Quotable Quotes for Senior Golfers

This week's column is mainly for senior golfers, but maybe, just maybe, some millenniums will actually put down their phones long enough to not only find this informative, but also to become curious enough to read about golfing celebrities from the past.

Famous quotations from the world of sports, American and world history have always been of interest to me since my early childhood years. A few classics to remember, "Give me liberty or give me death," Patrick Henry; "This is our finest hour," Winston Churchill, and who can forget that great philosopher, Yogi Berra, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." My favorite Yogism, however, is, "It ain't over 'til it's over." (Well spoken, Yogi!)

So now I would like to share with you some quotable quotes about golf, not only from famous golfers, but from the world of sports, history and entertainment from years gone by.

Mickey Mantle, one of the greatest to ever play major league baseball, had a great approach to playing a winning a round of golf. He loved to drive his golf cart at full speed to his next shot. His philosophy: "He who has the fastest golf cart will never have a bad lie."

Getting back to Yogi Berra, when asked about his putting, he replied to reporters, "Ninety percent of the putts that are short don't go in." (I can just imagine the reporters looking at each other and shaking their heads in the Yankee locker room.)

These next quotes should fall under the heading of Pearls of Wisdom.

"It's good sportsmanship not to pick up lost golf balls, especially while they are still rolling" (Mark Twain). "Happiness is a long walk with a putter." Greg Norman

"The harder I work, the luckier I get" Gary Player. Golfing Hall of Famer Sam Snead, who once said to a struggling golf pupil, "Lay off three weeks, then quit," also got into a debate with Ted Williams, baseball Hall of Famer, about which was an easier game to play, golf or baseball? Williams said, "It is harder to hit a ninety-five mile an hour fast ball, than a golf ball sitting on a tee." Snead replied, "But you don't have to go up into the stands and play your foul balls. I do."

Arnold Palmer has many quotes to his name, but three of my favorites are, "I have a tip that can take five strokes off of anyone's game. It's called an eraser." The second is, "Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated." Finally, "What other people find in poetry or art museums, I find in the flight of a good drive."

The next set of quotes should be filed under The Mental Game of Golf. This sounds like a Yogi Berra quote: "Golf is 90% mental and 10% mental," but it was actually spoken by Thomas Mulligan sometime in the 1800s. Golfing Hall of Famer, Johnny Miller, takes a more practical approach to his success, "Golf is 90% inspiration and 10% perspiration." Bobby Jones, the greatest amateur to ever play the game and the spearhead to develop the Masters Golf tournament in Augusta, had his own take on the game: "Golf is a game played on a five inch course — the distance between your ears." Another golfing great, Chi Chi Rodriguez, must have gone to the Berra school of quotes. "I've heard people say that putting is 50% technique and 50% mental. I really believe it is 50% technique and 90% positive thinking. See, but that adds up to 140%, which is why nobody is 100% sure how to putt.

19th Hole Trivia

Honorable Mention:

"Golf is a game invented by people who think music comes out of bagpipes." Anonymous

"When Jack Nicklaus plays well, he wins. When he plays badly, he finishes second. When he plays terrible, he finishes third." Johnny Miller.

"If you are ever caught on a golf course during a thunderstorm and you are afraid of lightening, hold up a one-iron. Not even God can hit a one-iron." Lee Trevino

Willie Nelson, who owns his own golf course, tells his friends these three simple rules: "No more than 12 in your foursome, and do not jingle your change, and no wind-letting on the greens when someone is putting."