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taking a huge leap of faith re Golf dream


freddy
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I'm brand new to the forum and am sure that many people have posted something similar to this but I feel that I'm in a unique situation and want people's thoughts.

I am currently a 26 year old lawyer, but have stumbled upon an opportunity to attempt to devote myself full time to golf for a period of several years in order to try to play professionally.

I took up the game at 10, teaching myself to play by reading Golf magazine and broke par on a 6200 yard course when I was 14. However, I was a nationally ranked tennis player and devoted my efforts to that, eventually gaining a scholarship to play D1 tennis. Throughout this time I played golf very sparingly - I would guess that I have averaged 10 rounds a year over the last ten years. I haven't practiced since I was 14.

I burned out playing tennis, as I never really loved the sport, but have always loved my time on the golf course. Although I play so sparingly, I would guess that I play to about a 1 handicap. My game has actually steadily improved as I have gotten older. At my parent's country club that was ranked one of the most difficult courses in the country by Golf Digest, I routinely shoot 73, 74, and 75. Recently, US open qualifying was held there and the winner who qualified for the open finished with a 2 day score of -2.

Without getting into specifics, I am now in a position that I can take several years to work only on my golf game - I would not have any other job. If I don't think I have what it takes after a few years, I have connections to fall back on.

Sorry for the extremely long post, but based on this limited amount of information, is what I am doing completely and utterly foolish? I realize the almost impossible odds of becoming a professional golfer when I am already 26, but I feel that I have such a unique knack for the game given my utter lack of practice that I should give it a try.

What say you all?
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Wow man...sounds like you have a lot of natural talent. You only live once so live your dream to the fullest I say. Life is not about money it's about truly being happy. Good luck with whatever you choose!

Driver.... Nickent DX Evolver V2 65 stiff /07 Burner YS6+ stiff .
4 wood..... Nickent 4DX
Hybrids.....Tour Edge Geomax 22* 25* 28*
Irons.....TM R7 6-P + AW,SW,LW
Putter.....Odyssey White Hot XG 2 BallBag.......Callaway ORG 14 A.L.I.C.E. Ball........Bridgestone e6 / Srixon Soft Feel...

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Plenty of people reading your post and shaking their head. But I say why not? Go for it and enjoy the journey. Having to fall back to being a lawyer, worse things in life.

CARBITE Putter

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No one says you have to start when your young to play professionally. Keep u p the good work and go for it.

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

That is amazing. If you go for it GOOD LUCK, and best wishes...

... However, not to be the guy to bring the bad news, but I know multiple people who are +3 handicaps, and they are still sttuck on the mini-tours, trying to get on the Nationwide Tour. It is very competitive out there, and unless you can truly go around most course at 67 or 68, your chances are really slim.

My only point is do what you want, if it is your dream then so be it, but don't "throw away" what you have on dreams of making it with a 2 handicap.

Good luck in whatever decision you make!




Quick edit: Someone on this forum said it best IMO: In its most simple form, to go pro, you must be able to go to 10 courses you have never played ( tough courses ) and shoot in the 60's to make it on tour. Just keep that in mind when making your decision.

:cleveland:         Classic 10.5° w/ Miyazaki C.Kua Limited X-Stiff
:cleveland:         Launcher FL 3 Wood 17° w/ Miyazaki C. Kua Stiff
:cleveland:         Mashie 3H 20.5° w/ Miyazaki C. Kua Stiff
:mizuno:   MP-57 4 - PW w/ Dynamic Gold S300
:cleveland:         588 - 52° 56° 60°
:scotty_cameron:          Studio Newport 2
:srixon:              Z-Star Tour Yellow 

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You're youngish and seemingly unattached, you have your education out of the way and you are already in a stable job that you can apparently go back to. If it's your dream, you have this mysterious opportunity to do nothing but work on golf for a few years without hurting yourself too badly career-wise, and you either won't be hurting your family or don't have one, then it doesn't seem like a huge leap of faith. It seems like kind of a no-brainer. Now is probably the best time to do this.

In the blue Colts bag:

Driver - FT-5 10°
Hybrids - 4DX 15.5°, 20°
Irons/Wedges - CI-7 4-GW, SW | "Free" Warrior 60° LWPutter - TiffanyBalls - various

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If I were in your shoes, I would set out a plan, not just take time to see if it happens. You are a 1 HC right now. I agree with the above posts about how good you must be to play professionally. Give yourself 6 months to reach a goal, say a +1.5 or +2 HC. I know that seems like some quick improvement, but you probably need to be taking one stroke off your HC every 4-6 months if you have any hope of going pro, at least initially. And, take into account that the more you improve, the more difficult it will be to get better. So if it takes X amount of time to get down to a +2, it will probably take you 2-3X to get down to a +4. Time is not on your side. If you don't meet your 6-month and one-year goals, I would recommend that you return to practicing law and try your best to excel on the amateur circuit.

