“Control is the main thing, and the tee shot is the most important shot in golf. You’ve got to hit the fairway before you have a good chance of putting the ball close to the pin. You can be the greatest iron player in the world, but if you’re in the boondocks it won’t do you any good.”

Golf is not a game of good shots. It’s a game of bad shots.

If a man can shoot 10 birdies, there’s no reason why he can’t shoot 18. Why can’t you birdie every hole on the course?

If we could have just screwed another head on his shoulders, he would have been the greatest golfer who ever lived.

I’m glad I brought this course, this monster, to its knees.

Hit the ball up to the hole… You meet a better class of people up there.

There is no similarity between golf and putting; they are two different games, one played in the air, and the other on the ground.

I don’t like the glamour. I just like the game.

If the Masters offered no money at all, I would be here trying just as hard.

Why that would be like challenging Bing Crosby to a singing contest,wouldn’t it

You hear stories about me beating my brains out practising, but the truth is, I was enjoying myself. I couldn’t wait to get up in the morning, so I could hit balls. When I’m hitting the ball where I want, hard and crisply, it’s a joy that very few people experience.

I have found the game to be, in all factualness, a universal language wherever I traveled at home or abroad.

Certainly, if you can’t manage your game, you can’t play tournament golf.

The only thing a golfer needs is more daylight.

You only hit a straight ball by accident. The ball is going to move right or left every time you hit it, so you had better make it go one way or the other.

Good golf begins with a good grip.

All other things being equal, greens break to the west.

Golf is 20 percent talent and 80 percent management.

The game embarrasses you until you feel inadequate.

I don’t believe there is anything like a natural golf swing. A golf swing is an unnatural thing, and it has to be developed.

I don’t have any big secret about putting. Just hit at it. It’s either going to miss or go in.

The most important shot in golf is the next one.

Shoot a lower score than everybody else.

I play golf with friends sometimes, but there are never friendly games.

I dreamed one night that I had 17 holes-in-one and one two, and when I woke up I was so goddam mad.