How much would a Tour Pro have to make to break even ?

[sydney greenstreet]

As the title says how much would he/she have to make per event ? hotels, flights. Do they pay their caddies flights and hotel bills ?

 

[scratch]

Difficult question to answer because it depends on your definition. Don't forget that a tour pro has a limited working lifespan so ideally he needs to be earning enough to secure his future once his playing days are over. But in simplistic terms, he probably needs to earn around £150-200k to break even. He has to pay tax in the country of origin for any winnings, a flat weekly fee to his caddy plus a percentage of winnings. Then he has flights, hotel, food etc to pay. An estimate of the cost to play on tour is about £2k a week.

edit: No, the caddy pays his own expenses.

 

[jimbob.someroo]

I read Ewan Porter's 'Tour Confidential' recently. He had to take a pretty big loan out to get his tour life sorted, and although he never seemed to get to the point of being utterly broke, he never seemed particularly well off.

I would guess you'd need to make somewhere in the £250k region to have a comfortable life as a tour pro. You could get by on a lot less, but the cheap hotels and driving instead of flying etc would, IMO, have a negative effect on your ability to make a decent profit each week.

Also, fun fact that I learned from the guys at TaylorMade on the fitting day. Less than 20% of the players are paid to play with the clubs. Of those 20%, I'd guess that at least 15% are playing regularly on the main PGA tour. That means, if you're struggling around in the lower regions or the Euro / web.com tours, you can't even rely on the £50k a year or whatever it is that you get from your club sponsor. You 'just' get the free kit.

 

[Holey]

I know a European tour caddie who gets paid £800/week + 10% of the player's winnings. Bearing in mind out of that he has to pay for flights, hotels, food etc, this isn't huge amount.

Apparently a lot of the caddies room together, and sometimes 4 or 5 of them rent a big camper van between them and drive to events if there are a few close together in consecutive weeks.

Could be pretty tough for the caddies, especially if the player misses a few cuts etc

 

[Imurg]

You have to wonder how some of them at the lower reaches of the Tour manage to put food on the table.
Daniel Gaunt for example..
Last on the RTD at the moment with 2238 euros from 6 events. Thos events were in SA, Morroco and Spain
He's only made 223k on the European Tour since 2004 - ok he's probably played elsewhere but I doubt with much success....

373 euros a week minus flights, accomodation etc etc etc etc etc.......

Here's a Man living off his Sponsors.........

 

[Val]

There is no figure, each pro will have different working expenses from coaching to travel. Some will spend massively on coaching and travelling to the likes of Florida, California and Dubai just to practice for weeks on end and some will practice locally. Some will spend fortunes on the worlds best names in coaching like Butch, Foley, Cowan and Leadbetter, some stick with old faithfully like Rory with Michael Bannon.

Some pros will pay top dollar for their caddies, others will pay a basic fee.

As incomes go, some pros will earn way in excess of their prize money in sponsorship alone, Rory with his Nike deal is well documented but that isn't his only deal. Some pros need sponsorship to tick over modestly as prize money barely covers their working expenses

 

[Papas1982]

Difficult question to answer because it depends on your definition. Don't forget that a tour pro has a limited working lifespan so ideally he needs to be earning enough to secure his future once his playing days are over. But in simplistic terms, he probably needs to earn around £150-200k to break even. He has to pay tax in the country of origin for any winnings, a flat weekly fee to his caddy plus a percentage of winnings. Then he has flights, hotel, food etc to pay. An estimate of the cost to play on tour is about £2k a week.

edit: No, the caddy pays his own expenses.

If he needs 2k a week, how does that make 200k?

 

[BoadieBroadus]

If he needs 2k a week, how does that make 200k?

presumably because the player will have to pay tax of approx 45% on his £200k earnings. leaving not much change for mortgage payments / living expenses / family expenses if he's playing most weeks...

 

[scratch]

If he needs 2k a week, how does that make 200k?

If he plays 30 weeks..............

30 x £1k = 30k (travel, accom, food)
Caddy approx £500 per week = £15k
Coaching typically £500 per lesson
%age of winnings to caddy = unknown
Tax on any winnings = unknown
Saving for his future = unknown

Soon adds up and probably doesn't leave much change out of the £200k

 

[SAPCOR1]

presumably because the player will have to pay tax of approx 45% on his £200k earnings. leaving not much change for mortgage payments / living expenses / family expenses if he's playing most weeks...

It's only 45% of income above £150k, not the whole lot

 

[lyden]

Don't the (lesser) players only play in a few events ie) the close ones? I think to get to that level of golf you probably need to be from a wealthy background to start with obviously there will be exceptions.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Hard to answer. Most will have good accountants via their management company so I'm sure every penny that can be saved is. Many will have endorsements and income from other sources and so it isn't purely tour earnings alone although clearly if you don't retain your card then your earning potential disapperars

 

[Val]

It's only 45% of income above £150k, not the whole lot

I think you'll find its 40% above £32k then 45% above £150k so a whole lot of tax

 

[SAPCOR1]

I think you'll find its 40% above £32k then 45% above £150k so a whole lot of tax

Yes I know and 20% up to that. The point I was trying to make was that it wasn't 45% on the whole amount

 

[SocketRocket]

I know someone who was a caddy for a top 10 tour player. He got paid $1000 per match for expenses (Flights, Car hire, Hotel, food etc) and 10% of the winnings.

 

[Canary_Yellow]

I think you'll find its 40% above £32k then 45% above £150k so a whole lot of tax

40% starts a fair bit higher than 32k. In any case, I presume they are effectively self employed and on that basis the cost of travel, accommodation etc basically any expense incurred for the purpose of their work would be tax deductible. So until they cover costs no tax to pay.

 

[MashieNiblick]

Good question and would make an interesting feature in the magazine I think.