“It’s not how you drive; it’s how you arrive” (golf adage)

“It’s not how you drive, but/it’s how you arrive” is a popular golf adage that means a good drive is only part of the game—the short game is also important. “It’s not how you drive, it’s how you arrive” has been cited in print since at least 1954 and is of unknown authorship.
 
 
15 December 1954, Greensboro (NC) Record, “Rimming the Cup…” with Jim Foster, pg. D-2, col. 7:
Jack Berry and Pro George Corcoran added more emphasis last week to the old saying that “it’s not how you drive, it’s how you arrive!”
 
29 August 1956, Greensboro (NC) Record, “Rimming the Cup…” with Jim Foster, pg. C-2, col. 2:
Archie Moore, not the boxing champ, however, will be the first to tell you that in golf “it’s not how you drive, but how you arrive.”
 
23 July 1957, Odessa (TX) American, Tom Eastland’s Box Score, pg. 19, col. 1:
... the real business (Pro-Am Golf Tournament—ed.) starts Thursday, when it’ll be not how you drive, but how you arrive.
 
Google News Archive
4 September 1958, Wilmington (NC) News, “Pleased with 1958 Tigers” by the Associated Press, pg. 16, col. 3:
In golf they say it isn’t how you drive, but how you arrive.
 
Google News Archive
6 February 1962, Tuscaloosa (AL) News, “Tide Tops Vandy, 82-76” by Charles Land, pg. 10, col. 4:
It’s not how you drive, but how you arrive.
 
Google News Archive
30 September 1963, The Evening Independent (St. Petersburg, FL), “Golf Roundup,” pg. 15-A, col. 5:
There is a saying in golf, “It’s not how you drive; it’s how you arrive.”
 
Google Books
Action on the First Tee:
How to cash in on your favorite sport
By Doug Sanders and Russ Pate
Dallas, TX: Taylor Publishing
1987
Pg. 108:
And keep in mind the golfing axiom: It’s not how you drive, it’s how you arrive.
 
Google Books
The Masters:
A Hole-by-Hole History of America’s Golf Classic
Second Edition
By David Sowell
Dulles, VA: Potomac Books, Inc.
2007
Pg. 266:
In a classic example of the golfing axiom, ‘‘It’s not how you drive but how you arrive,’’ the shot landed just to the right of the flag, skipped up the slope that runs up to the back tier, and then rolled back toward the flag, stopping 15 feet above the hole.
 
Google Books
Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden
By Anderson
Xlibris Corporation (Xlibris.com)
2011
Pg. 24:
For this reason, golfers use cliche’s or trite aphoristic sayings to help with the pain of golf. One such saying is, “It is not how you drive but, how you arrive.” In other words, even a duffer can hit a long ball occasionally but, only a golfer can play the short game.