally misunderstands what is meant by concentration. He may think he is concentrating hard when he is merely worrying.” – Bobby Jones
9. “No matter how good you get, you can always get better — and that’s the exciting part.” – Tiger Woods
10. ”Golf is a game of misses, and the winners are those who have the best misses.” – Kathy Whitworth
11. “Golf is a game of finding what works, losing it and then finding it again.” -Ken Venturi
Golf Quotes About Love
Looking for golf quotes about love? Golf is a game of passion and there are many golfers out there who truly love the game.
Here are some of our favorite golf quotes about love:
12. “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
13. “Pursue what you love, what you are passionate about. Don’t let somebody else dictate your life’s path.” – Jack Nicklaus
14. “Golf is a game where guts and blind devotion will always net you absolutely nothing but an ulcer.” – Tommy Bolt, professional golfer
15. “You have to love it and be willing to put in the time. I like to hit the ball where I’m aiming, but I’m never afraid of trouble.” – Joanne Carner
16. “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, TV character known for his “Daley-isms”
17. “Golf is the most fun you can have without taking your clothes off.” – Chi Chi Rodriguez
18. “I’m a golfaholic. And all the counseling in the world wouldn’t help me.” – Lee Trevino
Golf Friends Quotes
Some of the best moments in life are spent with good friends on the golf course. If you’re looking for some golf friends quotes, we’ve got a few that will remind you why its fun to play it with a friend!
19. “But in the end, it’s still a game of golf, and if at the end of the day you can’t shake hands with your opponents and still be friends, then you’ve missed the point.” ‒ Payne Stewart
20. I play golf with friends sometimes, but there are never friendly games.” ‒ Ben Hogan
21. “Forget your opponents; always play against par.” – Sam Snead
22. “I think it’s just the nature of our game that we’re friends out here, although we are competitors, we are friends. And you like to see your friend do well, and you sometimes need another pair of eyes.” – Steve Stricker
Funny Golf Quotes
23. “It’s good sportsmanship to not pick up lost golf balls while they are still rolling.” -Mark Twain
24. “May thy ball lie in green pastures, and not in still waters.” ‒ Ben Hogan
25. “I’m not saying my golf game went bad, but if I grew tomatoes, they’d come up sliced.” – Lee Trevino
26. “The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so that you can’t see him laughing.” – Phyllis Diller
27. “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
28. “Too much ambition is a bad thing to have in a bunker.” – Bobby Jones
29. “The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course.” – Reverend Billy Graham
30. “Golf is a good walk spoiled.” ‒ Harry Leon Wilson (often mistakenly referred to as a Mark Twain quote).
31. “If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball.” – Jack Lemmon
32. “I have a tip that can take five strokes off anyone’s game: it’s called an eraser.” – Arnold Palmer
33. “The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course.” – Hank Aaron
34. “If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they’d starve to death.” – Sam Snead
35. “Give me golf clubs, fresh air and a beautiful partner, and you can keep the clubs and the fresh air.” ‒ Jack Benny
36. “The uglier a man’s legs are, the better he plays golf. It’s almost a law.” – H. G. Wells
37. “A perfectly straight shot with a big club is a fluke.” – Jack Nicklaus
38. “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
39. “Don’t play too much golf. Two rounds a day are plenty.” – Harry Vardon
40. “My swing is so bad, I look like a caveman killing his lunch.” – Lee Trevino
41. “Golf is so popular simply because it is the best game in the world at which to be bad.” – A.A. Milne
42. ““Half of golf is fun. The other half is putting.” – Peter Dobereiner
43. “Golf: A plague invented by the Calvinistic Scots as a punishment for man’s sins.” – James Reston
44. “Here’s irony for you….The driver goes the shortest distance when you throw it. The putter flies farthest, followed by the sand wedge.” – Tommy Bolt (AKA Thunder Bolt)
45. “I’ve never had a coach in my life. When I find one who can beat me, then I’ll listen.” – Lee Trevino
46. “The Good news is the golf ball doesn’t know how old you are.” –Tommy Bolt
Golf Inspirational Quotes About Life
After a tough day on the golf course, we all need a little inspiration to help us remember why we love this game. Sometimes golfing slumps can linger longer than we like, but keeping in mind the golfing greats also have them – always gives me a bit of hope!
