Life is far more comfortable in the senior ranks, though.
In the first major on the over-50s circuit, the Senior US PGA Championship at the weekend, Lyle found some comfort and propelled himself up the standings with closing rounds of 66 and 64 to claim a share of fourth.
It was the 54-year-old's best finish in a senior major but his late charge – Lyle covered the closing 36-holes in 12-under-par – was not enough to reel in England's Roger Chapman, who clinched an emotional win.
Chapman's golfing journey is something of an advert for the old phrase "good things come to those who wait". It took him 472 European Tour events to register a maiden victory, at the Brazil Open of 2000. Now he has a senior major to his name at 53.
Since the age of 13, Chapman had been coached by George Will, the Scot who played in three Ryder Cups. Will passed away two years ago and Chapman was swift to emphasise the huge influence the Ladybank man had on his career.
"I was thinking of George all the way round, 'what would he be thinking?' " said Chapman, who became the first European since Jock Hutchinson, from St Andrew, in 1947 to win the Senior PGA crown.
"He [Will] was my father figure and, if I hadn't met him, I don't think I would be sitting here right now.
"He had the belief in me to work with me and never took one penny for a lesson. It was all for free, not one penny changed hands."
* Darren Clarke, the Open champion, who has yet to make a halfway cut this year, has pulled out of next month's US Open in San Francisco. The 43-year-old has been advised to rest a groin problem that first bothered him before last month's Masters and then resurfaced at last week's BMW PGA Championship.
Clarke has also withdrawn from next week's Nordea Masters in Sweden, so his next appearance is now expected to be the Irish Open at Royal Portrush, starting on June 28. "I am extremely disappointed as Open champion that I will not be able to play the US Open," said Clarke, who earned a five-year exemption with his victory at Sandwich.
"But I have to make sure I am 100% ready for Royal Lytham [his Open defence is on July 19-22] and I have been advised not to play for a month. I've not been able to get through the ball properly and I don't want to take any chances."
Clarke has not had a top-10 finish since his triumph last summer, when he finally achieved his dream of a major title 20 years after he made his debut.
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