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MY FAVORITE GOLF SAYINGS – FAVORITES BECAUSE THEY’RE MINE

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19TH HOLE:  This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

As the preamble to this blog says, golf is one of my passions.  I play the game and, despite the inevitable ups and downs of the sport, I love it.  And my wife would likely say that I am addicted to it.

So be it.

Therefore, following this love, it is natural for me to develop a few golf sayings that I go back to time and again.

Here is my list of favorites – favorites because they’re mine:

  • If you only swing harder, the ball will go farther
  • I pay Callaway to play Callaway golf clubs — and Callaway pays Phil Mickelson to do so
  • Jack Nicklaus, Dustin Johnson and I all hit fades off the tee
  • I taught my son all I know about golf, then he turned five-years-old
  • Let’s play today “for the love of the game,” not for money (which I say to some friends who tend to believe that money exchanges make golf more fun…not me)
  • I quit golf today, but I may start again tomorrow

Also, have you ever thought about the phrase “better than most” which is what golf commentator and former PGA player Gary Koch uttered as Tiger Woods made a huge long putt on the 17th green at TPA Sawgrass in Florida a number of years ago.

The phrase has made Koch famous, but consider this:  What he should have said was —

“Better than anyone else.”

Because it was, not just better than most.

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