Sam Snead Quotes

The fairways were so narrow you had to walk down them single file.

Golf tip: Lay off for three weeks and then quit for good.

Of the mental hazards, being scared is the worst. When you get scared, you get tense.

I shot a wild elephant in Africa thirty yards from me, and it didn't hit the ground until it was right at my feet. I wasn't a bit scared. But a four foot putt scares me to death.

If I had cleared the trees and drove the green, it would've been a great shot.

Those who go along get along.

Most people who play golf have one big trouble: they think too much. To get any real mileage out of this game you've got to sit on your imagination.

I was a better player at 50 than I was at 30.

Golf is played with the arms.

When I ask you what club to use, look the other way and don't answer.

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

Playing golf is like eating. It's something which has to come naturally.

The mark of a great player is in his ability to come back. The great champions have all come back from defeat.

The only thing I fear on a golf course is lightning...and Ben Hogan.

To be consistently effective, you must put a certain distance between yourself and what happens to you on the golf course. This is not indifference, it's detachment.

The only place that's holier than St. Andrews is Westminster Abbey.

Grip the club as if you were holding a baby bird.

Thinking instead of acting is the number one golf disease.

I give the ball some sweet talk. I tell it that this isn't going to hurt a bit. I'm a friend and all I'm going to do is give it a nice little ride.

Over the years I've studied the habits of golfers. I know what to look for. Watch their eyes. Fear shows up when there is an enlargement of the pupils. Big pupils lead to big scores.

Nobody asked how you looked, just what you shot.

What abandoned course is that?

If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they'd starve to death.

I'd say that golf is about 75% mental. If your state of mind gets out of kilter, you're worse off than a tomcat floating on a log.

Make the basic shot-making decision early, clearly and firmly, and then ritualize all the necessary acts of preparation.

But, no, I don't feel my career has not been fulfilled because I didn't win the US Open. It's like the guy said: You going to crucify a man because he missed a putt to win a tournament? Does a three-foot putt mean his whole life? Another guy said, well, he couldn't win the big one. Well, Jesus, what do you call those others? What's big and what's small?

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.

Keep close count of your nickels and dimes, stay away from whiskey, and never concede a putt.

To quit between tee and green is more habit-forming than drinking a highball before breakfast.

I believe in destiny...what's going to be is going to be. If I'm going to win, I'm going to win...I don't give a damn what the other guy shoots. I'm going to win if it's my turn.

First and fore-most, you must have confidence. Your second mental problem is concentration. Think the shot through in advance before you address the ball. Draw a mental image of where you want it to go and then eliminate everything else from your mind, except how you are going to get the ball into that preferred spot.

Practice puts brains in your muscles.

You have more potential than you think.

I hope I'll never get too old to want to take part in this event, and I don't think I will ever age that much.

I've said a thousand times, you can't go into a shop and buy a good golf game.

If I could have shot 69 in the last round every time, I would have won nine U.S. Opens. Nine!

No matter what happens - never give up a hole....In tossing in your cards after a bad beginning you also undermine your whole game, because to quit between tee and green is more habit-forming than drinking a highball before breakfast.

Forget your opponents; always play against par.

These greens are so fast I have to hold my putter over the ball and hit it with the shadow.

Of all the hazards, fear is the worst.

There is an old saying: if a man comes home with sand in his cuffs and cockleburs in his pants, don't ask him what he shot.

Don't just play your way around the course. Think your way around way around the course.

Golf course architects make me sick. They can't play themselves, so they rig the courses so nobody else can play either.

Good golfing temperament falls between taking it with a grin or shrug and throwing a fit.

Just have a Coke or something and watch the boys go past.

The only reason I ever played in the first place was so I could afford to hunt and fish.

That little white ball is always staring back at you, daring you to make a mistake.

I looked like a monkey trying to wrestle a football.