Monthly Archive: April 2023

COACHES HOT SEAT > 2023 > April

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Sunday, April 9, 2023 – Seve Ballesteros

April 9, 2023

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEVE!

You are terribly missed at The Masters Seve, but NEVER forgotten…”Fantastica!”

“I look into their eyes, shake their hand, pat their back, and wish them luck, but I am thinking, ‘I am going to bury you.”

And

“To give yourself the best possible chance of playing to your potential, you must prepare for every eventuality.  That means practice.”  

And

“I know where I am and I know which way I’m going, … Only winning will satisfy me. You don’t think it is possible? It is very possible.”

And

“I don’t see any players who really impress me from either side of the Atlantic, to be honest. There are a lot of players with great talent and a great future ahead. But impress me? I don’t get impressed that easily.”

And

“I’d like to see the fairways more narrow. Then everyone would have to play from the rough, not just me.”

Wikipedia Page:  Seve Ballesteros

How Seve Ballesteros became the first European to win The Masters in 1980, Steven Pye, The Guardian

(more…)

Coaches Hot Seat

, ,

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Saturday, April 8, 2023 – Jack Nicklaus

April 8, 2023

“If I had only one more round to play, I would choose to play it at Pebble Beach. I’ve loved this course from the first time I saw it. It’s possibly the best in the world.”

And

“A kid grows up a lot faster on the golf course. Golf teaches you how to behave.”

And

“Concentration is a fine antidote to anxiety.”

And

“Confidence is the most important single factor in this game, and no matter how great your natural talent, there is only one way to obtain and sustain it: work.”

And

“Don’t be too proud to take lessons. I’m not.”

And

“Focus on remedies, not faults.”

And

“How people keep correcting us when we are young! There is always some bad habit or other they tell us we ought to get over. Yet most bad habits are tools to help us
through life.”

And

“I like trying to win. That’s what golf is all about. “

And

“I’m a firm believer that in the theory that people only do their best at things they truly enjoy. It is difficult to excel at something you don’t enjoy.”

And

“My ability to concentrate and work toward that goal has been my greatest asset.”

And

“Professional golf is the only sport where, if you win 20% of the time, you’re the best.”

And

“Resolve never to quit, never to give up, no matter what the situation.”

And

“Sometimes the biggest problem is in your head. You’ve got to believe you can play a shot instead of wondering where your next bad shot is coming from.”

And

“Success depends almost entirely on how effectively you learn to manage the game’s two ultimate adversaries: the course and yourself.”

And

“The game of golf is meant to be fun.”

And

“The two things that motivate me most are closely allied. They are failure and a desire for self-improvement.

By failure, I don’t necessarily mean getting beat, although that’s often the end result and in itself is a strong motivation to go to work. The kind of failing I’m talking about is failing to measure up to the standards I’ve set for myself personally. When that happens, I get an irresistible urge – almost a compulsion – to improve.
Whatever effort is necessary to prevent another failure, I just have to make it. Like now. Today.

Frankly, I believe this, more than anything else, is the reason I am where I am today. I’m not an easily satisfied person. Sure I take a lot of satisfaction in what I’ve achieved. But life doesn’t stand still. Every satisfaction wanes after a while, so if you’re like me you don’t sit around looking backwards. You try to move on, to look for something that gives you another satisfaction and, at the same time, hopefully adds a little more to your life.”Jack Nicklaus, Jack Nicklaus’ Playing Lessons, Chapter 1

And

“I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head. First I see the ball where I want it to finish, nice and white and sitting up high on the bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes, and I see the ball going there: its path, trajectory, and shape, even its behavior on landing. Then there is a sort of fade-out, and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality.”

And

“I like trying to win. That’s what golf is all about.”

And

Arnold Palmer, in 1962, after losing the U.S. Open to 22-year-old Nicklaus in a playoff: “Now that the big guy’s out of the cage, everybody better run for cover.”

And

Bobby Jones after watching Nicklaus win the 1965 Masters: “Nicklaus played a game with which I am not familiar.”

And

Author Rick Reilly: “He was not homespun like Sam Snead, funny like Lee Trevino. His pants didn’t need hitching like Palmer’s. Instead, he won over America with
pure, unbleached excellence.”

And

Chi Chi Rodriguez: “Jack Nicklaus is a legend in his spare time.”

And

Gene Sarazen: “I never thought anyone would ever put Hogan in the shadows, but he did.”

And

Tom Weiskopf: “Jack knew he was going to beat you. You knew Jack was going to beat you. And Jack knew that you knew that he was going to beat you.”

Wikipedia:  Jack Nicklaus

(more…)

Coaches Hot Seat

, ,

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Friday, April 7, 2023 – Walter Hagen

April 8, 2023

“You’re only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry, don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.”

