“Golf is a puzzle without an answer.” So true! But who said it? Here’s our selection of the wisest and most inspirational quotes about this wonderful game from its greatest exponents. 

“Success in this game depends less on strength of body than strength of mind and character.”

Arnold Palmer, 4-time Masters winner

“There are no shortcuts on the quest for perfection.”

Ben Hogan, 9-time Major champion

“I never learned anything from a match that I won.”

Bobby Jones, 1930 Grand Slam winner

“If you worry about making bogeys, it makes the game that much more difficult. You put more pressure on yourself without even noticing it. It makes a difference to take it easy when things aren’t going right.”

Sergio Garcia, 2017 Masters winner

“I have always had a drive that pushed me to try for perfection, and golf is a game in which perfection stays just out of reach.”

Betsy Rawls, winner of 55 LPGA Tour events

“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, 14-time PGA Tour winner

“Achievements on the golf course are not what matters, decency and honesty are what matter.”

Tiger Woods, 15-time Major winner

“Keep your sense of humor. There’s enough stress in the rest of your life not to let bad shots ruin a game you’re supposed to enjoy.”

Amy Alcott, 5-time Major winner

“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 you have to play the ball where it lies.”

Bobby Jones, 1930 Grand Slam winner

“Everybody can see that my swing is homegrown. That means everybody has a chance to do it.”

Bubba Watson, 2-time Maters champion

“Golf is a puzzle without an answer. I’ve played the game for 50 years and I still haven’t the slightest idea of how to play”

Gary Player, 9-time Major champion with 167 worldwide events won

“The ardent golfer would play Mount Everest if somebody put a flagstick on top”

Pete Dye, American golf course architects

“Don’t be too proud to take lessons. I’m not”

Jack Nicklaus, 18-time Major champion

“The more I practice, the luckier I get”

Gary Player, 9-time Major champion

“They say golf is like life, but don’t believe them. Golf is more complicated than that.”

Gardner Dickinson, 7-time PGA Tour winner

“The most important shot in golf is the next one”

Ben Hogan, 9-time Major champion

“Happiness is a long walk with a putter”

Greg Norman, spent 331 weeks as the world’s number 1 golfer

“I don’t think golf has ever been any pressure as far as having to succeed.”

Tiger Woods, 82 wins on the PGA Tour

“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, 73 wins on the PGA Tour

“Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated”

Arnold Palmer, 62 wins on the PGA Tour