Aspiring Junior Golfer

[Isaac Gonzales]

I'm 16 years old, will be 17 this march, and live in southern California. I love golf more than anyone, and my dream would be to go on the PGA tour.

I practice at least three times a week, currently have a 3.4 GPA, and average 40 on nine holes. What can I possibly do to achieve my dream?? I honestly cannot see myself doing anything besides something in the golf industry, any help would be greatly appreciated.

[CraiginKSA]

I think Greg Norman started when he was 16.  He would get to the course before sunrise and exercise in the parking lot.  Then he would hit balls all day and play round after round.  Then he worked on his putting and short game until after dark.  Show up the next day and do it all over again.  He was scratch in about a year.

It's really hard.

Good luck.

[notsohard]

practice everyday, and get to +4, at least.

play as many amateur tournaments as you can to acquire mental toughness.

[Bjans1]

Agreed with the above that you should play the junior tournaments that your schedule will allow to build up some competitive golf experience. Do you play on a high school team?

I took up golf seriously at 14 and couldn't break 100. By 18 I was headed to play college golf with a plus handicap. It takes a ton of dedication and, even if you don't make the "tour", you're going to acquire some seriously valuable skills along the way.

The best piece of advice I can give you: Get a job at a quality golf course. Some place where you can get to know the pro and the skilled players that are members there.  Find a place that will let you hit balls until you fall over dead and play/practice before and after work. If you have financial means, I guess you could just join such a course, but believe me, waiting and working that 8 hour shift in the morning will build up a good amount of hunger and dedication for your practice session and round in the afternoon.

Others:

-make sure you're playing the proper equipment. Get fitted for your clubs. Learn all you can about clubs and how they work. A quality pro shop job could help you learn how to regrip and take care of your owns sticks.

-Find a fitness routine. If you really want to make it "big", you need to be in shape. Few guys out on the tour arent in tip top physical conditioning.

- Balance: Golf is not your life, even though at times it will seem like it. Play an additional sport such as basketball that requires different physical movements than golf does. It will help your body develop and can break up the monotony of playing the same sport year-round. --Given your current skill level, you are likely too old to play college golf for a major D1 program. Top programs recruit kids that are top junior players from a young age on up until they are ready for college. There is NOTHING wrong with this fact at all, plenty of golfers have either played for a smaller school or not played at all. By the time you are 18 you might be a great, great player and the fact that you will feel slighted/overlooked will only fuel you to hit those extra shots on the range or make an extra 20 5-footers before you call it a day.

-On that last point, learn HOW to practice. My coach always said to "practice with a purpose"... aim at the flags on the range. Practice all kinds of shots. Make X number of putts from a certain distance before moving on. Practice putting pressure on yourself. Drop 10 balls around a practice green in all types of distances and lies. How many of the 10 can you get up and down?

Lastly, enjoy yourself. Golf is a game but it also a life skill. Be proud of the progress you make. You are young and you have the opportunity do something that money cannot buy: to make a future for yourself in this wonderful game. Good luck and keep us updated on your progress.

[Nutter]

Nuh uh I love golf more than you...

Kidding aside, you need a reputable swing coach.  Tell him your goals, you probably don't have a lot of time to do this but getting a scholarship to a top 25 college team would be a good goal (top 50 even).  You're young but not that young as far as players go these days, work hard.

[Isaac Gonzales]

Thanks everyone. And BTW yes I play for my high school i'm their #3 varsity. I also realize as much as I may practice for the next couple years, I may not make it to a D1 school, so I thought about going to a 2 year college and playing for their team, then transferring to a 4 year D1 school. Any advice on that? I hear a lot that many pros matured as a golfer in college, even tiger went to Stanford for a couple years.