Arnold Palmer Quotations

The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.

I've always made a total effort, even when the odds seemed entirely against me. I never quit trying; I never felt that I didn't have a chance to win.

What other people may find in poetry or art museums, I find in the flight of a good drive: the white ball sailing up into the sky, reaching its apex, falling and finally dropping to the turf, just the way I planned it.

The more I practice the luckier I get.

What do I mean by concentration? I mean focusing totally on the business at hand and commanding your body to do exactly what you want it to do.

Putting is like wisdom - partly a natural gift and partly the accumulation of experience.

Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.

Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated; it satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening - and it is without a doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented.

My grandson Sam Saunders has been playing golf since he could hold a club and I spent a lot of time with him over the years. Like my father taught me, I showed him the fundamentals of the game and helped him make adjustments as he and his game matured over the years.

I have a tip that will take five strokes off anyone's golf game. It's called an eraser.

Success in golf depends less on strength of body than upon strength of mind and character.

Concentration comes out of a combination of confidence and hunger.

Had I not become a professional golfer, I think I would have pursued some type of career in aviation.

To me, wearing glasses is no pleasure, but once I conceded that I simply couldn't properly judge distance without them, I began to experiment. I tried glasses and found them uncomfortable. I switched to contact lenses, and they also bothered me.

It is a rare and difficult attainment to grow old gracefully and happily.

I never quit trying. I never felt that I didn't have a chance to win.

The secret of concentration is the secret of self-discovery. You reach inside yourself to discover your personal resources, and what it takes to match them to the challenge.

I never rooted against an opponent, but I never rooted for him either.

I'm not much for sitting around and thinking about the past or talking about the past. What does that accomplish?

I fly my own airplane, and I have since 1960. I rarely fly anywhere other than my own airplane.

I used to get tired of drinking iced tea, so I'd ask my wife if we had some lemonade, and I would just dump it right in there.

I quit flying myself last year and that was difficult for me because I enjoy it as much as playing golf. It was an adjustment sitting in the back of the plane, rather than at the controls, but I've grown accustomed to it and enjoy reading a book, doing some work or challenging my wife to a game of dominos.

I have a tip that can take 5 strokes off anyone's golf game. It's called an eraser.

Feel is the most perplexing part of golf, and probably the most important.

I try to deign golf courses that are individual in character and individual in their own standing.

I don't see myself as a full-time broadcaster. I've done some of it, and I enjoy it, but I don't think I should try to make a career out of it.

My search for ways to improve my touch has never ended. We players tried a lot of different things and compared notes. Little fads would set in.

Golf challenges you mentally at any age, and when you become my age, it's a challenge physically to try to make your game work as well as it ever did. That's close to impossible, but that doesn't keep you from trying to hit the ball where you used to hit it and make the putts you used to make all the time.

I find myself getting associated with a lot of younger people in the game. I still enjoy playing with them, and I think they still enjoy playing with me. As long as I can stay competitive and have fun doing what I'm doing, I guess I'll keep doing it.

I think a firm grip helps you control the club and prevents it from turning in your hands. Another thing about feel is, if you make a change in your grip, it takes time for your brain to adapt.

Ever since I bought and started flying an airplane, it's been almost exclusively for business. I love to fly. It's a great joy to me. But rarely do I use it for any kind of pleasure, other than it is a pleasure to fly.

I can remember back to my early tour days when some fellows didn't think I'd last too long. Nothing physical - they said it was my swing. Some said it was too much of a 'muscle swing' to stand the test of time. One fellow predicted I wouldn't get past 30 out there.

I was mixing iced tea and lemonade in my kitchen since as long as I can remember. It wasn't until some time in the early 1960s that it became associated with me publicly.

Every day I play golf, that's my goal. To break 70 the other way. To shoot 70 or better.

I never felt that I didn't have a chance to win.

I probably have a club in my hands 360 days a year, one way or another, playing with friends or just fiddling around or hitting balls.

Everyone I built a course for thinks they have the best golf course in the world and I'm very pleased and proud of that.

You don't go to Palm Springs in the summer unless you're building a golf course.

When you lose the ability to step up and hit the ball as hard and as far as you want, that also affects your ability to will the ball to go where you want it to go, if you know what I mean.

Great touch is often written off simply as 'talent,' which is crucial, because a good swing can take a golfer only so far. I've seen thousands of fantastic swings in my day, but that doesn't guarantee anything.

I started flying because I had a fear of it early on. I figured if I learned to fly, I would understand better what was happening and started taking lessons in the late 1950's, once I had made some money on tour.