And

“There is no tragedy in missing a putt, no matter how short. All have erred in this respect.”

And

“Make the hard ones look easy and the easy ones look hard.”

And

“You don’t have the game you played last year or last week. You only have today’s game. It may be far from your best, but that’s all you’ve got. Harden your heart and make the best of it.”

And

“No one remembers who came in second.”

Wikipedia: Walter Hagen

(more…)

Coaches Hot Seat

, ,

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Thursday, April 6, 2023 – Bobby Jones

April 6, 2023

Robert Tyre Jones, Jr retired from golf in 1930, at the age of 28, still an amateur, having just won the Grand Slam. Grantland Rice wrote of him:

“One might as well attempt to describe the smoothness of the wind as to paint a clear picture of his complete swing. A consummate gentleman, he also possessed wit, a temper and a keen intellect, and all of these are evident in his many insights into golf and life.”

And

“Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots; you get good breaks from bad shots – but you have to play the ball where it lies.”  

And

“Competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course…the space between your ears.”

And

“It is nothing new or original to say that golf is played one stroke at a time. But it took me many years to realize it.”

And

“Some people think they are concentrating when they’re merely worrying.”

And

“The secret of golf is to turn three shots into two.”

And

“Golf is assuredly a mystifying game. It would seem that if a person has hit a golf ball correctly a thousand times, he should be able to duplicate the performance at will. But this is certainly not the case.”

And

“Sometimes the game of golf is just too difficult to endure with a golf club in your hands.”

And

Bobby Jones was not only a consummately skilled golfer but exemplified the principles of sportsmanship and fair play. Early in his amateur career, he was in the final round of the 1925 U.S. Open at the Worcester Country Club. During the match, his ball ended up in the rough just off the fairway, and as he was setting up to play his shot, his iron caused a slight movement of the ball. He immediately got angry with himself, turned to the marshals, and called a penalty on himself. The marshals discussed among themselves and questioned some of the gallery whether they had seen Jones’s ball move. Their decision was that neither they nor anyone else had witnessed any incident, so the decision was left to Jones. Bobby Jones called the two-stroke penalty on himself, not knowing that he would lose the tournament by one stroke. When he was praised for his gesture, Jones replied,

“You may as well praise a man for not robbing a bank.”  

Wikipedia Page:  Bobby Jones

(more…)

Coaches Hot Seat

, ,

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Wednesday, April 5, 2023 – Gary Player

April 5, 2023

“The harder you work, the luckier you get.”

And

“Each shot is important.”

And

“Golf is a puzzle without an answer. I’ve played the game for 40 years and I still haven’t the slightest idea how to play.”

And

“If there’s a golf course in heaven, I hope it’s like Augusta National. I just don’t want an early tee time.”

And

“A good golfer has the determination to win and the patience to wait for the breaks.”

And

“We create success or failure on the course primarily by our thoughts.”

And

“You must work very hard to become a natural golfer.”

And

Gary Player’s Ten Commandments

1. Change is the price of survival.
2. Everything in business is negotiable, except quality.
3. A promise made is a debt incurred.
4. For all we take in life we must pay.
5. Persistence and common sense are more important than intelligence.
6. The fox fears not the man who boasts by night but the man who rises early in the morning.
7. Accept the advice of the man who loves you, though you like it not at present.
8. Trust instinct to the end, though you cannot render any reason.
9. The heights of great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but that while their companions slept were toiling upward in the night.
10. There is no substitute for personal contact.

Wikipedia:  Gary Player

(more…)

Coaches Hot Seat

, ,

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Tuesday, April 4, 2023 – Sam Snead

April 4, 2023

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

And

“Forget your opponents; always play against par.

And

“Golf is played with the arms.”

And

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

And

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

And

“Nobody asked how you looked, just what you shot.”

And

“Of all the hazards, fear is the worst.”

And

“Practice puts brains in your muscles.”

And

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

And

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

And

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

And

“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.”

And

“Thinking instead of acting is the number-one golf disease.”

And

“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.”

And

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

And

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

Wikipedia Page:  Sam Snead

(more…)

Coaches Hot Seat

, ,

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Monday, April 3, 2023 – Ben Hogan

April 3, 2023

“As you walk down the fairway of life you must smell the roses, for you only get to play one round.”

And

“Golf is not a game of good shots. It’s a game of bad shots.”

And

“I couldn’t wait for the sun to come up the next morning so that I could get out on the course again.”

And

“I learn something new about the game almost every time I step on the course.”

And

“I’m glad I brought this course, this monster, to its knees. “

And

“Placing the ball in the right position for the next shot is eighty percent of winning golf. “

And

“Relax? How can anybody relax and play golf? You have to grip the club, don’t you?”

