Many shots are spoiled at the last instant by efforts to add a few more yards.
Bobby JonesRead
I get as much fun as the next man from whaling the ball as hard as I can and catching it squarely on the button. But from sad experience I learned not to try this in a round that meant anything.
Interpretation
Enjoy the thrill of the game but understand the importance of playing strategically.
Bobby Jones emphasizes the balance between enjoying sports and recognizing when a more thoughtful approach is needed. He reflects on the joy of hitting a golf ball well but warns that reckless enthusiasm can be detrimental in serious situations, suggesting that fun should not come at the expense of skill and strategy in competitive play.
In practice
This quote can be shared during a sportsmanship speech at a youth sports event.
Many shots are spoiled at the last instant by efforts to add a few more yards.
There isn't a hole out there [Augusta] that can't be birdied if you just think. But there isn't one that can't be double-bogeyed if you stop thinking.
The real way to enjoy playing golf is to take pleasure not in the score, but in the execution of strokes.
As I see it, the thing that hurt my putting most when it was bad, was thinking too much about how I was making the stroke and not enough about getting the ball in the hole.
The 'enemy' in golf is tension.
Golf is a game that is played on a five-inch course
The pessimist borrows trouble; the optimists lend encouragement.
All my hurts my garden spade can heal.
Experience is, for me, the highest authority.
Silver and gold are not the only coin; virtue too passes current all over the world.
Whatever your work and whatever its worth, No matter how strong or clever, Some one will sneer if you pause to hear, And scoff at your best endeavor. For the target art has a broad expanse, And wherever you chance to hit it, Though close be your aim to the bull's-eye fame, There are those who will never admit it.
Though reading and conversation may furnish us with many ideas of men and things, yet it is our own meditation must form our judgment.
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