Johnny Miller's Legacy

[iacas]

The poll is pretty self-explanatory, and leaves no room for sitting on the fence and saying "both." Please pick one. 🙂

I voted for his broadcasting career, because… I think it's had far, far more influence on a significantly greater number of people.

[HJJ003]

Broadcasting career. I believe that for at least my generation is known more for broadcasting. He was a great player for sure, but it’s broadcasting that sticks out above the rest to me at least. 

[Patch]

Need a third choice. That being "both". That's the one I would vote for. 

[Vinsk]

Definitely Broadcasting. He developed a presence, good and bad I’m sure, among many who weren’t around when he played. 

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Patch said:

Need a third choice. That being "both". That's the one I would vote for. 

Nope.

4 hours ago, iacas said:

The poll is pretty self-explanatory, and leaves no room for sitting on the fence and saying "both." Please pick one. 🙂

Get off the fence.

[mvmac]

Broadcasting career. While the 63 at Oakmont is historic and will always be mentioned when they talk about Johnny Miller 20, 50, 100 years from now, I think more people know him as a broadcaster than as a player. He's stayed relevant as a broadcaster for 30 years.

[boogielicious]

I said playing career without much though into it. Without it, there would not have been a broadcasting career. It even defines how he approached broadcasting. But arguments the other way are fine with me.

[Eric C]

I voted playing career since he was a much better golfer than broadcaster, and as @boogielicious mentioned above, there would not have been one without the other.  He's no Joe Buck, after all ...

[mcanadiens]

Johnny Miller was mostly done as a competitive golfer in the early 1980s. Anyone my age or younger have only seen him as an announcer. The fact that he was a successful player lends credibility to him as a broadcaster, but playing is not the way a lot of us have experienced him.

The question is about legacy. It's how will people remember you. It's not a knock on his playing career.  

[iacas]

37 minutes ago, Eric C said:

I voted playing career since he was a much better golfer than broadcaster, and as @boogielicious mentioned above, there would not have been one without the other.  He's no Joe Buck, after all ...

Roger Maltbie finished top five in only one major and won only five PGA Tour events during a time when they weren't too hard to win. 🙂 He has a long broadcasting career too.

It's not like every broadcaster has had a huge career. Gary Koch. David Feherty was on a Ryder Cup team, but never won a PGA Tour event. Frank Nobilo and Brandel Chamblee have two PGA Tour wins between them.

And Johnny's been a much better broadcaster than he was a player. He was a top three golfer for only a few years - he's been a top three color guy for over 20 years.

And, as I said in my answer, he's influenced far more people for far longer as a broadcaster.

That's my argument for "broadcaster" at any rate.

[Wally Fairway]

False dichotomy
My answer is both

[iacas]

23 minutes ago, Wally Fairway said:

False dichotomy

Not at all.

If I ask you which fruit is your favorite, you can't say "false dichotomy." I asked which is his greatest legacy, not what contributes to his legacy.

[saevel25]

I answered Broadcasting. I think people know Johnny Miller way more for his broadcasting than this golf. I think he brought an edge to golf broadcasting that it needed, even if you disagree with his opinions.

[DeadMan]

Definitely broadcasting. I knew Johnny Miller as a broadcaster before I ever knew about Johnny Miller the player. Despite Johnny's best efforts, the casual golf fan isn't going to know about his 63 at Oakmont or his Open Championship.

By the way, just looking at his career, that stretch he had in 1974 and 1975 is pretty crazy. He won 3 straight events in January 1974. He won 13 times in those two years. That's a Tiger-esque stretch, minus winning any majors.

[Missouri Swede]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

Roger Maltbie finished top five in only one major and won only five PGA Tour events during a time when they weren't too hard to win. 🙂 He has a long broadcasting career too.

It's not like every broadcaster has had a huge career. Gary Koch. David Feherty was on a Ryder Cup team, but never won a PGA Tour event. Frank Nobilo and Brandel Chamblee have two PGA Tour wins between them.

This kind of clarified my thinking.  When I think of JM, my first thought is major-winning PGA tour pro, even though I wasn't paying any attention to tour golf back when he was playing (so it's not like he was a sports hero of mine back in the day).

But when I think of Maltbie, Koch, Nobilo, Chamblee, Jacobsen, I don't have that same reaction.  I'm not saying they didn't accomplish things on tour.  But that's not where my mind goes first.

[CaseyD]

i love his "perceived" $hit talking.  In reality he just speaks truth.  He doesn't give the guys on tour any slack.  In his eyes you've made it to the pinnacle of the sport and you better play like it on every shot.  I freakin love that.  No dancing around anything, you hit it like crap or play like crap he will let us all know that you did. 🤣🤣  Every sport needs more announcing/ commentating like that.  Also if its true its pretty cool that the PGA logo is him.

[DaveP043]

I voted his broadcasting career.  I actually DO remember him as a player, an extremely quick rise to be one of the very best, but he only stayed at that level for a relatively short time.  His broadcasting career has been much longer.  In my view, he also changed golf commentary.  He was the first I can remember to actually be critical of a shot, or a decision, or anything about any golfer.  He's still one of the few who suggests that an upcoming shot is pretty simple, instead of magnifying the difficulty in advance.  He was a brilliant player for a short while, he's been a very good announcer for decades.

[turtleback]

19 hours ago, iacas said:

The poll is pretty self-explanatory, and leaves no room for sitting on the fence and saying "both." Please pick one. 🙂

I voted for his broadcasting career, because… I think it's had far, far more influence on a significantly greater number of people.

Broadcast.  There were a lot of players better than him but not many color commentators.