And

“Shoot a lower score than everybody else.”

And

“The only thing a golfer needs is more daylight. “

And

“The ultimate judge of your swing is the flight of the ball.”

And

“I always outworked everybody. Work never bothered me like it bothers some people.”

And

“People have always been telling me what I can’t do. I guess I have wanted to show them. That’s been one of my driving forces all my life.”

And

“The secret is in the dirt” -Common answer Hogan gave when asked how he played so well.

Ans

“All I know is, I’ve seen Nicklaus watch Hogan practice. I’ve never seen Hogan watch Nicklaus practice.” -Tommy Bolt

And

“If you can’t outplay them, outwork them.”

And

“There’s no reason a man can’t birdie every hole.”

And

“There’s no such thing as a natural golf swing.”

And

“The more I practice, the luckier I get.”

And

“Ben Hogan is the most merciless of all the modern golfers.” -Gene Sarazen

And

While waiting on the 1st tee, Hogan walked up to the player he’d been paired with the day before. “I’m sorry I didn’t speak to you yesterday”, he said. “But just so you’re not surprised, I won’t be saying anything today either.”

And

“About all Ben ever said in a tournament was “Good luck” on the 1st tee, and “You’re away” after that.” -Sam Snead

And

“I always had an idea that some people didn’t like me…that the majority of the people didn’t like me. Then, after the accident, when I received all those wonderful telegrams, letters, and flowers from people, I realized I was wrong about the people. That’s when I changed. My frame of mind became different.”

And

And finally, one of the top Hogan quotes, although I can only offer it anecdotally. When Peter Jacobsen won Colonial he received the customary, rather loud, plaid winner’s jacket. As was the tradition he was wearing it at the champion’s dinner. In a loud voice he said to the group he was mingling with, “How long do I have to wear this &%^#$*@ jacket?” From close behind him, but out of direct sight, Mr. Hogan replied, “Until I say you can take it off son.”

And

“I have really enjoyed every minute I have spent in golf- above all, the many wonderful friends I have made. I have loved playing the game and practicing it. Whether my schedule for the following day called for a tournament round or merely a trip to the practice tee, the prospect that there was going to be golf in it made me feel privileged and extremely happy, and I couldn’t wait for the sun to come up the next morning so that I could get out on the course again”

Wikipedia: Ben Hogan

Coaches Hot Seat

, ,

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Sunday, April 2, 2023 – Marcus Aurelius

April 2, 2023

“A man should be upright, not be kept upright.”

And

“A man’s worth is no greater than his ambitions.”

And

“Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.”

And

“Be content with what you are, and wish not change; nor dread your last day, nor long for it.”

And

“Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also.”

And

“Dig within. Within is the wellspring of Good; and it is always ready to bubble up, if you just dig.”

And

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”

And

“If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.”

And

“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”

And

“Let men see, let them know, a real man, who lives as he was meant to live.”

And

“Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil.”

And

“Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too.”

And

“Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.”

And

“Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.”

And

“Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and accustom thyself to consider that the nature of the Universe loves nothing so much as to change the things which are, and to make new things like them.”

And

“The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious.”

And

“Tomorrow is nothing, today is too late; the good lived yesterday.”

And

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”

And

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”

And

“Remember that man lives only in the present, in this fleeting instant; all the rest of his life is either past and gone, or not yet revealed.”

And

“At dawn of day, when you dislike being called, have this thought ready: “I am called to man’s labour; why then do I make a difficulty if I am going out to do what I was born to do and what I was brought into the world for?”

And

“Everything–a horse, a vine–is created for some duty…For what task, then, were you yourself created? A man’s true delight is to do the things he was made for.”

Wikipedia: Marcus Aurelius

(more…)

Coaches Hot Seat

, ,

Coaches Hot Seat Quotes of the Day – Saturday, April 1, 2023 – Tommy Lasorda

April 1, 2023

“About the only problem with success is that it does not teach you how to deal with failure.”

And

“Guys ask me, don’t I get burned out? How can you get burned out doing something you love? I ask you, have you ever got tired of kissing a pretty girl?”

And

“I believe managing is like holding a dove in your hand. If you hold it too tightly you kill it, but if you hold it too loosely, you lose it.”

And

“Pressure is a word that is misused in our vocabulary. When you start thinking of pressure, it’s because you’ve started to think of failure.”

And

“The only way I’d worry about the weather is if it snows on our side of the field and not theirs.”
‘
And

“There are three types of baseball players: those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happens.”

And

“The difference between the possible and the impossible lies in a person’s determination.”

Wikipedia:  Tommy Lasorda

(more…)

Uncategorized

, ,