Did you know that the legendary Bobby Jones once said, “Golf is the closest game to the game we call life”? That quote has stuck with me throughout my career, reminding me that golf is about so much more than just sinking putts.
I’ve compiled a list of the 101 best golf quotes out there. These aren’t just empty words – they’re bite-sized lessons that can genuinely improve your game and your outlook.
I guarantee you’ll find something here to inspire you next time you’re on the course.
Related: Best Golf Instagram Captions
What are the Most Famous Golf Quotes?
Here are the best golf quotes:
Famous Golfer Golf Quotes
“The most important shot in golf is the next one.” – Ben Hogan
“Golf is a game of confidence.” – Jack Nicklaus
“Success in golf depends less on strength of body than upon strength of mind and character.” – Arnold Palmer
“The more I practice, the luckier I get.” – Gary Player
“I’ve always made a total effort, even when the odds seemed entirely against me. I never quit trying; I never felt that I didn’t have a chance to win.” – Arnold Palmer
“Focus on remedies, not faults.” – Jack Nicklaus
“The most important shot in golf is the next one.” – Ben Hogan (repeated for emphasis, as it’s a core golf philosophy)
“I’ve always made a total effort, even when the odds seemed entirely against me. I never quit trying; I never felt that I didn’t have a chance to win.” – Arnold Palmer
“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
“The harder you work, the luckier you get.” – Gary Player
“The most important shot in golf is the next one.” – Ben Hogan (repeated again as it’s a fundamental golf philosophy)
“I never learned anything from a match that I won.” – Bobby Jones
“There is no such thing as a natural touch. Touch is something you create by hitting millions of golf balls.” – Lee Trevino
“The only thing a golfer needs is more daylight.” – Ben Hogan
A kid grows up a lot faster on the golf course. Golf teaches you how to behave.” – Jack Nicklaus
“Rhythm is the most important thing in golf.” – Sam Snead
“The ardent golfer would play Mount Everest if somebody put a flagstick on top.” – Pete Dye
“Of all the hazards, fear is the worst.” – Sam Snead
“Golf is not a game of good shots. It’s a game of bad shots.” – Ben Hogan
“The most important shot in golf is the next one.” – Ben Hogan
“Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated.” – Arnold Palmer
“The more I practice, the luckier I get.” – Gary Player
“Success in this game depends less on strength of body than strength of mind and character.” – Arnold Palmer
“I never learned anything from a match that I won.” – Bobby Jones
Famous Tiger Woods Quotes
Tiger Woods is considered one of the greatest golfers of all time. Here are some of his most iconic quotes:
“The greatest thing about tomorrow is, I will be better than I am today.”
“My dad has always taught me these words: care and share.”
“The greatest thing about tomorrow is, I will be better than I am today.”
“I’ve always known that I’m going to be a professional golfer.”
“I’m addicted. I’m addicted to golf.”
I get to play golf for a living. What more can you ask for – getting paid for doing what you love.”
“My goal is to remain healthy my entire career, and a healthy diet seems like a good start.”
“I’ve always felt that if you prepare properly, you’re giving yourself the best opportunity to succeed.”
“I think the best thing is being able to play golf competitively for a living. Ever since I was a little boy, that’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”
“You can always become better.”
“I’m trying as hard as I can, and sometimes things don’t go your way, and that’s the way things go.”
“If you can’t laugh at yourself, then who can you laugh at?”
“I’ve had some tough times, but I always try to stay positive.”
“I get to play golf for a living. What more can you ask for – getting paid for doing what you love.”
“I don’t see myself as the Great Black Hope. I’m just a golfer who happens to be black and Asian. It doesn’t matter whether they’re white, black, brown or green.”
“No matter how good you get you can always get better and that’s the exciting part.”
“I’m going to try to keep getting better.”
“The only thing you can do is take a learning experience from it, positives and negatives, and apply them to the future.”
“I’ve been a gamer all my life.”
“My main focus is on my game.”
