Road to becoming a professional golfer

[TourSpoon]

I am with Shorty on this one (and a few other threads similar in nature).  Why limit it to golf?  It's the same as becoming a pro figure skater, elite gymnast, or even a champion ping pong player.   At some point you have to have some natural aptitude.

Rocco has talent, went to school at FL Southern (as did Lee Jansen) and almost pulled off the US Open.  You guys are really underestimating what it takes to make it.  If hard work alone did it, we would all be quitting our day jobs.

Like I said before, have fun dreaming and enjoy learning this great game.

[clubchamp]

Originally Posted by TourSpoon

I am with Shorty on this one (and a few other threads similar in nature).  Why limit it to golf?  It's the same as becoming a pro figure skater, elite gymnast, or even a champion ping pong player.   At some point you have to have some natural aptitude.

Rocco has talent, went to school at FL Southern (as did Lee Jansen) and almost pulled off the US Open.  You guys are really underestimating what it takes to make it.  If hard work alone did it, we would all be quitting our day jobs.

Like I said before, have fun dreaming and enjoy learning this great game.

I agree that some guys/girls just have natural ability towards certain or multiple sports. I mean there is a lot of athletes that get drafted in 2 sports so obviously they aren't dedicated to just practicing one of them all the time.  Not my favorite example but Greg Paulus the point guard from Duke a few years ago was also a top QB football recruit. I'm not saying you have to have this to play on the tour but it certainly helps a lot.

[poser]

Originally Posted by TourSpoon

I am with Shorty on this one (and a few other threads similar in nature).  Why limit it to golf?  It's the same as becoming a pro figure skater, elite gymnast, or even a champion ping pong player.   At some point you have to have some natural aptitude.

Rocco has talent, went to school at FL Southern (as did Lee Jansen) and almost pulled off the US Open.  You guys are really underestimating what it takes to make it.  If hard work alone did it, we would all be quitting our day jobs.

Like I said before, have fun dreaming and enjoy learning this great game.

Well said I have played golf with tour players and alot of mini tour players.  They are at another level and I don't think people realize how hard it is to really make a living playing golf.  The Egolf tour guys are shooting -21 under and people have to shoot -6 under for 4 days just to make their 1500 back and out of those guys only a very very small percentage will ever make it to the pga tour.   I've meet alot of young college players coming down thinking they can make a living and end up going home broke.  It's not just the talent alot of guys have talent its the money it takes to make it and most won't if they don't have a financial backer.  As a 14 handicap after playing 3 years the harsh truth is you have  0.001 % chance of ever making it on the pga tour.

[JetFan1983]

Originally Posted by poser

As a 14 handicap after playing 3 years the harsh truth is you have  0.001 % chance of ever making it on the pga tour.

So you're tellin' me there's a chance!! YAH!

Originally Posted by TourSpoon

It's the same as becoming a pro figure skater, elite gymnast, or even a champion ping pong player.

It's not that hard to be a champion ping pong player if you hit the gym real hard.

[TourSpoon]

Originally Posted by JetFan1983

So you're tellin' me there's a chance!! YAH!

It's not that hard to be a champion ping pong player if you hit the gym real hard.

And you really have to want it!

[jshots]

This is probably the best advice I could give you haha

[mvmac]

Just listen to this on your ipod while you're hitting balls [VIDEO]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwpN_kGKj_Q[/VIDEO]

[poser]

Originally Posted by JetFan1983

So you're tellin' me there's a chance!! YAH!

It's not that hard to be a champion ping pong player if you hit the gym real hard.

at first I was like LOL then I read the bottom and spit water all over my screen.  Nice

[Pope33]

I think you can do it man! Having a dream and chasing it is an awesome thing. Yes, you know the odds are against you, but you won't really know until you try. Just the same reason I play the Powerball, cause if I don't, I will never know. Hell, I got 2 numbers right last night.......getting closer!!!!

[Travis Robinson]

ha wow thanks guys, lots of good chatter, lots of great insight.  I don't really think any of you are wrong in what you are saying and I really do understand how hard it would be.  I think Bob Rotella said that your local club pro doesn't couldn't hold his own against the mini tour pros, the mini tours couldn't hold their own against the nationwide, and so on.

That percentage is probably pretty accurate, about a 0.01 percent chance or so.  I think the biggest thing here is that you only live once and I'll be kicking myself in 20 years that I wasted my shot at following a dream.

I am motivated and I have the determination to try and why not give it my best shot.

I like the videos that were posted very nice!

And ha when poser said the percentage, I thought of that Dumb n Dumber thing right away and then Jetfan posted that LOLOL.

