By:  Pro From Dover

Staring at the relentless winter. Will the snow melt by August? Will we ever again feel the soft green under our feet? Will our pals in Florida stop braying about their wonderful weather?

Almost every day we receive emails containing aphorisms about golf. Cute little sayings and observations meant to amuse. Some are clever, some are insightful and a few capture the true sense of our game. The best ones have a tinge of irony which is, at the end of the day, a fundamental part of the game. They aren’t hilarious but rather they elicit a mental nod of understanding.

Alas, the majority seem to have been written by non golfers. Reading them is like watching an actor pretend to be a good golfer. Or hearing a comedian who doesn’t play try to be funny about it.  It’s… uncomfortable.

So, to lighten the mood as we yearn for better weather, we offer from the many axioms scattered throughout our files, a distillation to five of our favorites.

5. The less skilled a player, the more likely he is to share his ideas about how you can improve your game.

4. No matter how badly you are playing, it is possible to play worse.

4.b. You will hit the best shot of the day on the last hole thus deluding you that the next round will be better.

3. While looking for your ball, you’ll find three, none of them yours.

2. No matter what time you play, you will be following the slowest player on the course.

1. Everyone replaces his divot after a perfect approach shot.

The game cannot be mastered and we forget it is meant to be recreation. It is meant to be fun. When the good weather returns, recall the winter doldrums and how much you needed to be back on the grass.