“Golf is a puzzle without an answer.”
—Gary Player
“Golf is an expensive way of playing marbles.”
—G. K. Chesterton, author
“Golf is the Lord's punishment for man's sins.”
—James Reston, journalist
“Golf is a game with the soul of a 1956 Rotarian.”
—Bill Mandel, Berkeley radio legend
“Golf is a game of expletives not deleted.”
—Dr. Irving J. Gladstone, golfer
“Golf is an ideal diversion, but a ruinous disease.”
—Bertie Charles Forbes
“Golf is the hardest game in the world to play, and the easiest to cheat at.”
—Dave Hill, pro golfer
“Golf is so popular simply because it is the best game in the world at which to be bad.”
—A. A. Milne
“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
“Golf is like faith: It is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
—Arnold Haultain, Canadian author (1857–1941)
“Golf is the most fun you can have without taking your clothes off.”
—Chi Chi Rodriguez
“Golf is a wonderful exercise. You can stand on your feet for hours, watching somebody else putt.”
—Will Rogers
“Golf is essentially an exercise in masochism conducted out of doors.”
—Paul O'Neil
“Golf is war. And like all wars, if you're not looking to win, you probably shouldn't show up.”
—Capt. Bruce Waren Ollstein
, author and golf strategist
“Golf is a game where the ball always lies poorly and the player always lies well.”
—Anonymous golfer
“Golf is not just exercise: It is an adventure, a romance … a Shakespeare play in which disaster and comedy are intertwined and you have to live with the consequences.”
—Harold Segall, golfer
“Golf is a game that creates emotions that sometimes cannot be sustained with the club still in one hand.”
—Bobby Jones
“Golf is 20 percent mechanics and technique. The other 80 percent is philosophy, humor, tragedy, romance, melodrama, companionship, camaraderie, cussedness, and conversation.”
—Grantland Rice, American sportswriter
“Golf is the hardest game in the world. There is no way you can ever get it. Just when you think you do, the game jumps up and puts you in your place.”
—Ben Crenshaw
“Golf is an awkward set of bodily contortions designed to produce a graceful result.”
—Thomas Armour, golfer
“Golf is good for the soul. You get so mad at yourself you forget to hate your enemies.”
—Will Rogers
“Golf is like a cat chasing its tail. You're never going to catch it. The day you think you've got your game down pat, something goes awry and you're back to square one. That's one reason why I love the game so much: the soul-searching, and the never-ending search for the perfect swing.”
—Greg Norman
“Golf is an exercise which is much used by the Gentlemen in Scotland. A large common, in which there are several little holes, is chosen for the purpose. It is played with little leather balls stuffed with feathers, and sticks tipped with horn…. A man would live ten years the longer for using this exercise once or twice a week.”
—Dr. Benjamin Rush (1770)
“Golf is not a game of great shots. It's a game of the most accurate misses.”
—Gene Littler
“Golf is like a horse—If you take your eye off it, it'll jump back and kick your shins for you.”
—Byron Nelson
“Golf is a game of endless predicaments.”
—Chi Chi Rodriguez
“Golf is not a fair game. It's a rude game.”
—Fuzzy Zoeller
“Golf is 20 percent talent and 80 percent management.”
—Ben Hogan
“Golf is not so much a game as it is a creed and a religion.”
—Arnold Haultain
“Golf is meant to be fun.”
—Jack Nicklaus
“Golf is just a game, and an idiotic one at that.”
—Mark Calcavecchia (after failing to make the cut at the British Open)
“Golf is a game where guts, stick-to-it-ness, and blind devotion will get you nothing but an ulcer.”
—Tommy Bolt