Long-form piece on struggling in the world of mini-tours

[krupa]

http://www.golf.com/knockdown/2017/03/20/when-really-really-good-isnt-good-enough-inside-one-golfers-attempt-live-his-dream

I'm a bit conflicted about how I feel about this.  On the one hand, I thought it was interesting to see the details of struggling on the tour.  This was much different than, say, Paper Tiger, where the author just devoted a year entirely to golf to try to make it to the Tour.  I also thought it was interesting (telling?)  that every time he had one good round, he would convince himself that he belonged.  I'm not necessarily saying that I think he didn't belong, but last time I checked, golf tournaments require 4 rounds at a time.

On the other hand, this is the same guy who wrote 18 in America about getting in his car at 18 years old and driving around the country playing golf in every state.  I saw that book on the shelves one day and thought, "what a piece of self-indulgent shit.  What kind of perspective does an 18 year old have from the relative isolation of a golf course!?"  I could be wrong, that was just my gut reaction from reading the covers and a couple pages in the store.    So needless to say, after he mentioned writing that book, I found myself -- not rooting against him -- but didn't really care if he won or lost (spoiler alert: he lost).

So, it's a long piece but definitely interesting to read.

[boogielicious]

15 hours ago, krupa said:

http://www.golf.com/knockdown/2017/03/20/when-really-really-good-isnt-good-enough-inside-one-golfers-attempt-live-his-dream

I'm a bit conflicted about how I feel about this.  On the one hand, I thought it was interesting to see the details of struggling on the tour.  This was much different than, say, Paper Tiger, where the author just devoted a year entirely to golf to try to make it to the Tour.  I also thought it was interesting (telling?)  that every time he had one good round, he would convince himself that he belonged.  I'm not necessarily saying that I think he didn't belong, but last time I checked, golf tournaments require 4 rounds at a time.

On the other hand, this is the same guy who wrote 18 in America about getting in his car at 18 years old and driving around the country playing golf in every state.  I saw that book on the shelves one day and thought, "what a piece of self-indulgent shit.  What kind of perspective does an 18 year old have from the relative isolation of a golf course!?"  I could be wrong, that was just my gut reaction from reading the covers and a couple pages in the store.    So needless to say, after he mentioned writing that book, I found myself -- not rooting against him -- but didn't really care if he won or lost (spoiler alert: he lost).

So, it's a long piece but definitely interesting to read.

Thanks for posting. He is a good writer and may have a nice career with that.

@Valleygolfer, do you know this writer, Dylan Dethier? He writes that he honed his skills in North Conway.

[Valleygolfer]

4 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

Thanks for posting. He is a good writer and may have a nice career with that.

@Valleygolfer, do you know this writer, Dylan Dethier? He writes that he honed his skills in North Conway.

I do. I mentioned his book a couple of years ago in the book section. I have also played golf with him. Hit a very long ball.

On @krupa note, he is a fairly nice guy and not at all arrogant or cocky.

Edited March 24, 2017 by Valleygolfer

[boogielicious]

1 minute ago, Valleygolfer said:

I do. I mentioned his book a couple of years ago in the book section. I have also played golf with him. Hit a very long ball.

Cool.

[krupa]

47 minutes ago, Valleygolfer said:

he is a fairly nice guy and not at all arrogant or cocky.

Not counting the introduction to that piece (which he did to show just how good you have to be to make it) I don't think he ever came off as arrogant or cocky. I just hate the premise of his book and yes, it did color my reading of this recent thing i.e., he didn't have my sympathy, but  @boogielicious is right, he's a good writer.

[Bucki1968]

Interesting read. Having lived in Florida (and working in the golf business) for 20+ years, you get to see thousands of "professional golfers" trying to make it. In all those years (and all those guys) I have seen exactly one make it to the tour (he actually has won a couple of tournaments). He's now on the senior tour cashing a check. Lots of great players around here but just like the author of the article points out, very few will get to live the dream.

[nevets88]

Sounds pretty level headed to me:

Quote

In the end, the big realization wasn't that I'm not good enough. Because maybe I am. I could give it my all for 10 more years and not be good enough for nine of them and then suddenly I'd get the right thought or meet the right instructor or maybe not even change a thing but my game would just click and I'd catapult over that fine margin and go on a hot streak … and boom! In a few months I'd go from playing for hundreds of dollars to millions of them. No, the big revelation was that, more than talent or money, I was out of time. If golf wasn't going to be my life, I was ready to jump into another field, one in which trying hard and succeeding might have a stronger correlation. I had won roughly $7,000 in prize money during my two-year odyssey. I didn't have the will to spend more of my youth on a gamble that promised nothing.

 

[Valleygolfer]

Haha the picture of the range in the article is my range...

[boogielicious]

9 minutes ago, Valleygolfer said:

Haha the picture of the range in the article is my range...

I was going to ask. You said it was far away from the clubhouse. Maybe that is why they left him alone!

[krupa]

37 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

Sounds pretty level headed to me:

 

Yeah, at the end.  I think it was this bit that caught my eye was that after a season of missing cuts he says:

Quote

I reverted big time on Saturday with a five-over 77, and while a tidy 68 on Sunday barely got me inside the top 40, I did collect $770 Canadian and vault to 169th on the money list. I was frustrated to fall out of contention, but in some ways the weekend didn't matter. I'd proved to myself that I was good enough and tough enough to keep up with the best of these guys. Weeks earlier I had contemplated quitting. Now, for better or worse, I was reinvigorated by some good play in Nova Scotia. It became clear on my 17-hour drive home: I needed another shot.

