Quotes & Sayings About Golf Swing

Golf is the only sport I know of where a player pays for every mistake. A man can muff a serve in tennis, miss a strike in baseball, or throw an incomplete pass in football and still have another chance to square himself. In golf, every swing counts against you. — Lloyd Mangrum

Follow through: The part of the swing that takes place after the ball has been hit, but before the club has been thrown. — Henry Beard

Because golf exposes the flaws of the human swing - a basically simple maneuver - it causes more self-torture than any game short of Russian roulette. — Grantland Rice

As far as standup, everybody has a vehicle they are driving. If what you do works, it's like playing golf. If you can master that one swing over and over again, you will be successful. That's what standup is. You have to have a central move and it has to be yours. You have to own your comedy, own what you do. — J. B. Smoove

I still swing the way I used to, but when I look up the ball is going in a different direction. — Lee Trevino

I trained more than anybody ever in a golf film ever made - my swing is pretty hot. — Shia Labeouf

Dividing the swing into its parts is like dissecting a cat. You'll have blood and guts and bones all over the place. But you won't have a cat. — Ernest Jones

I really enjoy playing 'Tiger Woods' on the Wii, and you can set the levels to easy, medium, or hard, so I think it's definitely a good way for kids to learn the motion of a golf swing if they want to get into the sport. It makes it more fun for them as well. — Rory McIlroy

When I'm in a zone, I don't think about the shot or the wind or the distance or the gallery or anything; I just pull a club and swing. — Mark Calcavecchia

Swing easy and hit hard. — Julius Boros

Some settlers began with no implements but an ax. In conversation, the subject of axes
their ideal weight, their proper helves
was more popular than politics or religion. A man who made good axes, who knew the secrets of tempering the steel and getting the center of gravity right, received the celebrity of an artist and might act accordingly. The best ax maker in southern Indiana was "a dissolute, drunken genius, named Richardson." Men who really knew how to chop became famous, too. An ax blow requires the same timing of weight shift and wrist action as a golf swing, and as in golf those who where good at it taught others; sometimes all the men in one district learned their stroke from the same axman extraordinaire. A good stroke had a "sweetness" similar to the sound of a well-struck golf or tennis ball, and gave a satisfaction which moved the work along. — Ian Frazier

There is no movement in the golf swing so difficult that it cannot be made even more difficult by careful study and diligent practice. — Tom Mulligan

The arc of your swing doesn't have a thing to do with the size of your heart. — Carol Mann

My favorite shots are the practice swing and the conceded putt. The rest can never be mastered. — George Robertson, Baron Robertson Of Port Ellen

It's much easier to have one swing thought than many. — Butch Harmon

When I swing at a golf ball right, my mind is blank and my body is loose as a goose. — Sam Snead

I assume my stance, and take back the club, low, slowly; at the top, my eyes fog over, and my joints dip and swirl like barn swallows, I swing. There is a fruitless commotion of dust and rubber at my feet. "Smothered it," I say promptly. After enough lessons the terminology becomes second nature. — John Updike

I see things written about the golf swing that I can't believe will work except by accident . — Harvey Penick

My dad was a big believer of having a golf club that fit me. Always have a golf club that fits you, so you don't have to make any swing compensations for that particular golf club. — Tiger Woods

What's the longest walk in golf? It's from the practice tee to the first tee. I don't care if it's 10 yards. It's the longest walk in golf. Winners take their swing with them. Losers don't. — Moe Norman

It's like we have moral muscles that are trained in the same way our biological muscles are trained when we practice a golf swing or piano scales. Now — James K.A. Smith

Golf is 90% mental. Once you know how to hold the club, swing it, it's all in the mind. — Dan Jenkins

When Tiger was 6 months old, he would sit in our garage, watching me hit balls into a net. He had been assimilating his golf swing. When he got out of the high chair, he had a golf swing. — Earl Woods

The value of routine; trusting your swing. — Lorii Myers

Using TrackMan is very important in the development of your golf game because it gives you such good data on what your golf swing is doing and where it needs to go. — Jason Dufner

Everybody who plays top-level sport, whether it's golf or football, or whatever, needs to get into 'The Zone' ... For me personally, on the morning of a round, preparation is always about getting into the zone. The less I communicate with other people, the better. I'm trying to rehearse in my mind what I am working on in my game: going through my swing keys, going through my putting keys. When I get to the course I get the pin positions for the day and I'll analyze those. I'll make a strategy for the golf course and look how I'm going to play it — Paul McGinley

