Robert Hunter Quotes

[Jack Nicklaus] was the first to bring in course management. He could go to a course and tell you within one stroke what was going to win. He used to set his sights on that because he could shoot it. He was the only player I know who, if he decided he wanted to win a tournament, could go out and do it. No one will ever be as popular as Arnold Palmer and no one will ever come close to Jack as a player.

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.

Think ahead. Golf is a next-shot game.

Certainly, if you can't manage your game, you can't play tournament golf. You continually have to ask yourself what club to play, where to aim it, whether to accept a safe par or to try to go for a birdie. You can't play every hole the same way. I never could.

I call golf with my head and my heart. I don't have any notes in front of me - it's different from basketball and football in that feel.

You know what's funny, I really hate Par 3's. I feel like you have to be perfect from jumpstreet. But on Par 5's, you can mess up a little bit, but you still have time to adjust before you get to the hole and still end up with a birdie or a par.

I play fairly aggressively week to week and fire at a lot of pins. So I might miss more greens than other pros, but I'm still only a few yards from the hole when I do. That being said, when I really need to hit a green in regulation, I'm confident in my swing.

St. Andrews is my favorite place to play golf. I've said it many times. I love the design. I love how there is always a bunker in play. And every time you play, it is always a little bit different. There are so many angles out there. It is beautifully designed. And so much fun to play.

For years I did take my time, but that was because I hated waiting to hit shots - I adopted a pace where I didn't have to stand by my ball and wait.

Putting isn't golf, greens should be treated almost the same as water hazards: you land on them, then add two strokes to your score.

There's more to be learned here [St. Andrews] about course design than anywhere. Collection bunkers, false fronts, bump shots. The fundamentals of design became fundamental because of what's here. And it happened accidentally. Or maybe accidentally on purpose.

It should almost be a prerequisite to play Castle Stuart before you're allowed to design golf courses nowadays.

Golf really excites me only when the course is difficult and challenging. I love competing. The pressure of competition against fine holes and fine players makes me feel very much alive.

Play the shot you've got the best chance of playing well.

Golf is a percentage game, and I play the percentages.

A big part of managing a golf course is managing your swing on the course.

Control is the main thing, and the tee shot is the most important shot in golf. You've got to hit the fairway before you have a good chance of putting the ball close to the pin. You can be the greatest iron player in the world, but if you're in the boondocks it won't do you any good.

The reason the Road Hole at St. Andrews is the most difficult par 4 in the world is that it was designed as a par 6.

Ballybunion is the course on which many golf architects should live and play on before they build golf courses.

Play every shot so that the next one will be the easiest that you can give yourself.

A lot more variables in golf. But the biggest thing is like just routine. Like I think that's the biggest correlation between golfers and basketball players, is for me I really rely on my routine every single day when I get ready for games and how I prepare.

I got no pride on the hole. It's a par-5 and I play it that way. A four is a birdie.

If you think golf is relaxing, you're not playing it right.

When your shot has to carry over a water hazard, you can either hit one more club or two more balls.

I've been in some seriously bad places playing golf and it's just part of the game. You're going to hit bad shots, you're going to be in bad spots, and each course, when you learn it, you learn where not to go.