Sam Snead Quotations

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

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.

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

Until you play it, St. Andrews looks like the sort of real estate you couldn't give away.

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

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

Correct one fault at a time. Concentrate on the one fault you want to overcome.

Of all the hazards, fear is the worst.

Never let up. The more you can win by, the more doubts you put in the other players' minds the next time out.

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

Nobody asked how you looked, just what you shot.

The only reason I played golf was so that I could afford to go hunting and fishing.

You know those two-foot downhill putts with a break? I'd rather see a rattlesnake.

Then I'll be back here when I'm 68.

I figure practice puts your brains in your muscles.

The greens are harder than a whore's heart.

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

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

But you don't have to go up in the stands and play your foul balls. I do.

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 been on some fairways that are as good as the greens we putted on back then. We had crab grass. I remember one green where I putted through ants.

Those who go along get along.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

A bad putter is like a bad apple in a barrel. First, it turns your chipping game sour. Then it begins to eat into your irons and finally it just cleans the head off your driver.

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

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

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

Practice your swing until it becomes a habit of mind and muscle.

Thinking instead of acting is the number one golf disease.

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

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?

I've gotten rid of the yips four times but they hang in there. You know those two-foot downhill putts with a break? I'd rather see a rattlesnake.

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.

Golf got complicated when I had to wear shoes and begin thinking about what I was doing.

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

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.

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.

Golf is played with the arms.

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.

The three things I fear most in golf are lightning, Ben Hogan and a downhill putt.

There are no short hitters on the tour anymore - just long and unbelievably long.

You can't go into a shop and buy a good game of golf.

To win you must have talent and desire ­ but desire is first.

I looked like a monkey trying to wrestle a football.

In golf, as in life, you get out of it what you put into it.

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

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

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

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

What did I want with prestige? The British Open paid the winner $600 in American money. A man would have to be two hundred years old at that rate to retire from golf.

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.

What abandoned course is that?

You have more potential than you think.

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

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.

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.

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

Practice puts brains in your muscles.

'You know Bobby, when I was your age I'd drive the ball right over those trees at the corner.' Feeling challenged Mr. Cole hit a big driver right into those big trees. Snead then said 'Of course, when I was your age, those trees were only 10 feet high.'

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.

You've just one problem. You stand too close to the ball after you've hit it.

Forget your opponents; always play against par.