Why America’s Best Golf Prospect May Never Turn Pro [WSJ]

[Rainmaker]

15 hours ago, mchepp said:

The funny thing I see about this story is to be a successful businessman, I mean a really successful one, he is going to have to work just as hard. He can make a few deals and get hired somewhere because of his name, but at some point he will need to have his own ideas, and push them through with as much hard work as it takes to be successful in golf. The point being both avenues to reach the top will take hard work. He will be given advantages but he will need to capitalize on them.

True - to be a really successful he'll have to work hard . .  . he'll probably need to listen to several pitches for start-up partnerships, get Dad to write a big check . .but then the hard part is over.  After that his biggest problem will be to take the limo to work first or just head strait to the country club, lol. 

[Scotsclaff]

If he has a love for the game he'll turn pro.

[ZappyAd]

I wonder how many major winners have come from a very wealthy, non pro golfing background?  My guess would be that it makes it harder if you do but maybe the record would show differently.  I imagine that having the option to do anything is going to make it difficult for him to put everything into doing one thing, especially if it comes to a rough patch where that one thing doesn't look like it will work out.  It seems like for most pro golfers and even major winners there have been points in their careers where they really wondered if it was going to happen for them, but kept on going because it was their only option.

 

 

[DaveP043]

2 hours ago, Scotsclaff said:

If he has a love for the game he'll turn pro.

This is the one thing I can't agree with.  For most of us, golf is a great avocation, something we do when we don't need to be working for a living.  To make golf into a vocation, to make it the thing you do nearly every single day, including physical training, practice, and playing may take the joy out of it.  It seems  perfectly reasonable  to choose to keep golf as a sideline, and make a career out of something else.  This young man is lucky enough to have the resources to be able to make many different choices without worrying that he might "starve".  

[iacas]

2 hours ago, Scotsclaff said:

If he has a love for the game he'll turn pro.

That doesn't make any sense to me.

You can love the game and be an amateur. Why invite the grind? Because if you half-ass a pro golf career it's going to be dreadful.

The opposite is more likely true: if he has a true love of the game, he'll remain an amateur.

Hell, the very origin of the word "amateur" is "lover."

[Chilli Dipper]

1 hour ago, ZappyAd said:

I wonder how many major winners have come from a very wealthy, non pro golfing background?  My guess would be that it makes it harder if you do but maybe the record would show differently.

There have been several, just not in the last hundred years. Bobby Jones is probably the last "gentleman amateur" who regularly won tournaments alongside professionals.

[turtleback]

6 hours ago, ZappyAd said:

I wonder how many major winners have come from a very wealthy, non pro golfing background?  My guess would be that it makes it harder if you do but maybe the record would show differently.  I imagine that having the option to do anything is going to make it difficult for him to put everything into doing one thing, especially if it comes to a rough patch where that one thing doesn't look like it will work out.  It seems like for most pro golfers and even major winners there have been points in their careers where they really wondered if it was going to happen for them, but kept on going because it was their only option.

 

 

Hal Sutton.  As I recall his dad made a bundle.  In oil?

[70sSanO]

One point I would like to bring up...

There are all sorts of kids of successful businessmen who are really spoiled brats and end up taking over the family business and running it out of business with all of their perceived entitlements.  While nowhere in the realm of Sun Microsystems, I've seen it happen to a number of manufacturing/fabrication companies.  Father builds up the business from scratch; kids know nothing about running the business and don't have any passion for the business, and within a few years the doors are shut.

The kid seems to have a much better perspective on life that doesn't include the latest Learjet or an exotic automobile collection.  I have no doubt he will be successful in whatever he does.  If he came up with a way to speed up play without altering the game, everyone would be applauding him for not turning pro.

John

Edited June 8, 2016 by 70sSanO

[Buckeyebowman]

On 6/8/2016 at 7:37 AM, DaveP043 said:

This is the one thing I can't agree with.  For most of us, golf is a great avocation, something we do when we don't need to be working for a living.  To make golf into a vocation, to make it the thing you do nearly every single day, including physical training, practice, and playing may take the joy out of it.  It seems  perfectly reasonable  to choose to keep golf as a sideline, and make a career out of something else.  This young man is lucky enough to have the resources to be able to make many different choices without worrying that he might "starve".  

That's a great point. I know a guy who loved 4WD and off-roading and decided to open a shop. He realized, to his chagrin, that he had taken his hobby and turned it into work! He stuck with it, and built a very successful business which he sold for a tidy profit the first chance he could! Now off-roading is fun again.

[natureboy]

On 6/7/2016 at 1:28 PM, krupa said:

I have not read Ayn Rand but she is what I thought of when I read that.  "Not only are entertainers not producing anything, they are distracting others from producing as well."

I think she was just jealous of the attention they got, taking away her potential time in the spotlight 

There's more to a decent, let alone full life than 'producing' 24/7. While I personally find some reality fare like 'Bachelor' and 'Big Brother' particularly insipid (but 'Big Break' was good), I agree with the central theme of 'Sullivan's Travels'. If you're not familiar, I encourage you to check it out.

Edited June 10, 2016 by natureboy