Home

 › 

Sports

 › 

The Most Influential Quotes By Tiger Woods

PNC Championship - Final Round

The Most Influential Quotes By Tiger Woods

No one revolutionized the sport of golf quite like Tiger Woods. Born on December 30, 1975, in Cypress, California, Woods received early and consistent golf training thanks to his father, Earl Woods. This contributed to Woods’ reputation as something of a golf prodigy as he was able to shoot as well as an adult by age five. By age 20, Woods was a professional golfer, steadily rising in the ranks until he eclipsed even the most experienced pros.

By age 21 and less than a year after turning pro, Woods reached number one in the Golf World Rankings. Since then, he’s won countless PGA Tour Events, smashed numerous golf records, and solidified his standing as golf’s premiere phenom. While he’s suffered setbacks along the way including severe injuries and a much-publicized divorce, Wood’s always returns to his game with newfound vigor. Let’s explore some of the most influential words by Tiger Woods. (For words of wisdom from other athletes, explore 50+ life-changing quotes by Michael Jordan.)

To compile a large list of the most influential quotes by Tiger Woods, 24/7 Tempo consulted a range of sports, news, and reading publications including Golf Monthly, Fox News, and BooKey. Next, we selected quotes from throughout Wood’s career that speak to the drive to win and the perspective required to maintain excellence. After that, we confirmed aspects of our research using sites like Fury Golf and Britannica.

“If you don’t go out there and put in the work, if you don’t go out there and put in the effort, one – you’re not going to get the results, and two, you don’t deserve them.”

The Masters - Round Two
2023 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“It takes art to play the ball on the ground and create shots. When the ball is plugging, it’s pot-luck, everyone’s going low.”

The Masters - Round Three
2023 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“Other golfers may outplay me from time to time, but they will never outwork me.”

The Masters - Final Round
2019 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“A shot’s a shot and that’s the way I’ve always treated it. There really aren’t difficult ones or easy ones because they all count as a shot. That’s the mindset that you have to have.”

The Masters - Preview Day 2
2023 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“People don’t understand that when I grew up, I was never the most talented. I was never the biggest. I was never the fastest. I certainly was never the strongest. The only thing I had was my work ethic, and that’s been what has gotten me this far.”

The Masters - Round Two
2023 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“There’s no sense in going to a tournament if you don’t believe that you can win it. And that is the belief I have always had. And that is not going to change.”

The Masters - Preview Day 2
2023 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“It is my obligation to share my knowledge with others because that is what I was taught.” 

The Masters - Round Two
2023 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“Golf requires patience and perseverance. There are no shortcuts.”

The Masters - Round Two
2024 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“Disappointment is part of the game, and how I handle it defines me as a competitor.”

PNC Championship - Final Round
2023 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“The greatest thing about tomorrow is I will be better than I am today. And that’s how I look at my life … That’s the beauty of tomorrow.”

Tiger Woods & TaylorMade Golf Announce New Apparel and Footwear Brand “Sun Day Red”
2024 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“A teacher’s obligation is not to be taken lightly, especially when it is proven through experience.”

The Masters - Round Two
2023 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“I focus only on what I can control — my next shot — not things I can’t, like the heat.”

The 150th Open - Day One
2022 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“No matter how many physical gifts a person might have, to refine them, you must bust your butt.” 

The Masters - Preview Day Two
2024 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“Never listen to other people’s expectations. You should live your life and live up to your own expectations.”

The 152nd Open - Preview Day One
2024 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“You’re going to make mistakes. The key is to learn from them as fast as possible and make changes as soon as you can.”

The Masters - Final Round
2024 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“You’ve got to stay patient, stay in the moment, and keep grinding. You never know what can happen.”

Tiger Woods
Gary Newkirk / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“If you’re not nervous, it means you don’t care. I’ve always said that the day I’m not nervous playing is the day that I quit.”

The Masters - Final Round
2019 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“No matter who you are, the game is fluid. The game is always evolving, so you always have to keep working on it. There are plenty of hours in the day to get that done.”

The Masters - Final Round
2024 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“Days when you just don’t have it, you don’t pack it in, you give it everything you’ve got. You grind it out.”

The Masters - Round Two
2024 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“Never beat yourself up. There are going to be plenty of people who are going to do that for you.”

The Masters - Preview Day 1
2023 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“My dad has always taught me these words: care and share. That’s why we put on clinics. The only thing I can do is try to give back. If it works, it works.”

The Masters - Round One
2023 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“When you hit a bad shot, you must get over it right there. Then you can get focused on the next one.”

The Masters - Round Three
2023 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

(For obscure sports trivia, discover 19 things even the biggest baseball fans didn’t know about the MLB.)

“I made practicing difficult. It hurt because I wanted to ensure I was ready during game time. I hit thousands of balls, hands bleeding, aching, so I could play in the tournament.”

US Masters Golf Tournament
2019 Getty Images / Hulton Archive via Getty Images

“It is ok to fail. Failing does not shape your personality. It is how you react to your failure. Do you dust yourself off and mope or do you dust yourself off and come back stronger? Eventually, you will win. It may take a little time, but you will win in the end.”

The Masters - Round Two
2023 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“I was never going to be denied to play. I loved it and had this burning desire to express myself in this game of golf.”

The Masters - Final Round
2019 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“Don’t force your kids into sports. I never was. To this day, my dad has never asked me to go play golf. I ask him. It’s the child’s desire to play that matters, not the parent’s desire to have the child play. Fun. Keep it fun.”

US MASTERS WOODS
Stephen Munday / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“My mother’s a Buddhist. In Buddhism, if you want to achieve enlightenment, you have to do it through meditation and self-improvement through the mind. That’s something she’s passed on to me: to be able to calm myself down and use my mind as my main asset.”

The Masters - Final Round
2024 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“You ever go up to the tee and say, ‘Don’t hit it left, don’t hit it right’? That’s your conscious mind. My body knows how to play golf. I’ve trained it to do that. It’s just a matter of keeping my conscious mind out of it.”

Hero World Challenge - Final Round
2023 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“A golfer should never make a mental mistake because the ball is just sitting there waiting for you to hit it.”

PNC Championship - Round One
2023 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“As far as golf, one of the things my dad kept instilling in me was the joy of the game. He made it fun for me. A lot of the time I see a lot of the kids, they don’t enjoy being out there and that’s a shame, you’re supposed to enjoy the game, it’s a game, ultimately.”

The Masters - Previews
2023 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“I love to play golf, and that’s my arena. And you can characterize it and describe it however you want, but I have a love and a passion for getting that ball in the hole and beating those guys.”

The 150th Open - Day Two
2022 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“I can tell you what, it was tough, it was really tough to look at yourself in a light that you never want to look at yourself, that’s pretty brutal… I saw a person that I never thought I would ever become… I had gotten away from my core values … I’d gotten away from my Buddhism. And I quit meditating. I quit doing all the things that my mom and dad had taught me…. I felt entitled, and that is not how I was raised.”

The 152nd Open - Preview Day One
2024 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“Achievements on the golf course are not what matters, decency and honesty are what matter.”

PNC Championship - Round One
2022 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“I don’t think you’re ever there. You never arrive, but if you do, you might as well quit because you’re already there. Can’t get any better. And as players, if you ever have that moment — you should never have that moment. You’re always trying to get better.”

The 150th Open - Day Two
Ross Kinnaird / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

“Train hard. Fight easy.”

JP McManus Pro-Am - Day Two
2022 Getty Images / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

(For words of a more spiritual nature, discover the most poignant quotes by Mother Teresa.)

To top