My biggest hobby is playing golf, which I really enjoy. Now when I am lying in bed at night, unable to sleep, I find myself thinking about my golf swing. I'm also involved in the Tampa Bay chapter of First Tee. — Vinny Testaverde

I've heard people say my swing's not perfect, and I know that. But golf's a natural sport, very sensitive. It's played a lot by feel. I don't care if my swing is too flat. If it works, I don't have to change it. — Sergio Garcia

Your final goal is to convert your athletic swing to pure instinct rather than conscious thought. — David Leadbetter

The head has no purpose in the golf swing. It simply goes where the body takes it — George Knudson

The way I see it, thinking about the position of the club during the swing is about the worst way to play golf. It makes you tight and defensive, which kills your natural speed and rhythm. Although there's obvious value to minding your technique, at best you'll play an OK round. Where's the fun in that? — Rickie Fowler

A bad attitude is worse than a bad swing. — Payne Stewart

Because of the suit I was wearing, I couldn't make a good pivot on the swing. And I had to hit the ball with one hand. — Alan Shepard

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. — Ben Hogan

Golf is like acting in that both require concentration and relaxation at the same time. In acting, you can't push emotion. You have to let it rise from you naturally. Same thing in golf. You have to have a plan and a focus; but then you need to just let it happen and enjoy the smooth movement of the swing. — Jane Seymour

Writing is like playing golf - you have to keep working at your swing. — Bill Simmons

Forget the last shot. It takes so long to accept that you can't always replicate your swing. The only thing you can control is your attitude toward the next shot. — Mark McCumber

A big part of managing a golf course is managing your swing on the course. A lot of guys can go out and hit a golf ball, but they have no idea how to manage what they do with the ball. I've won as many golf tournaments hitting the ball badly as I have hitting the ball well. — Jack Nicklaus

Just trust your instincts. There's an old saying in golf, you've studied the swing many times, and you practice and practice, but when you stand over the ball, you just have to trust your swing. And you trust it. And if you don't trust it, you'll ruin it; your brain will take over. — Clint Eastwood

The golf swing is like a suitcase into which we are trying to pack one too many things. — John Updike

I think the golf swing is all about rotation, all about trying to keep the club on plane. — Tiger Woods

Just as I do, Bill was always telling pupils to relax their elbows, since the elbow is the most important joint we have in the movement of the golf swing. Bill and I were in total agreement that the attempt to keep a straight left arm means ruination for most golfers. — Harvey Penick

You take lessons on how to better swing a golf club or a tennis racket, or to learn the proper techniques for shooting a basketball or throwing a curve ball, but what about running? — Danny Abshire

Mr. Agnew, I believe you have a slight swing in your flaw. — Jimmy Demaret

We were always taught to swing slow with good tempo. But you have to have some acceleration throughout the swing. I think that's where a lot of women go wrong. They should try to whack it a few times and see what happens. — Helen Alfredsson

There are no absolutes in golf. Golf is such an individual game, and no two people swing alike. — Kathy Whitworth

For me, take Tiger Woods. I always thought he was great, but I never truly understood how good he was until I had the chance to go to Tiger Woods Golf Camp. He taught me how to swing and was hitting the ball, and this dude was unreal. — Larry Fitzgerald

It goes without saying that it is no good having a perfect setup, perfect grip and perfect golf swing if the whole thing is misaligned. It sounds obvious but many players simply do not spend enough time getting themselves on target. — Nick Faldo

As far as swing and techniques are concerned, I don't know diddly squat. When I'm playing well, I don't even take aim. — Fred Couples

The golf swing is among the most stressful and unnatural acts in sports, short of cheering for the Yankees. — Brad Faxon

A golf swing is a collection of corrected mistakes. — Carol Mann

You should welcome getting older in golf. With greater knowledge of your swing, you, too, can keep improving. — Angel Cabrera

If you think your hands are more important in your golf swing than your legs, try walking a hole on your hands. — Gary Player

I once showed Pat Bradley my swing and said, 'What do I do next?' Pat replied, 'Wait till the pain dies down.' — Bob Hope

The only thing you should force in a golf swing is the club back in the bag. — Byron Nelson

I don't want to rest on my laurels. I still feel like I'm learning a lot about the golf game and the swing. There are so many different little facets of golf that there is always something to learn. — Fred Funk

Having a great golf swing helps under pressure, but golf is a game about scoring. It's like an artist who can get a two-inch brush at Wal-Mart for 20 cents or a fine camel-hair brush from an art store for 20 dollars. The brush doesn't matter - how the finished painting looks is what matters. — Jerry Pate

