"Golf is a thinking man's game. You can have all the shots in the bag, but if you don't know what to do with them, you've got troubles"
About this Quote
The subtext lands harder because Rodriguez wasn’t born into golf’s traditional pipeline. As a Puerto Rican kid who shined shoes and learned the game from the margins, he’s speaking from lived experience: skill alone doesn’t get you through rooms built for other people. "All the shots in the bag" reads like raw ability, flash, even hustle. "Know what to do with them" is the strategic literacy the sport demands - the part that gets mistaken for "instinct" when it’s really practice plus judgment.
There’s also a sly jab at golf’s consumer culture. Players love collecting gear, lessons, swing thoughts, miracle fixes. Rodriguez shrugs: you can stockpile options and still make bad choices. The trouble isn’t lack of technique; it’s the human tendency to want the heroic shot when the smart play is boring. In golf, ego is the most expensive club you carry.
Quote Details
| Topic | Sports |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Rodriguez, Chi Chi. (2026, January 15). Golf is a thinking man's game. You can have all the shots in the bag, but if you don't know what to do with them, you've got troubles. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/golf-is-a-thinking-mans-game-you-can-have-all-the-170065/
Chicago Style
Rodriguez, Chi Chi. "Golf is a thinking man's game. You can have all the shots in the bag, but if you don't know what to do with them, you've got troubles." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/golf-is-a-thinking-mans-game-you-can-have-all-the-170065/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Golf is a thinking man's game. You can have all the shots in the bag, but if you don't know what to do with them, you've got troubles." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/golf-is-a-thinking-mans-game-you-can-have-all-the-170065/. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.


