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Should I Take Golf Seriously?


Playwhereitlies
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Compete as an amateur.  If you stand out enough to consider going pro, there won't be any question.  

If you end up hating the grind and work that goes into being a top amateur, you'll know that you'd hate the life of a touring pro that much more. 

Who knows how good you can be?  Look at Larry Nelson, didn't start until he was 21. Several guys who had a nice career (though short) on the Champions Tour took up the game late in life and discovered an unnatural talent. 

No harm in finding out, but just do the next thing and don't get too caught up in hitting goals.  If you have to work that hard at it, you probably don't have the innate God-given gift that 1 in a million seem to get (and discover).

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Yes, take it seriously. Be as good as you can be. Has nothing to do with money.

Stress of expectations can reduce years of your life but so can regret.

Pick your poison.. 😊

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Vishal S.

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I am going to put out the other side..Sort of.

If you wonder if you could play top amature or pro give it a real run. Sit down with your family and figure out what time, money and goals you have. Then list the opportunity cost of doing this. WHat would it do to family, kids, and your career. If you are still curious give it a time frame and take a run at it.

You rarely if ever regret a dream you chased.

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be very careful about whom you take advice from, especially amateur golfer internet strangers. a lot of people tend to project their own life experiences and expectations on others, even if they don't correlate. ultimately you will probably have to look within yourself to find the right answer. 

separately, here's a guy who's famously said, "this ain't no hobby!" yet still manages to have fun with (drinking) buds on and off the course. enjoy!

 

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I'm going to see if I can become a decent amateur golfer and compete in Mid-Ams. The workload really doesn't scare me as I've worked hard my entire life. Current schedule right now is: 

4:30am: Wake up

5am - 6am: Explosive Workout/High intensity cardio

6:30am - 5pm: Work

5:30pm - 7pm: Practice

7 - 9pm: Family time then repeat all over again

So I'll see if I can become a scratch golfer by this time next year and see if I can qualify for the US Mid-Am Championship. If I do and I perform relatively well, Ill think about putting in more work but that schedule isn't really a lot of work load for myself. I can push myself much harder because I realize that you can negotiate with your future self if you give your future self what they are asking for today such as put in the work and ignore all the bullsh*t. It's not like I'm heavily relying on all of your opinions but it is nice to look at the situation with transparency. 

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1 hour ago, bkuehn1952 said:

Family time?  You never mentioned a spouse or kids.  They are okay with that schedule?

No wife or kids yet but I live with my girlfriend/soon to be fiance and yea she doesn't really mind the schedule at all. She respects that it's a tough schedule to stay consistent with and she's up with me every morning putting in the work as well. I also did not mention that my current job has a little bit more freedom than normal jobs as I was lucky enough to get a management position with a smaller company. I worked 3 years in a corporate setting as an ag commodities trader in various locations like NYC, St Louis, Omaha, and Seattle with very limited freedom and a lot of high stress hours and golf was only seasonal but now that golf is year round in Southern California I'm able to devote more time to it. 

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Try not to lose that enjoyment.

A guy I occasionally golf with shoots low/mid 70's and thought he'd try his hand at Monday qualifiers for Mackenzie tour spots. Managed to get a corporate sponsor for travel etc. Played four Mondays, never broke par.72-74

The number ten guy was always -4.

He just wanted to see what that world was all about.

He is now playing with his buds, drinking a few beers and shooting low 70's and having fun. 

 

 

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Let me put it to you like this.  There is a school of thought that says you need to spend approximately 10,000 hours on practice before you are good enough to turn pro and make a decent living from it.  Of course, this is a rule of thumb and can vary according to natural talent.

So, consider it this way.  If you want to work and then train, you need a lot longer before golf as a career becomes practical.  If you focus on it full time, can you afford to do that.

Is golf as a career worth it, I say yes.  But it of course requires you to be willing to put in the hours and going through the grind, because you will struggle for a while, even after you decide to turn pro, on working your way up to tournaments that pay enough money for a good life.

Good luck with your decision

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One step at a time.get to scratch or a plus handicap first. Win some amateur comps. Then win some elite amateur events. Then maybe turn pro.

  Greg Norman played his first game of golf at 15. 18 months later he was a scratch golfer. Turned pro at 21 and won the first competition he entered.

He was world number one for a while mind...