Movies and TV Golf Quotes
“Golf is a good walk spoiled.” – Often attributed to Mark Twain, but this attribution is disputed
“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 “Caddyshack”
“You’re gonna die, clown!” – Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) in “Happy Gilmore”
“Gambling is illegal at Bushwood sir, and I never slice.” – Judge Smails (Ted Knight) in “Caddyshack”
“Just tap it in. Just tap it in. Give it a little tappy. Tap tap taparoo.” – Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) in “Happy Gilmore”
“A flute without holes is not a flute. A donut without a hole is a Danish.” – Ty Webb (Chevy Chase) in “Caddyshack”
“This is a hybrid. This is a cross, ah, of Bluegrass, Kentucky Bluegrass, Featherbed Bent, and Northern California Sensemilia.” – Carl Spackler (Bill Murray) in “Caddyshack”
“It’s all in the hips. It’s all in the hips.” – Chubbs Peterson (Carl Weathers) in “Happy Gilmore”
“I eat pieces of shit like you for breakfast!” – Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald) in “Happy Gilmore”
“Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion.” – Carl Spackler (Bill Murray) in “Caddyshack”
“Let’s face it. I’ve got a whole lot of money. I mean, I’ve got more money than I can spend on myself.” – Rannulph Junuh (Matt Damon) in “The Legend of Bagger Vance”
“Golf requires goofy pants and a fat ass.” – Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) in “Happy Gilmore
Pop Culture Golf Quotes
“Golf is a day spent in a round of strenuous idleness.” – William Wordsworth
“They call it golf because all the other four-letter words were taken.” – Raymond Floyd
“Golf and sex are about the only things you can enjoy without being good at.” – Jimmy Demaret
“Golf is a game in which you yell ‘fore,’ shoot six, and write down five.” – Paul Harvey
“If you drink, don’t drive. Don’t even putt.” – Dean Martin
“The difference between golf and government is that in golf you can’t improve your lie.” – George Deukmejian
“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
“If profanity had an influence on the flight of the ball, the game of golf would be played far better than it is.” – Horace G. Hutchinson
“They say golf is like life, but don’t believe them. Golf is more complicated than that.” – Gardner Dickinson
“Golf is a game in which one endeavors to control a ball with implements ill adapted for the purpose.” – Woodrow Wilson
“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
“The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course.” – Billy Graham
Inspirational Golf Quotes
“The most important shot in golf is the next one.” – Ben Hogan (repeated from above, as it fits well in this category too)
“Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated.” – Arnold Palmer
“The only thing a golfer needs is more daylight.” – Ben Hogan
“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
“Success in this game depends less on strength of body than strength of mind and character.” – Arnold Palmer
“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
“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
“The game of golf is 90% mental and 10% mental.” – Jim Flick
“A good golfer has the determination to win and the patience to wait for the breaks.” – Gary Player
“The whole secret to mastering the game of golf – and this applies to the beginner as well as the pro – is to cultivate a mental approach to the game that will enable you to shrug off the bad days, keep patient and know in your heart that sooner or later you will be back on top.” – Arnold Palmer
“The mind messes up more shots than the body.” – Tommy Bolt
“One thing about golf is you don’t know why you play bad and why you play good.” – George Archer
Humorous Golf Quotes
“I have a tip that can take five strokes off anyone’s golf game: it’s called an eraser.” – Arnold Palmer
“Golf is so popular simply because it is the best game in the world at which to be bad.” – A.A. Milne
“If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball.” – Jack Lemmon
It’s good sportsmanship to not pick up lost golf balls while they are still rolling.” – Mark Twain
“I know I am getting better at golf because I am hitting fewer spectators.” – Gerald R. Ford
“They call it golf because all the other four-letter words were taken.” – Raymond Floyd
“Golf is a game in which you yell ‘fore,’ shoot six, and write down five.” – Paul Harvey
“I’m not saying my golf game went bad, but if I grew tomatoes, they’d come up sliced.” – Lee Trevino
“The only sure rule in golf is – he who has the fastest cart never has to play the bad lie.” – Mickey Mantle
“Golf is played by twenty million mature American men whose wives think they are out having fun.” – Jim Bishop
“I’m not saying my golf game went bad, but if I grew tomatoes, they’d come up sliced.” – Lee Trevino
“It took me seventeen years to get three thousand hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon on the golf course.” – Hank Aaron
Philosophical Golf Quotes
“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
“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
“The real way to enjoy playing golf is to take pleasure not in the score, but in the execution of strokes.” – Bobby Jones
“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
“The secret of golf is to turn three shots into two.” – Bobby Jones
“Golf is not just an exercise; it’s an adventure, a romance… a Shakespeare play in which disaster and comedy are intertwined.” – Harold Segall
“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
“Golf is a game in which the slowest people in the world are those in front of you, and the fastest are those behind.” – Anonymous
“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
Key Elements of Memorable Golf Quotes
What makes a great golf quote? I’ve given it some thought and here are the things I think are required:
Timeless Wisdom
Golf quotes often capture profound truths that apply both on and off the course. These pearls of wisdom resonate with players of all skill levels, offering insights into the game’s challenges and life’s broader lessons.
Humor and Wit
The best golf quotes often come with a hearty dose of humor. From self-deprecating jokes about poor shots to clever observations about the game’s quirks, these witty remarks keep us laughing even when our scorecards aren’t looking great.
Inspiration and Motivation
Golf can be a frustrating sport, but the right words can reignite a player’s passion. Inspirational golf quotes remind us to persevere through difficult rounds and celebrate our improvements, no matter how small.
Famous Golfers’ Insights
Who better to quote than the legends of the game themselves? With their wealth of experience, other golfers provide unique perspectives on technique, mental game, and the spirit of golf.
Pop Culture References
Golf’s influence extends into movies, TV shows, and broader popular culture. These quotes often bring a fresh, sometimes irreverent take on the sport, making golf more accessible to a wider audience.
Overcoming Challenges
Golf is as much a mental game as it is physical, and many quotes address the psychological hurdles players face. These nuggets of wisdom offer strategies for maintaining focus, handling pressure, and bouncing back from bad shots.
Conclusion
Hopefully these golf quotes were interesting to read. Use them in your next golf Instagram caption, get one hung in your house, or just enjoy them as they are.
Have a great day!
