The strategy of the golf course is the soul of the game. The spirit of golf is to dare a hazard, and by negotiating it reap a reward, while he who fears or declines the issue of carry, has a longer or harder shot for his second, or his second or third on long holes; yet the player who avoids the unwise effort gains advantage over one who tries for more than in him lies, or fails under the test.-George C. Thomas
and
Golf is a game of balance. The man who knows the value of each of his clubs, and who can work out when it is proper to play one and when to play another, succeeds at the game. The ability of a golfer to know his power and accuracy, and to play for what he can accomplish, is a thing which makes his game as perfect as can be; while a thinker who gauges the true value of his shots, and is able to play the shot well, nearly always defeats an opponent who neglects to consider and properly discount his shortcomings.-George C. Thomas
finally,
To succeed at the game of golf one must open up the hole. One must consider the slope of the green. One must place him/herself in position to attack it. That bewhisked old timer there hitting to position, rolling his ball almost along the ground, may do his round in the eighties; while siege guns boom in vain and youthful champions with their prodigious power return from a campaign they have never wholly understood with a score which sickens them.-Robert Hunter