Some players make it look effortless, yet every smooth swing carries hours of quiet practice. As Gary Player reminds us: “You must work very hard to become a natural golfer.” These quotations follow that line of truth, where effort, patience, and play all meet on the same green.

Golf is tougher than my first wife. ~ Ken Green, Sports Network, 7/24/04

I realized if I was going to be in this pro golf life for the long haul, I needed to relax and enjoy the struggle, enjoy the moment. ~ Ryan Moore, USA Today, 8/24/04

The one stroke marks the difference between fame and oblivion. ~ Samuel Parrish

If you watch a game, it is fun. If you play it, it is recreational. If you work it, it is golf. ~ Bob Hope

Golf is like solitaire. When you cheat, you cheat only yourself. ~ Tony Lema

I did envisage being this successful as a player, but not all the hysteria around it off the golf course. ~ Tiger Woods

Take nine strokes off your score. Skip the last hole. ~ Bob Hope, My Life in Jokes, 2003

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

Have you ever noticed what golf spells backwards? ~ Al Boliska

Make friends with your caddie and the game will make friends with you. ~ Stephen Potter

Golf is an insurmountable game in which one attempts to put an insignificant ball into an obscure hole with an absurd weapon. ~ Harry B. Trout

Golfers should not fail to realize that it is a game of great traditions, of high ideals of sportsmanship, one in which a strict adherence to the rules is essential. ~ Francis Ouimet

Two things I take very seriously in life: my golf game and my relationship with God. Neither one is simple. ~ Cheryl Ladd, Guideposts, 10/04

I don’t know why golf has been my life for the past thirty years. It has been a burning passion for me. It is not the money. It is being with these guys, playing the game. ~ Dana Quigley, USA Today, 1/25/05

All is fair in love and golf. ~ American Proverb

What other people may find in poetry or art museums, I find in the flight of a good driver. ~ Arnold Palmer

I give the ball some sweet talk. I tell it this is not going to hurt at all. I am a friend, and all I am going to do is give it a nice little ride. ~ Sam Snead