But I think that attitude is necessary to win.  There was a Radio Lab episode that looked at lying and a study was done that showed the most successful athletes at a college were also more likely to lie to themselves about things, not necessarily sports-related but personal things that we all do but they denied doing.  So that "I did well, I belong, I can compete" is an attitude that successful people all have, even when the majority of evidence (i.e., a season of missed cuts) says otherwise.

And that's interesting to me because I'm not wired that way.

Edited March 24, 2017 by krupa

[nevets88]

1 minute ago, krupa said:

Yeah, at the end.  I think it was this bit that caught my eye was that after a season of missing cuts he says:

Agree, should walk back my statement, anyone who goes out and tries to be a professional in any sport is taking a huge huge risk and doing a minimal amount of rationalizing, he gained real world perspective along the way.

 

[Lihu]

18 hours ago, krupa said:

http://www.golf.com/knockdown/2017/03/20/when-really-really-good-isnt-good-enough-inside-one-golfers-attempt-live-his-dream

I'm a bit conflicted about how I feel about this.  On the one hand, I thought it was interesting to see the details of struggling on the tour.  This was much different than, say, Paper Tiger, where the author just devoted a year entirely to golf to try to make it to the Tour.  I also thought it was interesting (telling?)  that every time he had one good round, he would convince himself that he belonged.  I'm not necessarily saying that I think he didn't belong, but last time I checked, golf tournaments require 4 rounds at a time.

On the other hand, this is the same guy who wrote 18 in America about getting in his car at 18 years old and driving around the country playing golf in every state.  I saw that book on the shelves one day and thought, "what a piece of self-indulgent shit.  What kind of perspective does an 18 year old have from the relative isolation of a golf course!?"  I could be wrong, that was just my gut reaction from reading the covers and a couple pages in the store.    So needless to say, after he mentioned writing that book, I found myself -- not rooting against him -- but didn't really care if he won or lost (spoiler alert: he lost).

So, it's a long piece but definitely interesting to read.

What's funny is everything scales down too. I know a lot of players with swings that should be scratch, but score in the mid-80s. Amazing. Great read too! Thanks for sharing. . .

[GolfLug]

Good article. I guess, good consistent golf is elusive at all levels. And difference in the ultra elite and the mini-tour wannabe's is for most parts simply levels of consistency. In that sense consistency IS the talent.

[Lihu]

1 hour ago, GolfLug said:

Good article. I guess, good consistent golf is elusive at all levels. And difference in the ultra elite and the mini-tour wannabe's is for most parts simply levels of consistency. In that sense consistency IS the talent.

From a casual observer point of view, this likely what we see.

I'd guess that there's a lot more to it than that. The article notes that everyone he competes against carries 300 yards, putts really steady and can flop just like him. That kind of implies that everyone has that high level of skill, and that the best ones have just a bit more than the others.

It's like moving from high school to college. In high school, you probably didn't work very hard to be in the top 20, but once you get to college you probably had to work your butt off just to be in the upper 20%.

This part really stuck with me. . .

Quote

Hahn said after winning the Northern Trust Open in February 2015. "Come from a small town. Didn't do well in college. Was never an All-American. Sold shoes for a living for a while. Yeah, and then just one day, the putts started going in and started playing a little better. Won a couple golf tournaments, and now I'm here."

So, it seems like there's a lot more to it than "just being consistent". There's more than likely a winning edge of talent that barely puts them above the rest of the pack, but it's enough.

Edited March 24, 2017 by Lihu
Forgot to bold what I was emphasizing, Duh. . .

[David in FL]

It should be mandatory reading for anyone who posts one of the ubiquitous "I wanna be a tour pro, what are my chances?" theads.  

[Lihu]

Just now, David in FL said:

It should be mandatory reading for anyone who posts one of the ubiquitous "I wanna be a tour pro, what are my chances?" theads.  

As responsible members of this forum, our duty should be to point to the OP in this thread in any of those threads.

[WUTiger]

A friend of mine from high school played college golf, and was Missouri Valley Player of Year before he graduated. I've kept up with him, and he still shoots under par on occasion.

He played some mini-tour, and Dylan Dethier's story brings to mind a lot of things my classmate said about the experience.

* He was really good, but others were better.
* No-name guys from Texas and Florida often beat more-famous Northerners.
* A couple of bad shots can tank your week.
* It takes a lot of money just to show up and play the mini-tour.
* You can't dabble at it and make a go. You're either in or you're not.

A college coach I know had a shot at the higher level. He played in the old PGA Q-school back in the 1990s and needed pars on the final-day 17th and 18th to get his card. He bogied both of them, and walked away from his tour bid. There's no margin for error, he said.

[MuniGrit]

Some of these aspiring tour pros need to be honest with themselves. I have a friend who calls himself a pro and has been chasing the dream for years. He always goes out for the Monday qualifiers and US Open quals and fires a high 70/low 80s. He wastes so much money chasing something he has zero shot at. I played 4 straight roids with him and he didn't make a birdie. He is not a bad putter, he is terrible. I have met so many of these type of guys in my life living in AZ.