I played 9 at brightondale in kansasville wi. The front 9 of the White Birch course.  I forget the distances but I played the blues  which have to be around 3700 so it was an average course I'd say.

I don't want to get tangled up in my score that day because it was obviously the smallest sample size and you can't take anything from that because the next day I could(and just might) shoot a 39 or 40.  I was just really geeked about it because just like that, it seems like the practice is making a noticeable and direct effect on the way that I played that day.

The two year goal of getting to par as a previous post suggested.  Now that would be a great goal, I'm thinking more realistically but hell yeah I'd like to shoot for that.  Two November's from now, I'd like to aim to be a scratch player.

As for my goal about saving and moving, that's still in effect.  I do own a house now but I have family and relatives that could then be occupying it.  I figure, if I save money and move to Florida and then 5 years later nothing is happening, I'll have money saved up, I'll have my house waiting for me, I'd have given it a legitimate shot, and that'll be that.

I ordered Paper Tiger, the book really really intrigues me from the description.  I haven't gotten it and I've been so antsy to read it that I bought it on my iPhone too just so I could start reading ha.

I saw another book called Striking it Rich, which i ordered as well, seems really cool.

Again everybody, good, bad, constructive or not, I appreciate all of the input and insight.  Talking with you guys about it really does make it a lot more fun.  I feel very compelled to share my progress.

Take care!

[alexevo91]

why dont you like winter golf?

[The_Pharaoh]

Originally Posted by Travis Robinson

And ha when poser said the percentage, I thought of that Dumb n Dumber thing right away and then Jetfan posted that LOLOL.

For the record, I would just like to make it clear that I was the first one to use that line in another thread (the one on purchasing V1). There is no originality on this website, even the punters are trying to swing the same way!

[TourSpoon]

Paper Tiger is a great read and will give you some good insight into what it takes to really improve to a competitive level.

[JetFan1983]

Originally Posted by The_Pharaoh

Quote:

Originally Posted by Travis Robinson

And ha when poser said the percentage, I thought of that Dumb n Dumber thing right away and then Jetfan posted that LOLOL.

For the record, I would just like to make it clear that I was the first one to use that line in another thread (the one on purchasing V1). There is no originality on this website, even the punters are trying to swing the same way!

LOL! I make plagiarism cool.

[Hairy Feet]

Travis, it is possible that you will achieve your goals but time and tide waits for no man. You don't appear to be putting in the hours required for practice nor putting together a plan that in all honesty will help you achieve your goals. I've played the game for over 40 years now, and been a low single figure h'capper for over 35 years. Having played countless scratch strokeplay and matchplay tournaments, and competed against a number of professionals I can honestly tell you there isn't a magic wand, or special secret, that will get you down to the level you want to be at. Its got to be a huge dose of consistent, focused, hard work. If you get to mid single figures and you competed in a 4 round scratch (amatuer) tournament you'd finish about 40+ shots off the lead.

There's a huge amount of really good advice been posted by many experienced guys on here. First of all you need a good swing coach, then you need to compete at the highest level appropriate for your current ability. Shift your goals as you improve... but talking of goals, you need some short term achievable goals now that will give you a lift as you achieve them. Your long term goal of being a pro isn't a goal, its a dream. Its not a pipe dream, its not unachieveable but you need realistic goals if only to have marker posts for your progress.

My son is a club pro, and a damn fine golfer. I know the level of work he puts in in his game and I know he rarely shots more than 70. His results on the mini tours?? He'd starve within a month if he went full time on the tours. With what you're talking about as a schedule you ain't going to get anywhere near being good enough to starve.

[Travis Robinson]

Hey Hairy,

Thanks for the goals advice.  I know right now it's only 15-30 hours a week is what I'm putting in but slowly and surely, I'm changing things to make myself available to practice more and more.  I'm going to be working less and practicing more and this could be a 15 year project for me.

I will be working on some short term goals, that's a great idea, perhaps monthly goals I'll try to set for myself.  The handicap timeline that I posted wasn't really a goal, it was just a thought in my head but obviously I'd like to get to scratch as quickly as possible.  And yes, as I've said before, my dream is to be a pro golfer.  I guess I've said being a pro would be my ultimate goal though, but I see what you mean.

I know that there are no shortcuts and it's going to take time and hard work.  Right now, I'm starting to put in time and I'm doing hard work.  We'll see what happens as the years go by.

Thank you very much for the insight.  Please stick around, you are very knowledgeable and I'd love to keep in touch with ya!