I've stated my position, and that is that we do not need a contraption to play the game of golf. I would hope that we'd play under one set of rules, and those rules would include a ban on the long putter hooked to the body in some way, shape or form.

I think I've heard somebody say that I was a well-dressed golfer. I guess that has something to do with the fact that a lot of people who play golf don't dress very well.

It is not a dreamlike state, but the somehow insulated state, that a great musician achieves in a great performance. He's aware of where he is and what he's doing, but his mind is on the playing of his instrument with an internal sense of rightness - it is not merely mechanical, it is not only spiritual; it is something of both, on a different plane and a more remote one.

I like my airplane. It's as much a part of me as anything but my wife and kids.

My problem happens to be near-sightedness - inability to see distance. And this is pretty tough on a golfer.

I was surprised. I asked the chairman, who's a friend of mine, 'What are you going to do about the people? Those fans are what make Augusta great.' 'Well, we can't make everybody happy.' That's what he said. Well, that affects me, and my thoughts about it.

Occasionally, I'll wake up and forget where I am, ... But when you get to my age, you forget a lot of things.

Peter and I have been good friends for a long time and we've played a lot of golf together, in competition and otherwise. It's a relationship that has been ongoing for many, many years and once again, to have the opportunity to play as we will, it's going to be fun. I just hope I can keep him from being embarrassed by my poor golf.

Sex, ... Golf excites me. My life. My wife. All the things that I do. Every day, I'm endeavoring on something different, something new. It's fun. It's challenging.

I can't disagree with some of the conversations I have heard about taking a lot of the players out of the scenario for winning Augusta. It looks to me, and like right now, you have cut the field back for potential of winning at Augusta for that reason.

I felt pretty good about it, and of course it was the kicking off point for the rest of my career.

I don't know why they would be nervous around me, ... They way they hit the ball, I got intimidated. They hit it so far it was unreal. It was fun. They're good young players. They knocked the dirt out of that thing.

I look forward to playing, and I enjoy the guys, ... But I'm not happy about the scores I'm shooting. I feel like I'm not devoting enough of my time to making my game better. I'm just like all the people out in the gallery watching this tournament. I never quite think that I won't be able to improve. I always feel like tomorrow I will find that secret to get me back to where I was 30 or 40 years ago.

He didn't have the speed of Tiger Woods coming through the ball, but he made good contact, and he hit the ball very well up until he couldn't play anymore.

Hell, who knows? ... Maybe even my golf swing will get better.

I watch (Weir) a lot, it's not too far from normal after having a couple of good years, and really playing very well,

That became the talk of the town. They dropped the status of the Amateur, and I'm sorry they did that. How can you say Jones won the Grand Slam if you don't include the Amateur?

I suppose I appreciated Augusta more than anyone,

It has been a matter of great pride for me when my name was placed on an entity of one sort or another over the years, but I can't think of anything that brings me more pleasure and satisfaction than having it on the tournament that has meant so much to me for so long.

I think it's going to be exciting for me and it's going to be somewhat sentimental,

I would not do well if I did not have anything to do, ... If I had to just stop, not do a lot of the things that I'm doing, I don't think I'd be around very long.

Well, I suppose you could do worse. That's a pretty heavy group with that many victories.

The fact is the Berger Foundation has afford us the opportunity to do this. You can't beat it. This is something that, I think as far as golf and golf-related things are concerned, this is the kind of thing that should happen more and more, and particularly in cities where they have golf tournaments such as this.

When I was a kid, it was my family and God and the USGA. That was kind of the way I was raised.

[Golf]is deceptively simple, endlessly complicated. A child can play it well, and a grown man can never master it. Any single round of it is full of unexpected triumphs and perfect shots that end in disaster. It is almost a science, yet it is a puzzle without an answer. It is gratifying and tantalizing, precise and unpredictable. It requires complete concentration and total relaxation. It satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time, rewarding and maddening. And it is without doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented.

The fans motivated me. They gave me the incentive to want to play and to want to win and to continue to play as my career progressed. They were never a distraction.

If you're stupid enough to whiff, you should be smart enough to forget it.

There's no question that the galleries still like to see birdies and eagles. If you take them all away, it takes some of the dramatics, the excitement of a golf tournament and we [people] don't want to do that.

Phil [Mickelson] has done a great job. He's a great player and he's conducted himself very well through the years. He's been a good ambassador for the game. He hasn't won in a while, but he still has time, and it wouldn't surprise me if he won again.

On the Old Course at St. Andrews: This is the origin of the game, golf in its purest form, and it's still played that way on a course seemingly untouched by time. Every time I play here, it reminds me that this is still a game.

