The Lobeck All-Time Golf Rankings How This Ranking Was Created...
I think one of the most often quoted (and at the same time the most inaccurate) stat is “The All Time Earnings” for PGA TOUR professionals.

Search by Player Vijay Singh makes over $10,000,000 in ’04. How does that rank to Ben Hogan’s best season? What about the ongoing argument of “Jack versus Tiger?” How does Tom Kite’s career earnings compare to players of past eras as well as current players?

So I had an idea. I come from an investment background. In that industry, “inflation” puts into absolute perspective the value of a dollar today compared to the value of a dollar in past years.

With an accurate inflation figure, you can put all “dollars” (past and present) on equal footing.

Why not PGA TOUR earnings? I was shocked that it had never been done. So, I contacted The PGA TOUR and The PGA of America. I had them send me the player earnings ranking for each year (they could only go back to 1938) as well as the total purse for Earnings per Year.

I then created a "golf earnings inflation index." This IS NOT an economic inflation index that you would find in “The Wall Street Journal.” This is an index SPECIFICALLY created for the ongoing growth of PGA TOUR purses.

Bottom line, it takes every dollar EVER EARNED on The PGA TOUR (back to 1938) and brings it up to CURRENT dollars. You can always check out the Seasonal Earnings compared to the
Adjusted Seasonal Earnings.

We go from first place to last place from 1938 to 2004 (we are currently updating our figures for 2005). You can compare a current player against a past player, rank most dominant seasons, the applications are endless. This has taken our staff (thanks Lisa and Brandon) two years to complete the data entry.

You will see names you haven’t seen in a long time and many you have never seen at all. Compare Players and you will see how much Byron Nelson would have made today had he won 13 straight events. How dominant was Sam Snead? See how the player ranks in Career Earnings Ranking and Adjusted Career Ranking.

I know there will be arguments against this ranking. Current players will say there is more competition today, that the fields are deeper, a fair observation. But, I feel players of the past sometimes have their accomplishments overshadowed. If this ranking fuels debate on behalf of the players of past eras, I have accomplished what I hoped to accomplish.

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