in case you think you can make it in golf over the age of 18

[patricks148]

Young boy and my club, just won a national under 16 comp. he's just 13 (looks about 10) and is off 0. He;s just been picked for Scotland in an international of some sort.

He is the yonger brother of Sandy Scott +5 who has just been picked to play in the Home internationals later this year himself.

so if anyone out there thinks they can make it, this is what you are up against

 

[patricks148]

same age as tiger when he got to scratch

 

[Capella]

Yeah, well, thankfully, all those young talented kids get college scholarships and bugger off to play in the US or in Australia or who knows whereelse in a few years, giving us mere mortals a chance at the monthly medal again

 

[turkish]

I am 35, have a bad hip a nagging wife and a baby daughter but i still have aspirations of making it... how dare you dampen my spirit!!!

 

[Wilf]

The counter argument to keep the dream alive is the example of Ian Poulter, don't think he started playing golf until teenage years and has done ok

 

[Deleted member 15344]

There have been plenty of people taking the game up early teens and making it , certainly enough have not reach plus figures and made it

And vice versa there are plenty of amateurs who have reached very low and indeed plus 4/5 and not done a thing as pro

Certainly no one should ever give up any dreams based on anyone else

 

[JohnnyDee]

I'm a *Senior and I reckon it's still possible.

All I have to do is get down from my current 13 handicap to around, say, +4, lose a few stone and hey! who knows? :thup:








*and deluded eejit.

 

[Orikoru]

Thanks a lot, dream killer.

 

[Maninblack4612]

Nick Faldo had never picked up a golf club until he was 14.

 

[patricks148]

dream away, my point is this is what you will be up against.

Walker cup, no chance getting picked anymore ( GB&I anyway) unless you are a youngester

 

[ArnoldArmChewer]

Nick Faldo had never picked up a golf club until he was 14.

A bygone era me thinks.

 

[Bobirdie]

dream away, my point is this is what you will be up against.

Walker cup, no chance getting picked anymore ( GB&I anyway) unless you are a youngester

Aye and if youre good at passing out brown envelopes

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I too was struck by where you have to be to make it when I went through Justin Rose's Honours Board at North Hants.

In particular - The Hampshire Hog - one of the top amateur events in the UK. Rose won it when he was 14.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Poulter surely the argument to prove that with a lot of hard work and sheer bloody mindedness it's possible to take a little (in terms of handicap turning pro as a sign of ability) and make a lot from it

 

[patricks148]

Poulter surely the argument to prove that with a lot of hard work and sheer bloody mindedness it's possible to take a little (in terms of handicap turning pro as a sign of ability) and make a lot from it

sort of missing the point anyone off 4 and below can turn pro and work hard.. no doubt very hard and he is the exception rather than the rule.

But if you were to want to be a top Am like Fitzpatrick and Rory,the natural progression would be to play the top am events, amateur championship, walker cup etc.. you have your work cut out.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

sort of missing the point anyone off 4 and below can turn pro and work hard.. no doubt very hard and he is the exception rather than the rule.

But if you were to want to be a top Am like Fitzpatrick and Rory,the natural progression would be to play the top am events, amateur championship, walker cup etc.. you have your work cut out.

I get your point and of course Walker Cup is probably seen as a big goal as would be the English Amateur. How many top amateurs though after going on a scholarship, or playing the top amateur events in the UK ever turn pro and go on tour. Is it a given that they even want to these days

 

[davie24]

Bang goes my retirement plan. My son has just turned 17 and plays of 6. Looks like he still has a long way to go.

 

[garyinderry]

Rory shot 61 around portrush in the north of Ireland am championship.

He was 11 under par. he was off +4 at the time.


Says it all really.

 

[El Diablo]

Ultimately they make it in their own time and there will be a cross section of paths taken, but the precocious ones have an edge as opportunities present themselves, particular for the best who get into elite national junior programs.

All sorts of factors come into play as they grow up, develop physically, mentally, life is more important (girls, booze etc.) - one interesting one is the dream is really the parents and the kids don't want it.

I played a few years ago in a father and son event with a scratch golfer who told me Luke Donald caddied for him in the Buck's county champs - and also that if I checked the North Hants Justin Rose display he had also marked Rose's card the day he won the Hampshire Hog as a junior.

This chaps father reckoned at the time they would have said Donald was the least likely of his junior contemporaries to make it as a pro - he went to a US college and kicked on and the rest is history (and none of the others made it).

I think the key is that there is a very big pool at the junior level and very, very few will make it.

 

[MendieGK]

The counter argument to keep the dream alive is the example of Ian Poulter, don't think he started playing golf until teenage years and has done ok

This is such a bad narrative that gets used every time in this discussion. Poulter was much better than a 4 handicap when he turned pro, he just never played in comps because he wasnt allowed. he definitely took up golf before he was a teenager too.