From: Happy Gilmore
Genre: Movies
Who said it?: Happy Gilmore
The story behind the quote: Adam Sandler rose to popularity by writing and starring in movies where the main characters are extremely unbelievable but are a blast to watch. One of these movies is Happy Gilmore. Happy Gilmore is an extremely aggressive hockey player with a very powerful slapshot. It’s this overly aggressive personality that keeps him from getting into any hockey team. It turns out that his grandmother (who raised him) hasn’t been paying her taxes and the IRS is about to repossess the house he grew up in.
While some movers are repossessing some of his household items, he makes a bet involving hitting golf balls. It is this bet when he discovers that he can use his amazing slapshot to hit golf balls farther than most pro golfers. He then joins the pro golfing circuit where his violent temper and antics make him an immediate star… even if his putting skills stink.
The quote comes from one of the tours that displays his bad putting skills. Another golfer (played by Kevin Nealon) coaches Happy that the ball really wants to get in the hole since it’s his home. All it needs is to be guided home. Happy attempts the putt and misses. This is when he loses it and starts shouting at the ball…
Geek wisdom: Even the simplest things can be difficult and it can be incredibly frustrating. Happy Gilmore may be extremely good at driving the ball in golf but he struggles at putting and he definitely shows it in the quote. It’s okay to get frustrated at doing new, especially if you’re not good at it. But you have a choice: remain frustrated at it or practice and get better at it.
Happy does eventually get good at putting, but he had to put the time and effort into getting good at it. I bet even a guy who has natural talent in golf like Tiger Woods had to practice to become the top dog. It goes with every thing that we do; we can only improve at something if we keep on doing it over and over again.