Luck and practice... or work?

Years ago I put together a slide deck for my students to help them create PowerPoint presentations. One of the quotes I used was - I thought, at the time - from Gary Player, who apparently said: "It's a funny thing; the more I practice, the luckier I get" - according to Yocom (2002). The implication in the saying is that it is not luck that makes us good at what we do: it is all that practice.

I used the quote because, the same as being a professional sports person, when it comes to presentations, the more we practice, the better we get. True. 

Then I saw the same quote attributing it to another golfer, Arnold Palmer. So I decided that I had best head over to the Quote Investigator's site to see what the real deal was. And Garson O'Toole advised that: "Gary Player is a very fine golfer, but he is not responsible for this well-known maxim. The best evidence that he did not coin the adage is in a book written by Player himself in 1962 where he credits the aphorism to fellow golfer Jerry Barber" (Quote Investigator, 2010). 

So we should say this is Jerry Barber's saying, especially in "1960 Jerry Barber does use a version of the maxim during a golf tournament", saying "The harder you work the luckier you get" (Quote Investigator, 2010). But Mr Barber doesn't say practice. He says 'harder' and 'work'. Same rough meaning, but not actually practice.

Garson O'Toole goes on to explain that "In 1949 another instance of the saying [...] appears in an anecdote told by the columnist Walter Winchell" who says that American retail chain owner, "J. J. Lerner, [...] met a great admirer of his playwright-son". The admirer said 'Isn’t it wonderful how lucky your boy is?'"; to which the reply came: 'Yes, [...] isn’t it wonderful. The harder he works the luckier he gets'" (Quote Investigator, 2010; Winchell, 1949, p. 4)

So I think I will cite J. J. Lerner from here-on out, and I will revert to hard work version with: "the harder [we] work the luckier [we] get" (Quote Investigator, 2010; after Winchell, 1949, p. 4).

J. J. Lerner, as recorded by Walter Winchell, feels right for now. 

Sam

References:

Quote Investigator. (2010, July 10). Quote Origin: The Harder I Practice, the Luckier I Get. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/07/14/luck/

Winchell, W. (1949 June 6). ‘Harder Playwright Works, The Luckier He Gets’ (p. 4). The Spartanburg Herald. https://www.oldnews.com/en/record?lang=en&record_id=record-10623-384788&searchTerm=eJxtjz1PAzEMhv9Kpk4o0ZEuHW6qkBBDlwp1dnMuF%2BE418Q50X9f3xUxAIv9%2BuuxfWVI2B%2FUmAvbE5Bgcf4UOYxIpLmU7fPi6pyr7VaVogpaKtvF1SE94pou%2FlsV7d1cp3amGEBiZtdNBAH7lxlZDIrNMmIxONnjBEWAz618PDl%2FzE1G5%2FdQMkUGzbxzFBy0IiBYdUL34hcE%2BcWXKIT9vlXJycwPLK5Y%2FQfxk27Ov2IBUhbw8BN0b7kVBjJhkn%2FBg%2B79c%2FfNdrvtziTUh9eTakyRoNwBnjV3nA%3D%3D&page_id=4

Yocom, Guy (2002). Gary Player: take it from the man in black: rats save lives, caning isn't all bad, and we make our own breaks. Golf Digest.  http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HFI/is_10_53/ai_93487307/