Can I Make the tour??

[DaveP043]

7 hours ago, krupa said:

 As a golfer he was probably top 5% in the world and was still playing local/regional tournaments for the other competitors entry fees; in other words his best hope was to make his entry fee back and maybe cover his expenses.  ......So again, you may not understand how the guy could quit but to say that a golfer who is better than 95% of all gofers in the world has a "loser's mindset" is just plain wrong.  

I'm guessing your estimate is way low, I'd bet he's in the top 0.01% of players in the world.  In case I made a decimal mistake, I'm guessing he's like 1 out of ten thousand.  And he's still not able to make a sustainable living at it.  All your other points are right on.  If you're 25, and can't support even yourself, let alone a family, with what you're doing, you have to change what you're doing.  To me that's not giving up, that's making a healthy rational decision.

And to the OP, @mjbond23, who's still pursuing a career in playing golf, congratulations on your career so far, and best wishes for the future.

[krupa]

1 hour ago, DaveP043 said:

I'm guessing your estimate is way low, I'd bet he's in the top 0.01% of players in the world.  In case I made a decimal mistake, I'm guessing he's like 1 out of ten thousand.

Thanks.  I thought it was closer to that but didn't want to guess and be even more off.

[Ks golf]

17 hours ago, krupa said:

Not understanding is one thing.  Saying that the guy "gives up too easily" and has a "loser's mindset" is another.

What age should he have quit?  As a golfer he was probably top 5% in the world and was still playing local/regional tournaments for the other competitors entry fees; in other words his best hope was to make his entry fee back and maybe cover his expenses.  If you're not successful (and he wasn't very much), how do you eat?  How do you pay for a place to live and clothes?   I assume the guy is like most people and eventually wants a family.  How do you feed kids with nothing but the desire to golf?

Once he got on a low-level Canadian Tour, he was dead last and out of money.  Again, how does he go on?  It's well known that the mini-Tour players usually have some kind of financial assistance to help them.  Maybe that's parents or parents and friends, etc., but going it alone with whatever you have in the bank is extremely risky.

He essentially devoted his life to golf, saw little professional success, had an empty bank account, and had to make a decision.  Maybe one more year would have done it or maybe he'd be sleeping under a highway using his golf bag for a pillow.

So again, you may not understand how the guy could quit but to say that a golfer who is better than 95% of all gofers in the world has a "loser's mindset" is just plain wrong.  The talent, effort, and devotion that requires a person to get that point is more than most people can even fathom. 

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree then. 

You're never going to make it anyway of you don't think you are good enough at 25. I don't begrudge the dude's decision, he can tell me to sod off anytime for having my opinion , I don't mind, I won't change my opinion but won't mind it one it.

But at the same time, giving up at 25, when you are closer than 99.99% of golfers to realize your dream is not computable to me. 

[jsgolfer]

This part of the article is about my hometown, I grew up a Member at Bangor Municipal, when I was a junior golfer, the fee was $75 for the summer.  I've played in the GBO twice as an amateur.  Finishing 5th and 7th in consecutive years and beat my Pro's in the pro-am each year.  Had my lowest tournament score of 68, playing in one of the pro-am's.  I got to meet Ivan Lendl a couple of times at the GBO when he was trying to become a professional golfer.

I guess I disagree that it's a sad little event or sagging town, it does pay $9,000 to the winner, same as the Maine Open.  I like the guy in jeans and sneakers on the range beside him.  I've hit thousands of balls on that range.  

But great read.

"The Greater Bangor Open has been contested since 1967 and had perhaps peaked in 1971 when Lanny Wadkins collected the $600 first prize, just a year before he'd be named PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. Wadkins is now too old to compete on the Champions tour; the Greater Bangor Open, the self-described "Best Tournament in New England," was showing its age too, a sad little event on an outdated muni course in a sagging town that has never recovered from the decimation of the state's once-prodigious lumber industry. But professional golfers have a gambler's mentality when it comes to entering tournaments, and even though it meant a long trip to Bangor, there was just enough cash and competition available to attract players from Florida, Kentucky, the Carolinas and Ontario. Most would move on to the Maine Open and the New Hampshire Open the following week."

 

[70sSanO]

On April 13, 2017 at 9:21 AM, mjbond23 said:

I am still hard at it, in fact more than I have ever been. I am currently in Canada preparing for Q school on the Mackenzie tour . I am unfortunately on the wait list due to all fields filling up in less than 12 minutes. But it looks like I will get in. I will be between Canada Australia and the United States this year...

... I thank everyone following supporting or not. Everyone drives me in a different way.

play well

Matthew 

Good for you!  Keep at it and just do the best you can.  I can offer no advice, but at one statement in the article (not about you) that struck me as essential is to have a better game plan than your opponents and stick with it.

Good luck!

John