Trying to Make the Tour

[High cut]

Re: Trying to Make the Tour

Do we look like your 'drinking buddies'?

Hey, he started an interesting conversation..... More than you or especially I can claim!

[High cut]

Re: Trying to Make the Tour

I think the majority of pro athletes are "discovered" quite young - they're prodigies. They're Tiger on TV at age 2. They're Michelle Wie playing against the men in the Sony at age 14 and shooting a 68.

It really seems to require 3 things: Gifted genes for athleticism, opportunity (e.g. parents that are willing and able to make it happen), and an extraordinary level of desire to win.

I wonder how many just decide to pick up a sport later (like in their late teens) and are able to make it?

The Masters Tour certainly changes things. It gives one the opportunity to develop that level of competitiveness and to have achieved the means to provide your own opportunities. All that's left is to discover the good genes were there all along, just waiting for their chance to be used.

You were giving me hope.... until that last part, I'm screwed.

[3whack]

Re: Trying to Make the Tour

What is it about golf that causes so many people to delude themselves into believing that all that it takes is time and money to make it on tour?

Let's put this into perspective.

There are thousands of kids playing US college golf. All of whom are unbelievably good. Yet, no more than a handful of THEM will make it on tour.

Or think about all of the guys who have local course records, say with a 62, yet you have never heard their name before?

And why don't people ask this about other sports?

"I'm 30 years old, just started to skate/throw a football/play basketball, and I am wondering what kind of time and money it would take for me to make it to the NHL/NFL/NBA?"

[bogey5]

Re: Trying to Make the Tour

Hey all, I was daydreaming at work about golf again and had one of those half-baked ideas: "what if I took a year off work, remortgaged my house and took all that cash to invest into my playing." Obviously that's an absurd idea given that I'm 30 years old already and just started golfing in earnest 2 years ago, still never breaking 90. But I thought I'd pose the question here. How much time/money do you think it would take for a later-in-life golfer to be good enough to make money playing golf? I mean, having the money and time to work on your game every day with the best teachers money could buy. Weigh in Nuts.

Start breaking 90 and then play with people that can't break 100

[TourIQ]

Re: Trying to Make the Tour

Hey, he started an interesting conversation..... More than you or especially I can claim!

Stupid must be interesting to the simple minded, not that there is anything wrong with that. At least I broke 80 once, he hasn't even sniffed at breaking 90.

[TourIQ]

Re: Trying to Make the Tour

He could offer to buy the beer at least.

Then we will cut him some slack and pretend we care.

[ace in the hazard]

Re: Trying to Make the Tour

What is it about golf that causes so many people to delude themselves into believing that all that it takes is time and money to make it on tour?

Let's put this into perspective.

There are thousands of kids playing US college golf. All of whom are unbelievably good. Yet, no more than a handful of THEM will make it on tour.

Or think about all of the guys who have local course records, say with a 62, yet you have never heard their name before?

And why don't people ask this about other sports?

"I'm 30 years old, just started to skate/throw a football/play basketball, and I am wondering what kind of time and money it would take for me to make it to the NHL/NFL/NBA?"

Because most people on this forum don't look like Gronkowski or Lebron. There are many who look like Jon Daly.

Golf isn't a sport that requires the obvious athletic attributes that most humans lack. Sure there are fine motor control aspects, balance, timing, and ability to groove a swing into muscle memory, but you don't have to look like an athlete to play it at the highest level.

[Ignatius Reilly]

Re: Trying to Make the Tour

Stupid must be interesting to the simple minded, not that there is anything wrong with that. At least I broke 80 once, he hasn't even sniffed at breaking 90.

Someone woke up on the wrong side of the crib.

No need to be harsh. Like many threads it is interesting to some of us - but then again we aren't still misunderstanding it....

[P25]

Re: Trying to Make the Tour

Someone woke up on the wrong side of the crib.

No need to be harsh. Like many threads it is interesting to some of us - but then again we aren't still misunderstanding it....

Apparently TourIQ was handcuffed and forced to open this thread to read and comment on it.

[hogannut]

Re: Trying to Make the Tour

Hey all, I was daydreaming at work about golf again and had one of those half-baked ideas: "what if I took a year off work, remortgaged my house and took all that cash to invest into my playing." Obviously that's an absurd idea given that I'm 30 years old already and just started golfing in earnest 2 years ago, still never breaking 90. But I thought I'd pose the question here. How much time/money do you think it would take for a later-in-life golfer to be good enough to make money playing golf? I mean, having the money and time to work on your game every day with the best teachers money could buy. Weigh in Nuts.

As someone who chased the dream for essentially 2 decades I totally get where you are coming from. At my best I was playing around a 1 handicap which I achieved in my early to mid 40's. I was single and was able to work on my game and follow a training regiment on my off hours. I played locally in GAO events and Great Lakes as well, with little success.

If you take the best local amateur and pro players in southern Ontario they can routinely shoot par or better on demanding golf courses. My advice would be to go to one of these events, like the Ontario Open or even an amateur event in the lowest handicap group and watch them and honestly ask yourself if you could play with these guys with the understanding that essentially none of them are good enough to play on high end mini tours against players from the States who live in areas where the can play all year long.

It's one thing to shoot par on your local course that you are familiar with maybe with friends or people you feel comfortable with while you go home and sleep in your bed, eat your favourite foods etc. It's a completely different kettle of fish when you are living out of your car driving from city to city with the pressure of making enough to go to the next town and do it again. Keeping in mind that shooting par even on mini tours makes you $0. You have to be able to shoot in the 60's essentially everyday on golf courses you don't know on all kinds of different grasses etc. in order to barely squeak out a living.

