What Byron Nelson Might Have Done

Byron Nelson’s name will often appear at least somewhere on most people’s list of the top 10 golfers of all time.

However, if his name does appear on that list, it will typically fall somewhere between the eighth and 10th spot.

What many people fail to remember is that, similar to Bobby Jones, Nelson also walked away from the game at a fairly young age.

Between the years of 1935 and 1946, Nelson meticulously kept a record of all his professional earnings with one single goal in mind: to earn enough money on the golf course to purchase a ranch in his home state of Texas.

By 1947, Nelson had finally earned enough money to purchase that dream ranch.

At the young age of 34, and right smack in the middle of his prime, Nelson purchased a sprawling ranch in rural Texas and simply walked away from the game of golf.

Nelson did occasionally return to professional golf, mostly to honor his lifetime exemption at the Masters and for various other charity events here and there, but after 1947, Nelson was no longer a professional golfer, he was a rancher.

When Nelson walked away from the game at the age of 34, he did so with 52 PGA Tour wins, which included five major championships.

Just two years prior to his official retirement, Nelson set the one record in golf that is extremely unlikely to ever be broken.

In 1945, Nelson strung together 11 consecutive victories and won 18 tournaments in total during what could be arguably classified as the single greatest season in the history of the game.

During his last full season in 1946, Nelson won an additional six times.

Throughout his 12 year career, Nelson was averaging an incredible 4.3 wins per year.  However, during his final three seasons, Nelson was averaging a mind-boggling 10.6 wins per year; albeit 18 of those 32 wins came during the 1945 season.

Every golfer inevitably goes through hot and cold spells during the course of his career, and when Nelson walked away from the game, he was clearly in the middle of one of the hottest streaks the game has ever seen.

Although anything is possible, it would be unreasonable to believe that Nelson would continue at the same pace for even a few more years.

However, with an average of 4.33 wins per year throughout his career and an average of 10.66 wins during his final three season before retirement, it is probably not unreasonable to believe that Nelson could have averaged somewhere around five or six wins per year over the next six years.

At the pace Nelson was on before walking away from the game, it is also not at all unreasonable to believe that he could have racked up at least another five major wins.

So what does this all mean?

Well, it means that by the age of 40, Byron Nelson could very well have had won 10 majors and 88 professional tournaments in total.

Back in those days, weight training in golf would have been a laughable notion and players were not in nearly as good physical condition as they are in today.

So, by the age of 40, Nelson would most likely have begun his ultimate decline. 

However, what it to say he could not have still won several more tournaments and possibly another major or two during his early 40s? 

The period of time between 1947 and the mid-50s is typically thought of as Ben Hogan’s era. 

But we have to remember that although Hogan is thought of as a classic late-bloomer, he only began to experience the type of success that led him to be considered one of the all-time greats after Nelson had walked away from the game.

Hogan and Nelson were exactly the same age and prior to Nelson’s retirement Hogan had won just one major.

Now, Ben Hogan is without question one of the greatest golfers of all time, and was quite possibly the greatest ball striker to have ever lived, so it would be ludicrous to think that Hogan would not have still experienced a tremendous amount of success had Nelson not retired.

But, it is quite possible that if Nelson did not retired early, that era of golf between the late 40s and mid-50s would have been known as Byron Nelson’s era, and Hogan would have probably been considered just a worthy competitor.

On the other hand, what’s to say that Hogan might not have really been a late bloomer and actually overtaken Nelson during his prime? 

Either way, it is extremely probable that had he not retired at the age of 34, Nelson could have held the record for all-time PGA Tour wins and could quite possibly have won 10 majors.

But the fact of the matter is that we can speculate, but we can never know for sure just how the remainder of Nelson’s career would have played out.

Back in the 40s and 50s, golfers were not the multi-millionaires they are today.

They did not receive millions of dollars for wearing a hat with a particular logo on it.

They did not become instant millionaires for playing four great rounds of golf, and they certainly did not enjoy the luxury of travelling from one tournament to another on gulfstream jets.

During Nelson’s playing days, professional golfers were considered by society to be only slightly better than those who wagered their family’s home on a hand of poker.

A professional golfer was considered to be, in essence, a type of professional gambler who would gamble his golfing ability in order to pay the mortgage and put food on the table.

So, at the time, Nelson’s decision to leave the grueling and risky life of a professional golf to pursue a more stable dream of becoming a rancher was probably the more sensible decision.

But, had Nelson not walked away from the game at such a young age, there is a very good chance that Nelson could have won 10 majors and somewhere in the vicinity of 90 PGA Tour events, thus all but ensuring that his name would appear a lot closer to the top of any list of the greatest golfers to have ever played the game.