Driver: Burner 10.5 deg
5W: R7 18 deg
3H: Idea Tech
4-PW: MP-57
GW: Vokey 52 degSW: 56 degLW: 60 degPutter: Black Series 1 34"Ball: Pro V1

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Plenty of people reading your post and shaking their head. But I say why not? Go for it and enjoy the journey. Having to fall back to being a lawyer, worse things in life.

first, I will admit my jealousy. The fact that you have a law degree and enough money set aside to quit and focus on golf full time is awesome, I wish you the best of luck.

I will suggest you go out and read Paper Tiger by Tim Coyne. It is an excellent book, he was a person who started at a 16 handicap and devoted his life to it, and wrote a book about it when he was done. It really will open your eyes to what all is involved. http://www.tomcoyne.com/Partners.html

In my bag:

some golf clubs

a few golf balls

a bag of tee's some already broken the rest soon to be

a snickers wrapper (if you have seen me play, you would know you are not going anywhere for a while)

and an empty bottle of water

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Here's my opinion and advice or a suggestion, ultimately the decision is up to you, so call me your uncle and put me in your Will and read on ... ;)

First, sit down and wrtie out your Cumulae Vitae (sp?) or Resume but do it from a two/three year ahead perspective, but write it now with your recent career experiences still fresh in your mind. Write it in such a way that you could present it to the Partners of some big Firm if you do come back to the profession. Keep in mind who your audience will be a few years from now. Write it as if you are taking a Sabattical (sp?) to refocus your mind and investigate or research new legal opportunities while at the same time taking time to dedicate effort to your golf game to see if you could make the Pro Tour without making that a major distraction to your now current career. If you tried to qualify for the Pro Tour while maintaining your current workload your work would suffer and ethically (yes, I said ethically) you would not want to jeopardize your current career with outside distractions. Pro Golf is a full time endeavor, as is a Law Practice.

Hopefully preparing this now will make you the envy of the Law Partners in a few years. I can see you being introduced as the guy who took a shot and was smart and conscentious (sp?) enough to know to take a sabatical from law while doing so. I can also see you becoming the firms secret weapon in many inter-firm golf wagers.

And if you do make it on the tour you can probably parlay that into a little legal side work.

I'll get you started:

"In 2010 I decided to take a short sabatical from the legal profession after achieving some significant level of success within the legal profession. I decided to do some field research in professional sports and chose to use golf as my avenue of approach since I was also fairly accomplished as a golfer. ...."

Edit as necessary and correct grammer and spelling as needed. I wish you good luck and good success however it all turns out.

Taylormade M2 driver @ 9.5*+2

TM M6 D-type 3wood 16*, 
TM M2 Rescue 3H@19* and 4H@22* ,
TM RocketBladez irons 5-9,PW,AW, SW(23*,26.5*,30.5*,35*,40*,45*,50*,55*),
TM Hi-Toe 60* wedge,
Ping Karsten 1959 Craz-E, or a Scotty
Bushnell Tour V3 rangefinder

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That is amazing. If you go for it GOOD LUCK, and best wishes...

Good point here at the end, BUT sounds like he's not taking into consideration that you've barely been playing for the past 10 years, so with treating it as a full time gig, your handicap should drop quite a bit to where you ARE shooting in the upper 60's I would think. GO FOR IT!

|Callaway X460 draw-biased Driver|Taylormade Burner 3W|Adams Golf Idea A7 19° Hybrid|Adams Golf Idea Pro Gold 23° hybrid|King Cobra Baffler 29° hybrid|Taylormade Burner 6i|Adams Idea Tech A4OS 7i|Mizuno MP32 8i|Pro Select Blaze II 9i|Callaway Golf Forged Chrome 48° PW|Oncourse Target Series...

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Go for it! Somebody has to fill those spots on the tour, it might as well be you. One thing that concerns me is that you're asking a bunch of strangers whether you should do it or not. I would think an endeavor like this would have to be a drive, a mission, a focused goal, and the opinions of a bunch golfers on the internet should be irrelevant to you.

