Golf is a worrier's game, inward, concentrated, a matter of inches, invented by the same people who gave us Presbyterianism.
I've never set up any golf course that would favor anybody. I try to make it exactly the opposite, which is what we did at Valhalla when we modernized it to accommodate the lengths players are hitting it today.
You may be sick of what you did the first half of your life, but you don't just have to walk around and play golf or do nothing. . . It's not like fifty is the new thirty. It's like fifty is the new chapter.
If I can hit a curveball, why can't I hit a ball that is standing still on a course?
I've had the luxury of playing golf around the world, and I've spent a lot of time evaluating how to play all kinds of courses.
In golf I am one under; one under a tree, one under a rock, and one under a bush.
A golf course is for golf. A tennis court is for tennis. A prison camp is for escaping.
I think if you are going to base your whole life on what you do on the golf course, you are up for a lot of ups and downs.
Golf is the Great Mystery. Like some capricous goddess, it bestows its favours with what would appear an almost fat-headed lack of method and discrimination. On every side we see big two-fisted he-men floundering round in three figures, stopping every few minutes to let through little shrimps with knock-knees and hollow cheeks, who are tearing up snappy seventy-fours.
After hitting two balls into the water- By God, I've got a good mind to jump in and make it four.
The hardest shot in golf is a mashie at 90 yards from the green, where the ball has to be played against an oak tree, bounces back into a sandtrap, hits a stone, bounces on the green and then rolls into the cup. That shot is so difficult I have made it only once.
My philosophy is to enjoy yourself. Do the things you want to do, like play golf!
Placing the ball in the right position for the next shot is eighty percent of winning golf.
My wife, she still gives me a hard time, and says I hunt too much or I like to play golf too much. And she's probably right, but it sure beats some of the things I used to do.
I didn't want to change the name on the towels.
And you fathers, are you so busy making a living, playing golf, bowling, hunting, that you do not have time to talk to your boys and hold them close to you and win their confidence? Or do you brush them off, so that they dare not come and talk about these things with you?
When the going is good and the putts are dropping, you love your putter. When it's going bad, it's like it has betrayed you and you want to throw the sucker in a lake.
Early in my career when we went to golf tournaments and charity dinners I noticed businessmen and executives would give the players their cards. Well, they're giving you their cards for a reason. I said to my wife, 'All the guys get these cards and then when they get to the parking lot they rip them up or throw them away. It's really weird. ' My wife. . said maybe you should just sign a picture and mail it to them. You know, 'Great playing golf with you,' or whatever. So, I did and lo and behold some of those guys I sent pictures to way back then are now CEOs at big companies.
For years, I never thought I needed a short game. Finally I just decided to do something about it. I needed to get up and down from tough spots on the par-5s for my birdies. So I went to Phil [Rogers]. He's the best. For the last couple weeks, Phil has been staying at my house and we've been practicing in the evening.
It is impossible to outplay an opponent you can't outthink.