These golf inspirational quotes are perfect for getting some perspective and remembering the good times.
47. “Don’t force your kids into sports. I never was. To this day, my dad has never asked me to go play golf. I ask him.” ‒ Tiger Woods
48. “A kid grows up a lot faster on the golf course. Golf teaches you how to behave.” – Jack Nicklaus
49. “I never learned anything from a match I won.” – Bobby Jones
50. “Golf is a game of ego, but it is also a game of integrity, the most important thing is you do what is right when no one is looking.” – Tom Watson
51. “How you handle failure determines how successful you will be.” — Muffet McGraw
52. “Achievements on the golf course are not what matters, decency and honesty are what matter.” – Tiger Woods
53. “Golf is fundamentally about being honest. I see people hit eight shots and tell me they shot five. I never say a word. It is a reminder to me of what is at stake.” – Martin Sheen
54. “I stay patient. I don’t go out there and try to set a course record. That’s probably one of my strengths and one reason I’ve been able to win major championships.” – Annnika Sorenstam
55. “If you win through bad sportsmanship, that’s no real victory.” — Babe Didrikson Zaharias
56. “Golf is a great example to me. Golf is a metaphor of life. I mean, every shot. You have this beautiful hole, this beautiful opportunity to get a good score.” – Nick Saban
57. “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 to play the ball where it lies.” – Bobby Jones
58. “Treat your birdies like your bogeys. If you can go through a round with a level head, it makes it much easier to recover and to still salvage a good round.” – Ben Hogan, Golf mental game tips
59. “It just comes down to not thinking about winning, just playing one shot at a time.” – Lilia Vu
60. “Confidence comes from hard work. It comes from facing different situations and making putts. It comes from knowing you’ve worked on the right things, so when you get under the gun, you can execute what you’ve practiced.” – David Duval
Golf Movie Quotes
Golf has been featured in some fantastic movies over the years. If you’re looking for some golf movie quotes, here are some of the greatest golf quotes of all time:
61. “My dear young lady, I’m not losing my temper. I’m merely trying to play some golf.” – David Huxley (Cary Grant) in the movie, Bringing Up Baby.
62. “What you have to understand is that three bad shots and one good shot still make par. You see golf is a game of recovery.”
Walter Hagen (Jeremy Northam) in the movie, Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius.
63. Golf requires goofy pants and a fat ass. You should talk to my neighbor, the accountant. Probably a great golfer – huge ass.” – Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) in the movie, Happy Gilmore.
64. “I always felt a man’s grip on his club just like a man’s grip on his world.” – Bagger Vance (Will Smith) from the movie, Legend of Bagger Vance.
65. “See it. Feel it. Trust it.” – Johnny Crawford (Robert Duvall) in the movie, Seven Days in Utopia.
66. It’s alive, this swing, a living sculpture! And down through contact, always down, striking the ball crisply, with character. A tuning fork goes off in your heart and your balls. – Roy McAvoy (Kevin Costner) from the movie, Tin Cup.
67. “I’m going to give you a little advice. There’s a force in the universe that makes things happen. And all you have to do is get in touch with it, stop thinking, let things happen, and be the ball.” – Ty Webb (Chevy Chase) in the movie, Caddyshack.
68. “What kind name is ‘golf’ anyway? Sounds like a sound you make when you’ve got something caught in your throat.”– Peter Blunt (Randy Quaid) in the movie, Caddyshack II.
69. “Found a new sport that I like. Know what it is? Golf. Know why I like it? Because golf is walking through a park… with a purpose.” – Zoe (Michele Seipp) in the movie, The Blue Iguana.
70. “A golf course is nothing but a poolroom moved outdoors.”
– Father Fitzgibbons (Barry Fitzgerald) from the movie, Going My Way.
Final Thoughts on the Greatest Golf Quotes
We hope you enjoyed our list of the greatest golf quotes of all time! Whether you’re looking for motivation, inspiration, or a good laugh, we hope you found what you were looking for.
Golf is an unbelievable game and there’s nothing like hearing some wise words to know you’re not in it alone!