Whoever came up with the saying, "A bad day of golf is better than a good day at work", is a moron.

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Agreed on it having to be a mission that consumes my life. I suppose my real question is whether my natural ability as evidenced by scratch play without practice gives me a shot at making it given my competition: accomplished college and foreign players who have been winning in competitive settings their entire lives.
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So, you have financial backing to supplement your current occupation, correct? What about the additional costs for greens fees, tournament entries, travel, swing coach(s), equipment, etc…?

Your chances are slim to none that you will ever make a dime playing professionally………but, to quote the classic Dumb and Dumber:

Lloyd : What do you think the chances are of a guy like you and a girl like me... ending up together?
Mary : Well, Lloyd, that's difficult to say. I mean, we don't really...
Lloyd : Hit me with it! Just give it to me straight! I came a long way just to see you, Mary. The least you can do is level with me. What are my chances?
Mary : Not good.
Lloyd : You mean, not good like one out of a hundred?
Mary : I'd say more like one out of a million.
[pause]
Lloyd : So you're telling me there's a chance... *YEAH!*



So what do you have to lose (except 3 years in corporate America and a jumpstart on retirement and possibly a job being available to a 29 yr old lawyer with no experience)?

Callaway X-Hot Tour GD Tour AD DI-7 Sonartec SS-3.5 16* FTP-X Adams Idea Super S 19* Matrix Kujoh
Bridgestone J33B DG X100 Mizuno MP 53*6 Mizuno MP 56*10 WRX Sq. Gr. GTO Ported
Mizuno MP 60*6 WRX Sq. Gr. GTO Ported Odyssey White Hot Tour #5 Callaway Tourix

GHIN: 10436305

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Man, look at it this way, if you try and can't make it as a pro but the "fall back" plan is truly secure, what's the worst that can happen, you walk into a room after going back into law and a guy looks down at ya and says, "Hmmp, that guy tried to play pro golf for a few years!" Yeah, most will think wow, he gave it a shot. I think the key here is you ALREADY have your law degree. If this was pre-college, most wil tell ya you're crazy. Given the limited information, I'd say you'd be crazy not to do it. As a final vote of conficence. Go find the BEST pro teacher within 100 miles of ya and set up a lesson. While there, give him the run down and just see what a more educated opinion is!!

In my Nike SasQuatch Staff Bag:
Driver: Callaway FT-IQ 9.5 Stiff
Irons: Ping G5 4-P
Wedges: Vokey Spin Milled 56*, Cleveland bent to 49*
Putter: Scotty Cameron California Monterey
Ball: Srizon Z-Star Yellow
Range: SkyCaddie 2.5

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I have financial backing and a job (fiance's family connections) waiting for me if I fail. I completely understand for an ordinary person it is less than a one in a million chance. But don't you think that it is one out of a million that can play scratch golf without practice?
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Agreed on it having to be a mission that consumes my life. I suppose my real question is whether my natural ability as evidenced by scratch play without practice gives me a shot at making it given my competition: accomplished college and foreign players who have been winning in competitive settings their entire lives.

I hear ya. Like my boss used to say, "you can't polish a turd". So, that fact that you're a scratch from the get-go is a good sign. But I think there are a lot of very good athletes involved in the golf biz that are working the trenches, teaching or working in the clubhouse, so that by itself is not the determining factor.

Ian Poulter is an example. At one time he was a assistant pro and shop manager. Look at him now. The fact he was pumping hacks through the course and now he's a champ and contending for majors speaks a lot to the amount of talent that's out there. So, to answer your question, no, it's not just natural ability. IMO, it's also just as important to have the mental part and some luck. But again, I'm just some schmuck sitting at a computer waiting for the sun to come out so I can go pound balls, so what the hell do I know. Like I said, it has to be someone, why not you .

Whoever came up with the saying, "A bad day of golf is better than a good day at work", is a moron.

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But don't you think that it is one out of a million that can play scratch golf without practice?

No. I think it is very unusual, but there are folks like yourself with natural athletic talent that can learn how to make a nice golf swing and have the confidence to make pretty good shots when necessary w/o seizing up (again, natural athletic talent). Couple that with good course management and you have a scratch golfer.

That is still a world away from the kind of play at the pro level.

Driver: Burner 10.5 deg
5W: R7 18 deg
3H: Idea Tech
4-PW: MP-57
GW: Vokey 52 degSW: 56 degLW: 60 degPutter: Black Series 1 34"Ball: Pro V1

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