It's a funny thing, the more I practice the luckier I get.

I still enjoy what I do. I haven't been playing much golf and none since I dislocated my shoulder, but I come to the office every day.

The whole secret to mastering the game of golf - and this applies to the beginner as well as the pro - is to cultivate a mental approach to the game that will enable you to shrug off the bad days, keep patient and know in your heart that sooner or later you will be back on top.

I've drawn a lot of inspiration from people who have supported me, golfers who have helped me. If it wasn't for the game of golf I'd probably be mowing the greens back in Latrobe.

Here is a philosophy of boldness to take advantage of every tiny opening toward victory.

What separates great players from the good ones is not so much ability as brain power and emotional equilibrium.

When I was playing in a junior tournament one time, I missed a short putt and threw my putter into the trees. I went on to win the tournament and later, instead of my dad congratulating me, he told me that if I ever threw a club again, I'd never play in another golf tournament. I haven't thrown a club since.

Sam Snead will fly anywhere in my plane with me. Sam's not as worried about the danger as he is about saving money.

If you can see it, you can hit it and if you can hit it, you can hole it.

I didn't get playing professional golf until I was 25 years old. And I always said that if I could make it work, I would play as long as I could walk.

I never met a winner who had a work ethic. Not somebody who says I have so much talent that naturally I won.

Swing your swing. Not some idea of a swing. Not a swing you saw on TV. Not that swing you wish you had. No, swing your swing. Capable of greatness. Prized only by you. Perfect in it's imperfection. Swing your swing. I know, I did.

Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated.

I stopped playing in the Masters in 2004, I stopped playing in the Par-­ - 3 [Contest], and now it's time to end this part of my Masters career. I would love to go on doing it forever, but I don't have the physical capability to hit the shot the way I would want to hit it. So I'll have to be content to watch.

I was national amateur champion. I was 24 years old. My father was there, and I couldn't wait to see him, and my mother. I went up and was waiting for all the accolades, and my mom was teary and happy and my dad looked at me and said, "Well, boy, you did good," and that was it.

First time I met Jack [Nicholas ] I had heard about his golf and prowess - I was playing in the Ohio amateur.

As for 1994 [ U.S. Open], I didn't do very well, but it was a great occasion for me even though I was not playing the way I had hoped. And it was obviously a very emotional day that last day, but it was a great memory for me and I have had a lot of great memories at Oakmont over the years.

Establish a system you have confidence in and rely on it when you get into tough situations.

Many people don't know that I experienced a blood clot caused by deep vein thrombosis, or DVT, which is when a blood clot forms in a deep vein in the body, often the leg or thigh. I'm fortunate that my DVT was diagnosed and treated before it led to something even more serious and that's why I encourage people to talk to their doctor if they think something is wrong. I've teamed up with Janssen Pharmaceuticals to raise awareness about blood clot prevention and treatment.

Concentration, Confidence, Competitive urge, Capacity for enjoyment.

I remember what a thrill it was to attend my first Champions Dinner. Just being in the same room with some of the guys I had admired growing up and to be there because I had won The Masters was quite an honor. I still attend the dinner every year and it is one of the highlights of my time at Augusta during Masters week.

How did I make a twelve on a par five hole? It's simple - I missed a four foot putt for an eleven.

I think, first of all, I'm very proud of Sam Saunders in general. I am happy to see him playing well and his performance has been good. He is coming on as I hoped he would at this stage of his life.He is a fine young man as well as a fine golfer. He is doing things the right way.

I can sum it up like this: Thank God for the game of golf.

Trouble is bad to get into but fun to get out of. If you're in trouble, eighty percent of the time there's a way out. If you can see the ball, you can probably hit it; and if you can hit it, you can move it; and if you can move it, you might be able to knock it in the hole. At least it's fun to try.

I am against making golf courses obsolete, going to the national Open and playing half the holes with a one-iron.

I've been wearing hearing aids for a long time. The technology available now is simply unbelievable. When I compare the new digital products to what we had 30 years ago, it's an amazing difference.... There was a time when I couldn't hear what most people said to me, most of the time. But with the hearing aids, I understand just about everything ... it really is very impressive.

I was playing golf in Palm Springs and after a round I asked the waitress in a restaurant to bring me a glass of iced tea and lemonade. A lady sitting nearby heard me and asked the waitress to bring her a "Palmer," too. The name caught on and the beverage quickly spread around the country.

An athlete must have a certain cockiness to succeed and win, but an athlete must also care about the game he or she plays.