Originally Posted by Hairy Feet

Travis, it is possible that you will achieve your goals but time and tide waits for no man. You don't appear to be putting in the hours required for practice nor putting together a plan that in all honesty will help you achieve your goals. I've played the game for over 40 years now, and been a low single figure h'capper for over 35 years. Having played countless scratch strokeplay and matchplay tournaments, and competed against a number of professionals I can honestly tell you there isn't a magic wand, or special secret, that will get you down to the level you want to be at. Its got to be a huge dose of consistent, focused, hard work. If you get to mid single figures and you competed in a 4 round scratch (amatuer) tournament you'd finish about 40+ shots off the lead.

There's a huge amount of really good advice been posted by many experienced guys on here. First of all you need a good swing coach, then you need to compete at the highest level appropriate for your current ability. Shift your goals as you improve... but talking of goals, you need some short term achievable goals now that will give you a lift as you achieve them. Your long term goal of being a pro isn't a goal, its a dream. Its not a pipe dream, its not unachieveable but you need realistic goals if only to have marker posts for your progress.

My son is a club pro, and a damn fine golfer. I know the level of work he puts in in his game and I know he rarely shots more than 70. His results on the mini tours?? He'd starve within a month if he went full time on the tours. With what you're talking about as a schedule you ain't going to get anywhere near being good enough to starve.

[turtleback]

Originally Posted by Travis Robinson

Hmm ok, to respond to everyone that posted lately:

I definitely know that right now that I have the talent.  There's no shortcut except for practice and hard work which is what I'm going to do and I have all the time in the world.

As I've said before, I started playing about 3 years ago, was never really serious about this and never took lessons or really practiced until I thought about it.  I realized how much joy I get out of playing the game, and how much joy it is to improve.

I know there are many people way better, Greg Norman for example, that got to scratch like you said in a year, but he's about the only guy I know that has ever done that even after listing all the pros.  I've gotten pretty good pretty fast with not a lot of work and now I'm going to devote my life into this.

Like I said, we'll see how it goes!

With due respect you are now delusional, as there is no way in the world that you could know that you have the talent. Maybe you do and maybe you don't, but you cannot know.  And given the infinitesimal percent of golfers who have the talent to compete at the highest level the odds that you DO have the talent is vanishingly small.  Not completely impossible, but on the order of maybe one thousandth of one percent or less.

[turtleback]

Originally Posted by JetFan1983

I never dumbed it down those simplified terms. Sure, if you took a 20 year veteran of the game who carries a 25 handicap and suddenly had him practice the right things as well as practicing every day, sure, he would improve a helluva lot. But that would require a lot of mental realizations on his part which, let's be honest, most players never make.

Did you just completely forget this conversation we had in this thread a couple days ago? And didn't you say that (I'm paraphrasing) studies show that practicing more than five hours straight is counter-productive (I'm assuming when you say "sunrise ...til dawn" it was a misprint and you meant "sunrise til dusk")? It may be your opinion that young South Korean female pros, for the most part, don't know how to practice. But, hey, they are still professional players so they obviously are doing something right.

And it's quite possible that Norman was just "beating balls" too. It's just happened by random chance that he naturally did the right things, so the ball beating was beneficial.

I never once said these great players "magically hit everything pure" from day one. Didn't I say Azinger struggled to break 80 on consecutive days as a freshman on his college team? It's in the post of mine you quoted.

IMO you missed the point of my post. And it seems like you've done a total flip flop of your opinion a couple days ago in that thread.

Tiger has great talent, but everyone knows that during his prime years, no one worked harder than he did. I'm not sure where you got the impression that I believe he was just good from day one. But you are simply ignoring the very critical piece to all of these guys' careers which is, for lack of a better word, talent. That's the foundation for all the good things they do on the golf course. But built upon that foundation is the endless amount of hours of hard work that gave them the careers they have.

The only myth here is the one that anyone can become a touring pro simply by out-working everyone else. And IMO, on a side note, the simple ability of being able to practice every day, all day without getting injured is a talent in of itself, both mentally and physically.

This is demonstrably true.  Just look at the hundreds, or even thousands, of golfers that started at a young age, got professional coaching starting at a young age, took the game at least as seriously as the poster says he will, started playing in serious competition at a young age, were good enough to get a golf scholarship to a Division 1 school, and still never made it as a touring pro.  I went to my state's US Open sectional qualifying a couple of times and watched guys like this - amazingly talented golfers hitting amazing shots.  Talented guys who have devoted their lives to getting as good as they can.  And the vast majority of them have no chance at all of ever making it on any pro tour, let alone the PGA Tour.

Sadly, I think the OP is delusional and massively underestimates the difficulties of even getting to scratch, let alone the +4 or 5 it might take to have a shot at the Tour.  Winning the lottery is more likely.