Turning pro, how tough is it.

[Tashyboy]

Just spent the evening out with daugher and grandkids, anyway somehow we ended up in large clothes shop. Guy in there said he recognised me from somewhere and said do I play golf. Next 10 minutes we hit about fifty shots between us.
Anyway he said he had a sponsor to turn pro and it went sour, very sour. So much so he was saddled with 60k of debt. His Missis who he was gonna propose to left him etc etc. He said it has left a real nasty taste in his mouth the game of golf and he never wants to pick up a club again.
So how many players want to turn pro each year and fall by the wayside.

 

[Jacko_G]

Lots of people fall away from the game. Some big time casualties as well. One of Scotland's Eisenhower Trophy winning team is now driving a taxi after failing to make a living. It's a tough tough school.

 

[Tashyboy]

Lots of people fall away from the game. Some big time casualties as well. One of Scotland's Eisenhower Trophy winning team is now driving a taxi after failing to make a living. It's a tough tough school.

I did mention to him why he did not go down the coaching route. He did say he never had the patience. He could never understand why people could " not just hit it as it is so easy to do" 😳

 

[shortgame]

It's a tough school for sure. Very tough

Know a few 'hot shots' who couldn't / didn't make it and also know a few who are unbelievably good but are also truggling to make ends meet on the feeder tour(s)

Then again I know a couple who have made it to the big leagues and are living the dream

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Wow that's a massive debt and clearly it's bought him a lot of sadness chasing the dream. Shows just how hard it is

 

[chrisd]

I was due to have a lesson a couple of years ago, turned up a bit early as the previous lesson was still going on and it turned out the guy being taught was off +5 and the coach said that the lad was still very unsure whether he would turn pro or not.

 

[Tashyboy]

Wow that's a massive debt and clearly it's bought him a lot of sadness chasing the dream. Shows just how hard it is

What I couldn't and still cannot get my head around is how he got such debt when he had a sponsor who pulled the plug. He never said why, but he did say he was bitter about it. Ironically his ex wife to be works in the same shop but won't talk to him now.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

What I couldn't and still cannot get my head around is how he got such debt when he had a sponsor who pulled the plug. He never said why, but he did say he was bitter about it. Ironically his ex wife to be works in the same shop but won't talk to him now.

Depends how big the sponsorship was I guess and how many years he was pursuing the dream. I agree it seems excessive though

 

[Yant]

Speaking from experience when I say it’s very tough indeed.

 

[Val]

Lots of people fall away from the game. Some big time casualties as well. One of Scotland's Eisenhower Trophy winning team is now driving a taxi after failing to make a living. It's a tough tough school.

Heard about Callum’s Macauley, shocking really when you think on it. I had a google to see who was in that team and interestingly all 3 in the runners up team will never worry about cash ever......Jamie Lovemark, Billy Horschel and Rickie Fowler, all winners on the PGA tour and worth millions, especially Fowler and Horschel with Lovemark still in the worlds top 100.

 

[Siren]

At my old club the club champion was Paul Dunne room mate in college in the USA both on a golf scholarship.

He now works in a bank and despite representing Wales afaik has given up the ghost after shooting +10 in Q school stage 1 last year

 

[shortgame]

£30-40k to break even for a full year on the Challenge Tour
Well less than half make that out of the 200+ who compete

That's if you even make it to that level which only a few do

 

[patricks148]

I thinkl we have at least 4 or 5 guys that have turned Pro over the year all were plus 3 or 4.. all work for a living after not getting very far. one even played walker cup. he now runs a hotel.

 

[jim8flog]

I played with Matt Stanford (one of the Walker Cup players) in a pro am.

I could see he was not going to make it simply because he was too short a hitter compared to other pros I had played with (and even me) sure enough within two years (I believe) he had managed to get his amateur status back.

 

[Hendy]

Surely a difference in a tour pro and a club pro.

My club pro is a good 5 handicapper no better. I have payed with him a few times when he joined the club and matched him around my course.

Another time I played with a guy that played a few euro Pro tour events and tbh he's on a different level.

 

[hovis]

there's a chap i know from the belfry called aron rai. he looks set to get his European tour card next year. this man is an amazing golfer and knocks spots off my playing partner who is off +3. the work to get to that standard is off the chart.

as for club pros. in comparison, they are hackers. well, the one's I've seen anyhow

 

[Jacko_G]

there's a chap i know from the belfry called aron rai. he looks set to get his European tour card next year. this man is an amazing golfer and knocks spots off my playing partner who is off +3. the work to get to that standard is off the chart.

as for club pros. in comparison, they are hackers. well, the one's I've seen anyhow

A tad disrespectful to the guy/gal who has sacrificed his playing time to stock and run a shop, serve his/her members and teach compared to the golfer who by your own admission has worked their butt off to become that good. Some pro's struggle to get a game a month in the amount of hours they put into the golf club.

 

[hovis]

A tad disrespectful to the guy/gal who has sacrificed his playing time to stock and run a shop, serve his/her members and teach compared to the golfer who by your own admission has worked their butt off to become that good. Some pro's struggle to get a game a month in the amount of hours they put into the golf club.

its not disrespectful. i was simply saying that when you compare the two they are miles apart. when i say working their butt off i was referring to the tour player. turning pro at a 4 handicap and completing a pga course doesn't cut it.

and as for "sacrificing their playing time". they wouldn't be sacrificing anything if they was good enough to be playing for a living. you make it sound like they've given up their dreams to serve golf equipment to members. they do get paid!!

the unfortunate truth is i see tons of wanna be pros come through the pga course to end up working in a shop.

 

[Blue in Munich]

its not disrespectful. i was simply saying that when you compare the two they are miles apart. when i say working their butt off i was referring to the tour player. turning pro at a 4 handicap and completing a pga course doesn't cut it.

and as for "sacrificing their playing time". they wouldn't be sacrificing anything if they was good enough to be playing for a living. you make it sound like they've given up their dreams to serve golf equipment to members. they do get paid!!

the unfortunate truth is i see tons of wanna be pros come through the pga course to end up working in a shop.

Or maybe they don't want the lifestyle that comes with it. You might be cash rich but there are a lot of impositions on their time. A member of my former club was a European Tour winner and was sitting down discussing all the aspects of the lifestyle, and if I was good enough I'm not necessarily sure I'd want it.

 

[C&R]

I was due to have a lesson a couple of years ago, turned up a bit early as the previous lesson was still going on and it turned out the guy being taught was off +5 and the coach said that the lad was still very unsure whether he would turn pro or not.

+5. Wow. Just goes to show. Golf is so much a mental game as well