Arnold Palmer
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.
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 try to deign golf courses that are individual in character and individual in their own standing.
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.
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 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.
I like my airplane. It's as much a part of me as anything but my wife and kids.
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.
Critics who have said a safer shot here or there would undoubtedly have won me a few more tournaments are probably correct. Going for the green in two was who I was as a boy - and it's who I remain as a man.
Golf would be my ticket somewhere, I told myself. I just couldn't say where it would lead me.
As a kid growing up in Latrobe, PA, I could dream about being an Olympian like Jesse Owens or Johnny Weissmuller. I could also dream about being a great golfer like Bobby Jones or Byron Nelson. But the idea of being an Olympic golfer never occurred to me.
I am a sentimental guy, and occasionally, that lump in my throat when I speak has stopped my tongue from working.
The winners at the Olympics step up, bursting with pride, because everything that they have worked for and all their dedication is rewarded in a climax that I, and most golfers, will never experience.
Some players are wonderful hitters of the ball, but they can't figure out ways to get out of trouble. Eighty percent of the time, there is a way. You just have to know how to look for it.
I can't be casual about losing. I always think I have a chance to win until winning is absolutely impossible.
I'm sorry that I haven't won the PGA Championship. That would be something that would have pleased me very much. I suppose when I look back, I have a lot of reasons and excuses for not having won the PGA.
[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.Collection: Children
It's a funny thing, the more I practice the luckier I get.Collection: Funny
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.Collection: Greatness
Hit it hard, go find it and hit it hard again.Collection: Golf
Establish a system you have confidence in and rely on it when you get into tough situations.Collection: Tough
Timing is everything in life and in golf.Collection: Golf
If you can see it, you can hit it and if you can hit it, you can hole it.Collection: Golf
When you play by the rules, defy mental demons, overcome every challenge, and enjoy a walk in the country at the same time - that's being alive.Collection: Country
I can sum it up like this: Thank God for the game of golf.Collection: Golf
That's another thing about my father. He made me very conscious of the fact I wasn't very good and I had to prove to him that I was good. And that hung with me, and I always wanted to play golf with him and show him. He said Never, Never tell anyone how good you are. Show them!Collection: Father
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.Collection: Heart
If you're stupid enough to whiff, you should be smart enough to forget it.Collection: Smart
I would never felt good if I hadn't experienced losing, because losing is part of your life. And it something that if I could teach people to understand that I think it could help them a lot.Collection: Thinking
I think the people I have met have meant a great deal to me, more than any shot I ever hit. I will always remember some golf shots, but others I would like to forget.Collection: Golf
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.Collection: Inspiration
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.Collection: Jobs
We just became very good friends [with Dwight Eisenhower], we played golf, we played heart exhibitions. Then his doctor said he should not play golf anymore.Collection: Heart
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.Collection: Dad
In my early days of flying, if you flew on instruments, you were inevitably going to fly in thunderstorms. That was just a part of the business of flying.Collection: Flying
I can't afford the luxury of music while I'm flying an airplane. I have to pay attention to what I'm doing.Collection: Airplane
I was born in 1929, that was the depression, so the golf course was manned by my father and two guys, they worked for my dad and they took me with them everywhere they went. And it was fun.Collection: Dad
It is such a disappointment in American political reaction and actions. When some of our politicians are flying around the country in private airplanes all the time, using public services as their mode of private transportation, and then criticizing us who are in business.Collection: Country
I suppose I could think of a lot of things to say about the fact that I still play. But I don't really need to. I can tell you this, that I enjoy it. I still enjoy it. I like to get out in the air and I like to walk and I like to do the things that are involved in playing golf.Collection: Golf
I would not have been able to accomplish a lot of what I did professionally had I not learned to fly myself and owned an airplane. For example, I was able to fly to an exhibition for the day and be back home in time for dinner. I never would have been able to do that flying commercially.Collection: Home
When I was in college, I thought about becoming an attorney. But I wasn't smart enough; I hate being cooped up indoors; and I'm too nice a guy.Collection: Hate
I enjoy the press. I understand their business.Collection: Enjoy
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.Collection: Golf
We have a great field and I'm very happy about that. It's a tough time of year as it gets closer to the Masters, but I'm appreciative of the players who are here, and I'm expecting a great week.Collection: Player
I look back, it taught me something - it taught me how to live, how to be a better guy, not let defeat be the end of my life.Collection: Guy
What separates great players from the good ones is not so much ability as brain power and emotional equilibrium.Collection: Golf
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.Collection: Technology
Golf is a game of inches. The most important are the six inches between your ears.Collection: Golf