The elbow injury that drove Nick Price from the PGA Tour Champions a bit earlier than he had planned turned out to be the best thing for him.
Few other players have crushed it when it comes to retiring from the golf.
He played the PNC Championship with his son, Gregory, his only real competition of the year. The swing that carried Price to three majors, No. 1 in the world and the Hall of Fame is still evident because he plays about 25 rounds a year, mostly with friends.
Otherwise, he’s traveling with his wife, Sue, and enjoying life like never before. He was in Iceland to fish for Atlantic Salmon. He hit all the national parks in the western U.S.
“I went all over the place when I was playing,” he said, “but I never got to enjoy those places.”
He and his wife will hop over to the Bahamas to fish. He also likes “wing shooting,” particularly dove hunting in Argentina. And he loves quail hunting with a shotgun.
“If you shoot like I do, the bird has a good chance,” Price said. “It’s great fun. It’s like a golf trip but no one cares what you shoot.”
Retirement also gives him more time in his home country of Zimbabwe. Price turns 69 in January, and he says age — and personal history — adds to the appreciation of what he gets to do.
“For me, it goes back to my roots when I was in the military during the Rhodesian days, where I saw guys’ lives cut short when they were 17, 18, 19 years old,” he said. “And my dad dying when I was young left a determination in me to live my life to the fullest, because you never know when it’s going to stop.