There is an interesting article on the PGA Tour’s website discussing golfers that retired earlier than others.
Johnny Miller is an interesting case. He was a star as a teenager. He was able to take his game from the amateur ranks right into the pros and had a lot of success.
He ran into a little trouble with his putting and I’m sure he had plenty of other challenges, but it had to seem like he was going to be a star for a long time.
But as he got into the 1980s, during his 30s, he decided to start pulling back on the tour life.
He had this interesting quote to say:
“When I got to the mountaintop,” Miller said, “I kind of looked at the scenery and wondered, ‘Now what?’ When Jack got there, he said, ‘Where’s the next mountain?’”
That’s a great insight into one of life’s greatest challenges.
Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus are two of the greatest golfers of all time. They both achieved a lot. But Jack achieved more and did it for a very long time. He won his final major when he was 46 years old and contended and finished in sixth place in a major when he was 58 years old.
We might not face the same mountain as Johnny and Jack. But we do face this question many times in our lives. With little things and with seemingly more important things.
I’ve kind of noticed it in my life with friends as we’ve entered our 30s. Some take a moment to pick their head up from the last 10-12 years of working to build their career and wonder if they should keep going up the same mountain or decide on an easier route.
Maybe “easier” isn’t the right word. But a different route. A different mountain.
Johnny did find a different mountain. He became a golf broadcaster and probably the best one that has ever done it. It wasn’t the same as being out there competing. He found a different path.
Tiger Woods is another interesting case in the world of golf. He won his last major in 2008. He tried to win more many times through all kinds of bumps in the road.
Around 2017, another former golf, Jackie Burke, was asked what he saw when he looked at Tiger. Jackie said something along the lines of:
Tiger looks like he’s fallen off a mountain. It looks like he’s trying to determine if it’s worth the effort to climb all the way back to the top…
That was some great insight. Insight into the challenges and decisions we face in life.
For Tiger, he decided that he was going to climb that mountain again and he won The Masters in 2019.
Does he have it in him to climb it once more?
We all reach the tops of mountains in our lives. We have to decide if it’s worth it to climb it again and also if we should climb more mountains.
The most successful people, it seems, are always looking for mountains. For challenges. For growth.
Once you settle for something it seems like your body knows it and starts shutting things down.