College or Q-School?

[DBeane]

If you have the money, time, and game, Q-school. The main thing you want to avoid is ending up a club pro that gives lessons to support entry fees for Adams Tight Lies events that are close to where you live.

Your either a touring pro, or your not. I am not one of those people that thinks a professional grade game is some "secret" that is impossible to attain. However, I would make sure I was good enough and had placed or won some major amatuer events before I started thinking I could tee it up regularly with Jim Furyk.

The majority of your big gun touring pros have got a college logo on their bag. There are a few that went around it, but they are certainly the exception.

By the way, the kid that just won the Junior Am, carries a +5.5 handicap and the majority of those scores are tournament play.

Good luck with your decision,
-Beane

[Mathlete1123]

If you don't make it through Q School can you still play in college? If yes, then I'd go for Q school. If trying Q school would make you ineligible for college golf I'd say go to college first and get some more high level tournament experience.

[Shindig]

If you don't make it through Q School can you still play in college? If yes, then I'd go for Q school. If trying Q school would make you ineligible for college golf I'd say go to college first and get some more high level tournament experience.

I believe you can play in Q-School as an amateur, choosing to maybe drop amateur status once you know how you finished. Of course, if you do so and finish in the money (top finishers get some cash, as well as a tour card), you probably can't claim the cash.

[2bGood]

Try to go po if you have the game and then doube back for school if it does not work out>

[Chief Broom]

I vote for college (and skipping the year off in Fla playing golf for a year). If you've got a golf scholarship you need to take it while they're offering it. With it you get a guaranteed return (tuition or partial tuition), plus you'll get to work on your game under ideal conditions: expert coaching, long hours per week devoted to practice, playing regularly in tournaments against top notch competition (that incidentally costs you nothing in entry fees). The way I see it college is a win win situation for you right now. You get the best of both worlds (working and advancing your game), but with a guaranteed pay off (scholarship). The alternative would be going to Q school after a year in Fla working on your game. Going that route would only cost you money while losing that year toward graduation. I don't see attending college in their golf program hurting your game. That would be the only reason I see in moving forward with Q school now.

[denver_nuggs_15]

A degree is like a passport. You can't go anywhere with it but there is lots of places you can't go without it.

Very true. I've been in college for 3 weeks and I've learned so much more than what's in the books. So far, it's been a valuable experience. And everyone I talk to who's gone to college says the same thing...they love it.

I think college is the way to go. I assume your school is D1. Play in some tournaments and make a name for yourself. Play in major amateur events. Just keep your amateur status. If you go pro right now (or in the near future), you can't play college golf for x years after. Going back to college would be so much more expensive (I assume you got a golf scholarship, too). Think of what Tiger did. Went to college for a while, won some tourneys, won the U.S. Amateur and then went pro after playing in some pro events as an amateur. He made a name for himself, and by keeping his amateur status, got to play college golf and practice for free.

[NativeTxn]

This is in no way meant to sound derogatory or negative, but I played soccer my whole life and in college, and I have an idea of how college sports recruiting works.

So, if you are truly a +3.6, am I crazy to think that some of the better D-I schools should and would have been offering you scholarships?

Not to take anything away from Arkansas Tech, but it's a D-II school, which means there are plenty of other D-I schools that can also offer scholarships and would be a higher level of play and competition than Arkansas Tech.

Furthermore, the D-I schools have the resources to find the top players in the country and the world.

Maybe you were offered scholarships from some of these D-I schools and chose Tech for various reasons, but it just seems to me that if you are good enough to make the pro tour, you'd be asking us whether you should go to Oklahoma State (or one of the other top D-I schools) to play golf, or go to Q-School.

Again, this post is not meant to offend, just more about my curiosity.

That being said, I'd say go to college. As Denver_nuggs said, you'll get to practice for free, and you'll still be in situations that are more similar to a pro tour (i.e. tournaments) than if you just go hang out in Florida for a year to play and practice. Unless, of course, you mean that you are going to go play for the University of Florida for a year! ;)

In any event, I don't think you'd be set back from trying Q-School by attending college for at least a year or two, and it would probably only help your game, even if it isn't a D-I school.

[DJYoshi]

I definitely say college. I didn't need college for my field in music... A degree doesn't define me as a DJ/entertainer... but having that degree hanging on my wall is more important to me than any platinum plaque that I've been given... or any accolade that makes me who I am in entertainment... at the end of the day.. entertainment is the way I make a living...but the degree is an important part of my life... b/c if things don't go well?? I have the degrees to fall back on.
and why not play in college? Do it for the experience...do it for the challenge and do college and ENJOY IT! I worked my way thru college. I was always booked, away, busy and didn't truly get to enjoy the college life... now that I have to be there to do football games and special events.... I'm kind of mad at myself that I didn't fully take advantage of the following
college life - meeting people
time and ability to discover what you truly love and who you are
and just the life of being a kid... b/c even though at 18 you're old enough to be an adult, vote, go to clubs and smoke.... you're still young... impressionable and don't know who you really are...

[Dr_Fu_Manchu]

Q-School

The above is more of an exception then a rule. Rarely do you find a HS education out preforming a college education.

Anyway, I am not sure why your asking a forum full of people who know nothing about you what you should do with your future, but since you did, I'll chime in. College for at least a couple of years. Look at Anthony Kim, he wanted to go straight of Q-school, his mom begged him to go to college and he says it was the best decision he ever made.

[enduro]

Really, college is the best bet. It isn't like you're there forever and you can quit at any time if your game really takes off.

Palmer went to school. Woods went to school. It's a great place to hone your game and meet people.

[Pat007]

you can learn how to score and grind in college tournaments as well as learning how to win. Q-school won't teach you that. I've had many friends over the years (being a CPGA pro) who have played on the Canadian Tour and had a hard time performing. You can go for years of playing well and not winning a single tournament and having to re-qualify for your card, which does nothing to help your confidence. Think about it, college will be 2-3 years of valuable experience gained.

Take it for what it's worth. Only you can decide for yourself.

[WUTiger]

I'm a college professor when I'm not playing golf, and I would advise you to go to college. Definitely go if you can get a scholarship.

Besides an education, of course, the college matches will provide you "competitor intelligence" on other players you will face in Q-school or the pro tour.

You'll have a social network of the campus and team as you take the next step in competitive golf. Also, the team will take you to different parts of the country, different climates, different turf grasses. And, you wouldn't have to pay for all that travel and green fees yourself.

Also, an education would prepare you for a career in the golf industry, broadly defined...

* Suppose you major in civil engineering, and go to work in the golf course construction business.

* Or, major in psychology and get a handle on your own psyche for pro touranments, and how to teach others to play better golf.

* Or, major in business or management, and be able to handle management and merchandise issues if you become a club pro somewhere. Young club pros tend to crash and burn because they have no business sense, not because they can't up-and-down from 30 feet. (Years before I became a professor, I was a caddie and later a country club bartender - and heard lots of stories about young assistant pros who self-destructed from lack of business sense)

[shades9323]

College girls FTW!

/end thread

[Rob]

Those are great scores,but you`d probably need to be able to do it everytime to compete with the "Big Boy`s". But I wish you the very best! Arkansas needs an ambassador,since Daly seems about done. Go Hogs!