Swing hard in case you hit it. — Dan Marino

That's sort of overkill. We've had 70 years of the Ryder Cup, and it's gotten along just fine. The pendulum will swing back without making a monumental thing about it. — Jack Nicklaus

The golf swing is very, very rhythmic. There's a certain tempo to it, just like in music. — Justin Timberlake

When I have a match to play, I begin to relax as soon as I wake up. Everything I do, I do slow and easy. That goes for stroking the razor, getting dressed, and eating my breakfast. I'm practically in slow motion. By the time I'm ready to tee off, I'm so used to taking my time that it's impossible to hurry my swing. — Walter Hagen

How, exactly, did I kill him? He died on the golf course." One minute he'd been practicing his swing, and in the next - phzzt - a freak lightning bolt had hit him right in the nine iron. His shoes were still smoking when she reached him. — Cheryl Sterling

My dad always said, 'Beware of the guy who comes out on the first tee and he's got a terrible grip and a terrible golf swing. If he's in that tournament with you, there's a good chance he knows how to play with that type of golf swing,' and Bubba's that type of person," he said. — Golf Channel Staff

If the wind is in your face, you swing too hard just to get the ball through it; if the wind is at your back, you swing too hard just to see how far you can get the ball to go. — Henry Beard

He has the finest, fundamentally sound golf swing I've ever seen. — Jack Nicklaus

The funny thing is, last summer we were golfing together, me, him and Alonzo [Mourning]. I don't know how to golf, but it's an unbelievable opportunity to go out and golf with one of the greats. And he's out there making fun of my swing - I can't hit the ball - and I'm getting frustrated because I'm a competitor. So Alonzo pulled me aside and said, 'Man, you're getting the chance to golf with Bill Russell. How many people can say they've done that?' And I looked at him and said, 'You know what? You're right.' — Dwyane Wade

"Hit it with the back of your left hand" was the first swing thought I ever heard, brusquely bu not unlovingly put to me by the aunt-in-law who had moments before placed a golf club in my virgin grip. I was twenty-five, and had spent my youth in a cloisterd precinct of teh middle class where golf was a rumoured something, like champagne breakfasts and divorce, that the rich did. — John Updike

I DIDN'T STOP giving hand jobs because I wasn't good at it. I stopped giving hand jobs because I was the best at it. For three years, I gave the best hand job in the tristate area. The key is to not overthink it. If you start worrying about technique, if you begin analyzing rhythm and pressure, you lose the essential nature of the act. You have to mentally prepare beforehand, and then you have to stop thinking and trust your body to take over. Basically, it's like a golf swing. — Gillian Flynn

I never had any thought the whole week. I figured my caddie [Jerry Beard] knew the course a lot better than me, so I put out my hand and played whatever club he put in it. I'd say, "How hard do I hit it?" He'd tell me and I'd swing. The guys who come down here once a year and try to get smart with Mr. Jones' course are the dumb ones. — Fuzzy Zoeller

Green synthetic practice mats are the worst thing for your golf game that I know of. You can hit six inches behind the ball and not even know it, because the ball still gets airborne. Practice nets are awful, too. Swing a weighted club instead. — Lee Trevino

Uh, yeah, I do. The scythe was a little tricky at first, but - much like golf - turns out it's all in the swing. — Rachel Vincent

For many years I had an impression of my golf swing, which was that I vividly resembled Tom Weiskopf in the takeaway and Dave Marr on the downswing. Unfortunately, there came a day when I was invited to have my golf swing filmed via a video camera. Something I will never do again. When it was played back, what I saw - what you would have seen - was not Weiskopf and Marr but a man simultaneously climbing into a sweater and falling out of a tree. — Alistair Cooke

"My swing is too fast" may be the biggest misconception ever. Think about it. If you take a fast, lousy swing and slow it down, all you've got left is a slow, lousy swing. Most people swing too slow, not too fast. — Hank Haney

My golf swing is a bit like ironing a shirt. You get one side smoothed out, turn it over and there is a big wrinkle on the other side. Then you iron that one out, turn it over and there is yet another wrinkle. — Tom Watson

You swing your best when you have the fewest things to think about. — Bobby Jones

Everybody has two swings-a beautiful practice swing and the choked-up one with with which they hit the ball. So it wouldn't do either of us a damned bit of good to look at your practice swing. — Ed Furgol

