Should you be in step with today’s world and feel compelled to measure anyone’s success by data and Social Media followers, then you’ll perhaps miss what is at the heart of a story scripted by Bryce Molder.

It's called character and dignity.

Engulfed in the world of professional golf, which is famously occupied by competitors who know how difficult the game is to master and how even more difficult it is to quit, Molder reached both thresholds with equal parts of grace and honor.

He was as polished a college player as our landscape has ever seen – a rare four-time All-America at Georgia Tech, twice the Jack Nicklaus Player of the Year (1998, 2001), once the Fred Haskins Award winner (2001).

The game just unfolded so fluidly for him.

But his was an 11-year, 285-tournament PGA Tour career that never matched the level of success he had become accustomed to in the college and amateur ranks – just one win, and many seasons spent in the middle of the pack.

The game just frustrated so consistently for him.

The thing is, Molder looked around and realized he wasn’t alone. “I remember talking to a sports psychologist when I was 30-to-35,” said Molder, who knew by that point how the pro game could beat you up. “I told him I couldn’t believe how miserable guys were, especially in their 40s. They seemed really unhappy.

“I remember thinking how I wasn’t going to let that happen to me. Still, (the game) got to me, to the point where I didn’t like the game.”

So, at the end of the 2017 season, Molder at age 38 retired from the PGA Tour.

Now, in the other sports that occupy corners of our world, most athletes – Tom Brady excluded – are finished competing at 38. But in Molder’s sport, well, people don’t think golfers should ever retire and for the most part, golfers are more than happy to try and prove them correct.

So, if it seems extreme that Molder called it quits at a time that could still be considered his prime, take comfort in knowing this: Molder played this as beautifully as any of his nine collegiate wins, or as deftly as the 72nd hole at the 2011 Frys.com Open when a 12-foot birdie got him into a playoff where he recorded his only PGA Tour win.

“There’s no looking back. I’m as happy as I’ve ever been,” said Molder, who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., with his wife, Kelley, and daughter, Jules. He plays his golf out of the famed Whisper Rock which has ignited within him a happiness that hadn’t burned for a few years.

“I’m enjoying my relationship with golf again.”

If that doesn’t warm your heart, my condolences.

As a partner in Trident Capital Partners, a company that deals in commercial real estate – “the pre debt space,” said Molder – the man who played in two Walker Cups and three Palmers Cups and went on to earn more than $11 million in his PGA Tour career feels blessed.

“Most people would feel lucky to have one career that they really like and here I am with a second great career,” said Molder. “I enjoy what I do, the stuff I work on and it doesn’t feel like work.”

Molder will never say it was easy to retire from the PGA Tour, but “I’d be lying if I told you I thought I was walking away from great golf.”

The 2016-17 season ended with just $216,892 earned and he was 193rd in FedExCup points. “And in golf, you don’t have teammates to lift you up. Playing marginal golf didn’t appeal to me.”

There was also a firm grasp of the way the game was drifting away from his skill set. From 2010-17 he ranked in the top 20 of Strokes Gained: Putting on six occasions.

“I was very good at leaving it in the right spot. But nobody talks about that anymore.”

No, they don’t. Now, “there’s a lot of offense and a lot of players who have it,” said Molder. “There aren’t a lot of holes out there anymore that are difficult.”

If you’re thinking Molder will take the cue and express some bitterness, you have the wrong guy. He goes through the list – baseball is home runs, basketball is 3-pointers, pro football is pass crazy, golf is power. Move on.

Fact is, it’s hardly a “real life” problem to a person like Molder who has been provided reasons to embrace perspective.

Afflicted with “Poland Syndrome,” a very rare condition where you are born without a chest muscle and in some cases like Molder’s, a left hand is under-developed and smaller than the right hand. Then, when he was 14, Molder’s sister, Kelli, died at 16 of bacterial meningitis.

Talking to “Links Player” when he was a young professional, Molder said: “I think the way I treat golf in relationship to the rest of my life, it has had a big impact.

“God has watched over me.”

Now pro golfers aren’t exactly known for planning for a life outside the ropes and Molder understands why. “If you have one foot out the door, you’re not going to be successful against guys who are trying to conquer the world,” said Molder.

But honesty is a powerful tool when you’re not afraid to use it and Molder knew “that the passion had gone” in 2017 and that it was time to move on. He received a great education at Georgia Tech and was ready to apply it to a business that intrigued him.

“The key in life is finding what you love and enjoying what you do,” said Molder. “I have that with my family, my work and my golf. It’s a really good balance.”