A lot of new investors assume that managing money is like golf – where Tiger Woods whips the amateur who steps out on the course with him 100 times out of 100.

But it’s not like that at all.

In investing, unlike golf, the amateur can crush the pro for an appreciable period of time. That’s one of the most wonderful things about the game and one of the most frustrating things about the game, all at once.

In addition, the professional golfer gets to keep his trophies and wins regardless of the subsequent decline in his skills. In contrast, the professional investor’s average or below-average years will dilute the benefit of his “winning” years as mean reversion knocks his lifetime track record back down to earth. Peter Lynch must have known this when he retired in 1990 at the top of his game – he left the magic intact before reality and probability could strip him of it.

Randomness and Time team up to take almost all of us down, one way or the other.

Here are three charts from a recent presentation from Towers Watson on equity investing that show this phenomenon graphically (emphasis mine):