The game where you are the trophy.
Golf is a good walk spoiled.
~Mark Twain
What makes golf a fantastic physical activity is the amount of walking involved. To walk a full 18 holes can add up to three to five miles. Sure, you can put on your walking shoes and walk through the neighborhood, but the scenery will likely pale in comparison. Golf courses are designed to be beautiful, and they are almost always kept up better than your neighbors’ yards.
The golf swing is like a suitcase into which we are trying to pack one too many things.
~John Updike
Like our lives, to be successful, we have to relax and concentrate on the moment. The golf course is the best place to practice letting go. It’s past time to start unpacking the overcrowded lives we live.
If you wish to hide your character, do not play golf.
~Percey Boomer
At the gym or at home, we have fooled ourselves into thinking we can achieve our fitness goals without judgement from others. This is a lie. We are constantly judged, but on the golf course the judgement is out in the open. Strive to do better, and welcome the judgement. It feels so much better when you accomplish your goals this way.
I don’t think it’s healthy to take yourself too seriously.
~Payne Stewart
On the golf course, most players take themselves “too seriously”. Striving to be the best you can be is by far the best response. Stand up straight and take pride in who you are. The rest of your goals will come with dedication.
Nobody asked how you looked, just what you shot.
~Sam Snead
This is only true to an extent. If you are dressed in your gym clothes out on the course, people will ask how you looked. Golf demands you present the best of yourself, and this is a habit we all should learn.
Golf is the loneliest sport. You’re completely alone with every conceivable opportunity to defeat yourself. Golf brings out your assets and liabilities as a person. The longer you play, the more certain you are that a man’s performance is the outward manifestation of who, in his heart, he really thinks he is.
~Hale Irwin
It is true that golf is a lonely sport, but it is no more lonely than throwing on some baggy sweatpants and trying to avoid peoples glances at the local gym. At least with golf, you are representing the best you can be at this moment, and accepting that there is always room for improvement.
Golf is a day spent in a round of strenuous idleness.
~William Wordsworth
When it comes to fitness, most of us are downright lazy. The hardest part of the workout day is deciding to actually go to the gym. The same is true with golf, but with golf there is the illusion that you would just be taking a walk in the grass.
Golf is so popular simply because it is the best game in world at which to be bad.
~A.A. Milne
Some of us just don’t know how to ride a bike well. Or gracefully do some dumbbell curls. Are these the activities for which you wish to be judged? Look sharp and be bad at golf because there is not a soul on the course who cannot empathize with a poorly hit shot. Not one soul there.