Hale Irwin Quotes

The USGA doesn't want to recognize the fact that today's players are better than ever. They seem willing to do anything to prevent us from shooting scores that would make us appear better than the great names of the past.

Yes, I applied a lot of what I did in football to golf.

My dad was a good athlete. My mom had longevity. There were some athletic genes that certainly got passed down.

I just never subscribed to the theory that at age 55, you fall off the face of the earth on the Tour. I always felt that was too young of an age for that.

Let your emotions come out. If your behavior is flat, your game will be flat, too.

To be successful in anything, a person must always want to be better, not only than your opponent but better than your last performance. Done correctly, being competitive is a wonderful way to always try to be a better person by learning from your mistakes and capitalizing on your successes.

People have to learn who they are - you can't have somebody else telling you who you are.

I can forgive the body breaking down. It's a little tougher to forgive that mental lapse.

Golf is the only-est sport. You're completely alone with every conceivable opportunity to defeat yourself. Golf brings out your assets and liabilities as a person. The longer you play, the more certain you are that a man's performance is the outward manifestation of who, in his heart, he really thinks he is.

It's a long, hard, difficult process to make it to a national championship.

You can talk about strategy all you want, but what really matters is resiliency.

Feeling tired should almost never be an excuse, because your body has huge reserves of energy. But if you eat badly, stay out late, drink too much, and so on, you'll pay a price on the course.

I never underestimate my opponent, but I never underestimate my talents.

People, in whatever walk of life, would be surprised if they just gave themselves a chance by believing in what they are.

On the PGA Tour, guys finish in the top 10, make a ton of money and think they're great players. In my era, you had to win. We didn't settle for anything else.

I still have the desire to succeed, and I've always felt success is measured by what you've done in the win column, not top 10s.

If you're not just a little bit nervous before a match, you probably don't have the expectations of yourself that you should have.

Early in my career, my 3-, 5- and 9-irons performed differently than my other irons. But I adapted and made them work.

I've felt that if you dwell too much on your errors, you're dealing in the negativity of things. I don't like that. I'd rather work on the positive reinforcement, the things I did well.

I don't sleep well. I rehash everything in bed. The mind's still working.