Stevie T

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On 4/8/2019 at 12:55 PM, Playwhereitlies said:

Hey everyone, first post here, I am trying to seek advice on whether I should actually give golf a serious try. I'm 5'11 195lbs, 25 years old and played baseball my entire life. I began working on my golf game about 9 months ago, took a 2 month break in between that time, and have seen my handicap drop from 25+ (high 90s/low 100s) to 7.5 as of recent. I play about 45 holes a week, my club head speed is about 118-122mph and I usually care my driver consistently 288-297. I started working on my short game pretty heavily and now getting up and down is normal, putting still needs a lot of work. I've always been a pretty high caliber athlete as I've played against/with some of the best baseball players of my age. I've always been around golf my entire life but never had any lessons and the only teachings that I've received are from numerous golf social media accounts. It wasn't until 9 months ago I bought some custom fitted irons/driver/woods. I graduated from a top tier university and have an amazing job right now and consider myself at least somewhat successful for my age. I think pretty much every round of golf I play its just with me and a couple other of my buddies but we aren't ever playing serious and are always drinking. I played in my first tournament about 2 months ago and got runner up in my flight which consisted of 10-15 handicap players. My question is, should I cut all the dumb stuff and start taking the game seriously since I found a flash of talent or continue to enjoy it? I have always been a highly competitive person, and pretty disciplined, so what should I do, what are your opinions?

Seems like a passive brag post to me😁

You are already taking the game seriously...playing 45 holes per week, plus practice time plus spending money to get custom fitted clubs.

Seems like you have already answered you own question that you want to improve your game and play in some higher ranked Am events.

I don't consider play with your friends "dumb" stuff....I assume playing golf with your friends is fun....just separate that time vs. improving your game which is obviously a goal of yours.

If your question is taking your game to play professionally on tour...IMO as a 7.5 cap at 25 years old with a FT job...the odds are against you to make money playing competitively.

Oh ya...as a 7.5 cap...why are you playing in the 10-15 cap division?

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43 minutes ago, Mr22putt said:

If your question is taking your game to play professionally on tour...IMO as a 7.5 cap at 25 years old with a FT job...the odds are against you to make money playing competitively.

I’m sure that’s not even close to a thought of his. And a 7.5 hcp at age 25 with all the time in the world would have no chance of making the PGA Tour. Zero. But he’s off to a better start than most in being a good club player and even win some local tournaments. 

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My opinion, first decide how good you want to be, then be serious about getting there. Once you get there, enjoy it.

In my case, I was "serious" about learning to shoot low 90's. Now that I'm there, I play to relax and have fun. I have no interest in shooting 80's. 

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8 minutes ago, arturo28mx said:

My opinion, first decide how good you want to be, then be serious about getting there. Once you get there, enjoy it.

In my case, I was "serious" about learning to shoot low 90's. Now that I'm there, I play to relax and have fun. I have no interest in shooting 80's. 

I’m just curious, why is shooting in the 80’s not fun and relaxing but the low 90’s is?

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1 hour ago, arturo28mx said:

My opinion, first decide how good you want to be, then be serious about getting there. Once you get there, enjoy it.

In my case, I was "serious" about learning to shoot low 90's. Now that I'm there, I play to relax and have fun. I have no interest in shooting 80's. 

Like Vinsk, I’m confused about this. At no time have I not strived to be as good as possible at whatever I do. Being as good as possible might be 90. But it dang sure wouldn’t mean I’m not trying to birdie every hole.

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I think that unless golf is your job and your livelihood depends on you playing well then you shouldn't take it too seriously.

After all, golf was created to be a way to unwind and have fun.

I used to play golf witha a lad about 4 years ago and we would play most weekends. He was too serious in his golf, he didn't just want to win, he wanted to as he put it "destroy his opponents". Dont' get me wrong, he was good but he was such a bad loser.

I beat him once in 4 years and that was the last time we played.

 

Russ, from "sunny" Yorkshire = :-( 

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17 hours ago, Mr22putt said:

Seems like a passive brag post to me😁

You are already taking the game seriously...playing 45 holes per week, plus practice time plus spending money to get custom fitted clubs.

Seems like you have already answered you own question that you want to improve your game and play in some higher ranked Am events.

I don't consider play with your friends "dumb" stuff....I assume playing golf with your friends is fun....just separate that time vs. improving your game which is obviously a goal of yours.

If your question is taking your game to play professionally on tour...IMO as a 7.5 cap at 25 years old with a FT job...the odds are against you to make money playing competitively.

Oh ya...as a 7.5 cap...why are you playing in the 10-15 cap division?

Hahaha yea when I was writing it I definitely could see it coming off arrogant but took the shot anyways. But just for clarification it was not meant to be arrogant, bragging just didn’t wanna leave anything out. At the time I played the tournament I was about a 16 handicap but yea I’m not trying to go in Tour just testing the waters really. Goal is to be a scratch golfer by the end of the year. Completely new to this forum/golf so forgive me if I came off like a dueche, wasn’t my intention. 

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