I didn't learn how to swing a golf club until late in my career. And even though I won all those tournaments, I still struggled with consistency, and I relied on my strengths, which were hitting the ball long and high, and I could chip and putt with the best of 'em. — Tom Watson

I'm swimming every day and I'm even trying to get the golf swing working again - but that might take a little bit longer. — Sean Connery

Your emotions are exposed when you play golf: humility, pride, anger, it all comes out with each swing. You lay it all on the line. — Bryant Gumbel

Dennis Murray is a wonderful Golf Professional who is personable and skillful as an instructor. Dennis helped me work on my golf swing for a full week back in the 80's when I was still playing the PGA Tour. His instruction was great and helped my game very much. — Jerry Pate

There was clearly great charm and worth in a sport so quaintly perverse in its basic instructions. Hit down to make the ball rise. Swing easy to make it go far. Finish high to make it go straight. — John Updike

Reverse every natural instinct and do the opposite of what you are inclined to do, and you will probably come very close to having a perfect golf swing. — Ben Hogan

'Golf Digest' had all the old school swings, and my favorite swing, ever, was Nick Faldo's swing. And it had all the greats, Ernie Els and Nick Faldo and all that stuff, and I had the pictures of their swing sequences on my wall. — Jason Day

Is there such a thing as a technically perfect swing? If there is, I have yet to see it. — David Leadbetter

The golf swing is a violent swing. You twist, and your spine is under continual stress when you're making a golf swing. Your neck, your spine, your hands, your knees, everything. — Tom Watson

My swing is so bad I look like a caveman killing his lunch. — Lee Trevino

The difficulty is, all swing thoughts decay, like radium. What burnt up the course on Wednesday has turned to lead on Sunday. Yet it does not do to have a blank mind: the terrible hugeness of the course will rush into the vacuum and the ball will spray like a thing berserk. — John Updike

Somewhere out there are a few men with more innate talent at golf than Jack Nicklaus, or women with greater ability at tennis than Chris Evert or Martina Navratilova, but they will never lift a club or swing a racket and therefore will never find out how great they could have been. Instead, they'll be content to sit and watch stars perform on television. — Donald Trump

Tempo is the glue that sticks all elements of the golf swing together. — Nick Faldo

Who can say I have a bad swing? The only thing that matters in golf is the score you put on the board. You don't have to look pretty out there, you have to win. Look at my record and tell me who has a better swing than mine. — Lee Trevino

I played a lot of baseball growing up, and I always hit better if I kept moving before the pitch instead of standing still in the batter's box. I think a waggle does the same thing in the golf swing. It keeps you relaxed and gets your body ready to hit the ball. — Jason Dufner

If I could straighten it out (his golf swing), I'd be pitching at Dodger Stadium tonight. — Sandy Koufax

I expect to play golf until I am 90-even longer if anybody figures out a way to swing a club from a rocking chair. — Babe Didrikson Zaharias

Hitting a golf ball and putting have nothing in common. They're two different games. You work all your life to perfect a repeating swing that will get you to the greens, and then you have to try to do something that is totally unrelated. There shouldn't be any cups, just flag sticks. And then the man who hit the most fairways and greens and got closest to the pins would be the tournament winner. — Ben Hogan

And if you're a golfer and you watch a golf film and Matt Damon swing, and it's not great, then you're not going to believe in the golf story, you're not going to believe in the rest of the film. That's the whole movie, so if that swing looks like crap, the movie's crap. — Shia Labeouf

Dream golf is simply golf played on another course. We chip from glass tables onto moving stairways; we swing in a straightjacket, through masses of cobweb, and awaken not with any sense of unjust hazard but only with a regret that the round can never be completed, and that one of our phantasmal companions has kept the scorecard. — John Updike

There are some good teachers out there, but the only one who is a genius at diagnosing my swing is my mom. She took up golf late, when she was 39, but in her younger days, she was an amazing athlete. She never read an instruction book or took lessons, but she has a remarkable eye for motion. — Boo Weekley

If we had to play Augusta National in one hour, the best athlete would win the Masters. But as it is, they give us time to hang ourselves. Every swing is a 'thought shot'. So instead of the best athlete, you end up with the best thinker as the winner. — Joe Inman

To get an elementary grasp of the game of golf, a human must learn, by endless practice, a continuous and subtle series of highly unnatural movements, involving about sixty-four muscles, that result in a seemingly natural swing, taking two seconds to begin and end. — Alistair Cooke

I think O.J. protests too much. Not only did he say he didn't carve the holiday turkey, but he was in the back yard practicing his golf swing the whole time. — David Letterman