Golf History Quotes

My father worked at the Naval Ordnance Lab, and they had a nine-hole course on the property. You paid a quarter.

To have the opportunity to complete the slam at the Open at St Andrews, the home of golf, is something I will never ever forget.

Golf: A plague invented by the Calvinistic Scots as a punishment for man's sins.

When golf used to be a rich man's sport, if you were poor you could not step foot on a course.

The sport was right in the center of these changing social dynamics. It was a game invented by blue-collar people in Scotland but adopted by the elite in England and America. All of those conflicts were coming into the open. I was amazed to find out how much was played out in golf as well.

Who in the world remembers who won the 1975 Westchester Classic or the 1978 Western Open? Basically, the majors are the only comparison over time . . . played on the same courses for generations. All the best players are always there.

Men capable of governing empires fail to control a small white ball, which presents no difficulties whetever to others with one ounce more brain than a cuckoo clock. I wish to goodness I knew the man who invented this infernal game. I'd strangle him. But I suppose he's been dead for ages. Still, I could go and jump on his grave.

I've studied golf for almost 50 years now and know a hell of a lot about nothing.

It's the Tiger Woods effect. What he was able to accomplish at such a young age - he drew me to the game, and I can only speak for myself, but a lot of the players that are my age saw Tiger in his prime when we were all teenagers. We all wanted to be like him.

Scott Medlock's portrait of 'the shot heard around the world' from the 1935 Masters is still being celebrated as a moment in Golf History. Imagine that!

I've been fortunate over my career to make a little history on the 16th hole at Augusta National.

Arnold Palmer is my favorite, just getting to know him and all of the film on him and his game. He was the first real superstar in golf. You had Bobby Jones and all of those guys, but Arnold Palmer was bigger than life.

The reason the Road Hole at St. Andrews is the most difficult par 4 in the world is that it was designed as a par 6.

St. Andrews by far is my favorite golf course in the world. It's where the game all started, it's why we have 18 holes instead of 22 and I think the history behind St. Andrews is amazing. There is no other golf course in the world that can say that every great player who has ever played the game has played that golf course.

Since 1934 every accomplished player in golf has come to the Augusta National looking for an introduction into history.

The fact that Slammin' Sammy couldn't win the Open made it all the more valuable for the players that did win. Gave it a special quality. I'd say a part of the sheen on that trophy comes from my sweat.

After playing Ballybunion for the first time, a man would think that the game of golf originated here.

I'm an athlete. I'm not a big golf nerd in that aspect. I'm not big on the history.

Just as many golfers feel a kinship with Ben Hogan or Bobby Jones after studying their lives, such is the closeness I feel with Lawson Little Jr. Little quite simply is the most underappreciated golfer of the first half of the 20th century.

There's one guy who inspired a nation of golfers, and that's Greg Norman. He's been incredible to me and all the great golfers.

I wonder what Tommy Morris would have had to say to all this number 6-iron, number 12-iron, number 28-iron stuff. He probably wouldn't have said anything, just made one of those strange Scottish noises at the back of his throat like someone gargling.

My father was a very good golfer and he got me started early. My grandfather played, too. It was just something that the Kroft family did. I kind of grew up on the golf course.

I would say my first golf memory was asking who Arnold Palmer was when he was always on the Pennzoil commercials. When I was a little kid I watched a lot of sports, but I didn't watch a lot of golf, and this guy was always on a tractor.

Somewhere along the line I'll be recognized as one of the top players in the Nicklaus era. That's all I want to be remembered for.

They have been playing golf for 800 years and nobody has satisfactorily said why.