How realistic is it to become a pro tour player if i started playing in my teens

[Georgespringer]

I was wondering how realistic it would be to become a pro golfer if i started in my teens?

[boogielicious]

4 minutes ago, Georgespringer said:

I was wondering how realistic it would be to become a pro golfer if i started in my teens?

Not sure how old you are now, but if you're not better than scratch now, it is very unlikely.

[jamo]

How would you even find time to play? Between roadtrips?

[FooFader]

Honestly, your chances are minimal and border on impossible. The number of tour pros who picked up the game at age 13+ is going to be tiny. I can't think of any examples off the top of my head but would be interested to hear of any that others can think of.

I would wager that to become to PGA tour pro you would need enough talent to get down to a +1 handicap fairly soon after puberty and getting there without much in the way of coaching. Having that level of natural ability would leave room for top coaching to take you down to a +3 and beyond (the level needed to even have a sniff of getting a web.com tour card let alone PGA.

[Marty2019]

3 minutes ago, FooFader said:

Honestly, your chances are minimal and border on impossible. The number of tour pros who picked up the game at age 13+ is going to be tiny. I can't think of any examples off the top of my head but would be interested to hear of any that others can think of.

I would wager that to become to PGA tour pro you would need enough talent to get down to a +1 handicap fairly soon after puberty and getting there without much in the way of coaching. Having that level of natural ability would leave room for top coaching to take you down to a +3 and beyond (the level needed to even have a sniff of getting a web.com tour card let alone PGA.

Larry Nelson took up golf at 21.   Nick Faldo took it up at 14. 

Those are two just off the top of my head. 

 

Edited July 25, 2017 by Marty2019

[iacas]

41 minutes ago, Marty2019 said:

Larry Nelson took up golf at 21.   Nick Faldo took it up at 14. 

Those are two just off the top of my head. 

Way, way less competition back then. Way.

[David in FL]

2 hours ago, Georgespringer said:

I was wondering how realistic it would be to become a pro golfer if i started in my teens?

How old are you?  What's your current handicap?

For reference, there's a 14 year old girl at my club who has a +3 handicap right now.  Several boys in their early teens that are right around scratch....and that's just one club in one medium sized metro area.  All are playing competitive golf now.

Are you better than they are?  Would you expect to get to be better than they are given where you are right now vs where they are?

Edited July 25, 2017 by David in FL

[scotth]

Other players that took up golf late on the various tours:

•   Ian Poulter
• Y.E. Yang
• K.J. Choi

Sure there are others.  

However it would not be easy.  If you are serious about it, I would call some of the high level club pros and have them look at your game.  

I saw you live in Houston, so would see if I could get the pro at Champions Golf Club or The Woodlands to watch you hit balls or play.

Both of those clubs have several members that either played on tour, or currently play on tour and call that their home course.  Those guys have seen pro caliber golfers many times and could give you an honest opinion.

May also want to track down a PGA pro named Tad Weeks.  He was the head pro at Champions for 30 years and counted Steve Elkington, who won the 1995 PGA Championship, among his PGA students.  Last I heard he was teaching at a club in Tomball.

[iacas]

2 hours ago, scotth said:

Other players that took up golf late on the various tours:

• Ian Poulter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Poulter#Early_career

Quote

Born in Hitchin, Poulter took up the game at the age of four when his single-handicap father, Terry, gave him a cut-down 3-wood.

Yang and Choi started late, yeah… but then devoted virtually their entire life to the game.

[billchao]

4 hours ago, Georgespringer said:

I was wondering how realistic it would be to become a pro golfer if i started in my teens?

This is one of those things I always felt if you had to ask, it's probably not happening. The high level amateurs are out there playing tournaments and have experience against high level competition; they already have an understanding of where they are compared to their peers and the pros.

[DaveP043]

5 hours ago, Georgespringer said:

I was wondering how realistic it would be to become a pro golfer if i started in my teens?

Starting golf in your teens, a pretty aggressive ambition would be to get a scholarship to play college golf.  You'd have to do damn well to get that far.  If you can do that, then you can think about going to the next step, but almost all college golfers end up NOT on the pro tour.  

No matter what your end goal is, look at the first step.  If you want to get to the pro tour, find a good instructor, practice properly, and see what happens.

[chilepepper]

About as realistic as turning pro in baseball or football. Actually those two are possibly a tad easier as there are more spots to fill, then again more folks are going for those positions too. You better have awesome skills 

Edited July 25, 2017 by chilepepper

[GolfLug]

I am not sure starting age is a significant factor at all. If it were then note that there is an army of 6-10 year olds (lot of them are VERRY talented with extremely dedicated parents/support system) that have a serious head-start on you. From what I understand 99% of those will do extremely well just to make it to college golf.

Having said that doing well in your high school team and making it to college golf would be a very admirable goal and probably a great stepping stone to some kind of longer term career in golf anyway.

Good luck!

Edited July 25, 2017 by GolfLug

[Kalnoky]

My old instructor began in high school and played on one of the developmental tours, but couldn't hack it and dropped out pretty quick.

One of my friends from college has a brother who plays on the Web.com tour, with a very brief stint in the PGA. Both those guys were more or less born with a golf club in their hands.  

Short answer I suspect it's insanely hard to make it. But I will give you the same advice I give our kids, which is, give yourself 10 years to pursue your dreams, and do whatever it takes. If it doesn't work out, you are still 28-30 years old, which is very young, i.e., plenty of time to start a new career. Most people don't love their jobs. Don't be in a rush to join them.

 

Edited July 25, 2017 by Kalnoky

[Zekez]

 

[Midpack]

No way we could answer such a general question. Becoming a touring pro is a very remote possibility at any age. But it does happen too few men and women, even fewer have memorable careers.

Edited July 25, 2017 by Midpack

[DaveP043]

6 minutes ago, Midpack said:

No way we could answer such a general question. Becoming a touring pro is a very remote possibility at any age. But it does happen too few men and women, even fewer have memorable careers.

This reminds me of the other answer to this question.  You certainly have a reasonable chance of becoming a golf professional (perhaps a PGA member), and there are many potential careers within that realm that don't involve actually PLAYING golf for a living.  You can work as a club pro, or in golf course management, you can work in sales, you can become an instructor, and many other options.  

[Vinsk]

1 hour ago, DaveP043 said:

This reminds me of the other answer to this question.  You certainly have a reasonable chance of becoming a golf professional (perhaps a PGA member), and there are many potential careers within that realm that don't involve actually PLAYING golf for a living.  You can work as a club pro, or in golf course management, you can work in sales, you can become an instructor, and many other options.  

So true! And...I've said it before, if I could make my salary doing any of those...I'd start tomorrow..