I heard a perfect analogy to this scenario a few years back. There was a guy who was a very good junior player. Got a US scholarship, played with guys who made it etc. He ended going to work and was successful and was able to keep playing during his career. At 45 he went to his home course and presented his idea to the club pro. He said now that he had retired early he wanted to take the next 5 years and work on his game and try to make the seniors tour.

The pro didn't pass judgement on him and said there was a guy who was playing this afternoon that was also working towards getting ready for the senior tour and his suggestion was he could arrange for him to play 9 holes with him and he could see how his game matched up. Of course he took him up on his offer.

He shows up to the tee and standing there is a late 40's Tom Kite. He goes out and plays the 9 holes and comes back afterwards with the knowledge that he simply wasn't good enough. Not shameful just living in reality.

At 30 you are entering your prime as a golfer. With your scoring right now you aren't even able to meet the requirements of trying to qualify for GAO events. What I came to realize by the time I was in my late 40's was it is impossible to improve at a level needed to play competitively by doing it part time. I now play for my own enjoyment and may this year play in some local amateur stuff as I still yearn for the competition. I am currently playing off of about a 7. If you ever wanted to play and pick my so called brain I would love to walk 4 miles with you because I always admire and respect peoples love of the game and the competition.

[goshawk]

Re: Trying to Make the Tour

Great post Hogannut. I too had aspirations of maybe trying to get my game to the point that I could get into contention for a spot on the Senior Tour. Years ago, when I was able to spend every single day either on the range or on the course (and prior to two back surgeries), I had managed to work my way down to an honest 1.42 handicap. I was feeling good about my game, especially my short game, and came up with this quest to go competitive.
One day while playing in Texas, I was playing at Redstone (where the Houston Open was to be played in 10 days). I was paired with 3 other guys, two of whom were playing a practice round before the tournament. Both of these guys were coming toward the end of their careers on the big tour. They were a bit apprehensive being paired with two amateurs, but after the first hole they saw that we knew our way around the course and were decent players so they settled into their routines and paid us little attention.
After watching these two guys play and paying particular attention to their swings (I was still an instructor at the time), I knew right there that my aspirations were not well founded. I didn't have the physical gifts that they had, and my mental "toughness" was really lacking. I played a respectable round, shooting 75 on a totally unfamiliar and very difficult course, but I wasn't even close to these two gentlemen. Dream over.....time to wake up.
If someone has the dream of getting onto a competitive tour, I would never tell them not to even try. But I would tell them to be brutally honest with themselves about their expectations for success. Shooting par or better on a regular basis is good, but can you do it on a regular basis on an unfamiliar course under professional conditions (lightning fast firm greens, deeeeeep rough, not to mention dozens of other golfers who are competing for that same paycheque. Playing with those two guys was a real eye-opener.

BTW, neither of them made the cut.

[ponzibynature]

Re: Trying to Make the Tour

Because most people on this forum don't look like Gronkowski or Lebron. There are many who look like Jon Daly.

Golf isn't a sport that requires the obvious athletic attributes that most humans lack. Sure there are fine motor control aspects, balance, timing, and ability to groove a swing into muscle memory, but you don't have to look like an athlete to play it at the highest level.

Golf has got to be the ultimate equalizer game/sport you can find on this planet.

Rory McIlroy can drive the ball just as long as DJ, name me another sport where a 5'-10" playa can match the level of big air as a 6'5" athlete?

[Arthur Dailey]

Re: Trying to Make the Tour

Hey all, I was daydreaming at work about golf again and had one of those half-baked ideas: "what if I took a year off work, remortgaged my house and took all that cash to invest into my playing." Obviously that's an absurd idea given that I'm 30 years old already and just started golfing in earnest 2 years ago, still never breaking 90. But I thought I'd pose the question here. How much time/money do you think it would take for a later-in-life golfer to be good enough to make money playing golf? I mean, having the money and time to work on your game every day with the best teachers money could buy. Weigh in Nuts.

A well known club pro in Ontario, used to play often with my brother.

The story he told was this he did not even try golf until the summer after his first year of university. Went out to play with some friends, caught the bug and discovered he had a talent for it.

So instead of going back to school, used his tuition/expense money to go south and practice/play daily for that year and ended up earning his teaching pro card/credentials.

[miles]

Re: Trying to Make the Tour

All that's left is to discover the good genes were there all along, just waiting for their chance to be used.

My father really had time to golf after he retired and was discovered by his local pro and invited to a pro-am tournament that he won by shooting under par in the 60's every round in the tournament (three years after he retired he was 61 years old, had a handicap of 3 at the time I think).
He then went on to become a senior pro in the western Canadian area. He did not win too many times only a few times during his senior pro competition days, but he did have several hole in one's in that time. He did it for fun, and had to give up golf about 5 years before he passed away, it was very had for him to quit the love he had for the game (he started me with the interest in golf when I was 14 years old, buying me a junior membership)

[johnny canuck]

Re: Trying to Make the Tour

Hey all, I was daydreaming at work about golf again and had one of those half-baked ideas: "what if I took a year off work, remortgaged my house and took all that cash to invest into my playing." Obviously that's an absurd idea given that I'm 30 years old already and just started golfing in earnest 2 years ago, still never breaking 90. But I thought I'd pose the question here. How much time/money do you think it would take for a later-in-life golfer to be good enough to make money playing golf? I mean, having the money and time to work on your game every day with the best teachers money could buy. Weigh in Nuts.

You are not the first one to have this idea.

I read this book a few years back and found it very entertaining. This guy had the ability, your dreams and aspirations, and even a few connections.

I hope I'm not breaking any forum rules by posting this link; purely for reference purposes only.

I do recommend this book as a fun read:

https://www.amazon.com/Paper-Tiger-Obsessed-Golfers-Quest/dp/1592402992