How do you become a professional golfer?

Question

What steps do you have to go through to be rolling it with the top 10?

Lets say youre a scratch golfer... so where do you go form here?

Answer 1

These guys are all wrong. You need to go on www.pgalinks.com, and find out where the nearest PAT(playing ability test) is. A PAT is a 36 hole tournament to test your playing skills. To pass you must not shoot more than 15 strokes over the course rating times two. So say its a par 72 course with a rating of 70.0, to qualify you'd need to shoot 155 or 13 over for 36 holes. It took me 4 times to be able to pass, its tough because unlike any other tournament you have to shoot a predetermined score, not to mention you have to play with all these guys who think that they are Fred Couples but can't break 90. After you pass the PAT, you can begin the PGA's PGAPGM program, if you can get through the three levels, you are then elected to PGA membership.


Hey former apprentice-He said hes a scratch golfer, a scratch golfer has no chance to even get through one stage of Q school let alone the tour.

Answer 2

Scratch golfer, you obviously have the ability to strike the ball really well. Even to become a club professional you need to be below a 2 handicap, so off scratch you have started the journey forward.

To be making money with your career, you would need too do the same things as too it you were a professional career person, say a CEO at your company.

Training, you have had many years of practice and you are good at what you do. So now you need to find another gear and move further forward. Mentally tough, when to make the big decisions and when not too, so a course in psychology will help. Different course's use different grass on their greens which therefore entails different readings with grain, so do a greenkeepers course...Physical training, not just hitting balls. Playing different tournaments. Professional golf or any sport for that matter, isn't just playing sport, its a business and without the right credentials its gunna be a long hard road. Trying to get an edge over your opponents is a major advantage

Answer 3

Actually The Reverend is wrong and the other guys are kinda right.

The Reverend would be correct if you wanted to be a PGA Professional and work at a course near your house selling polo's and teaching little old lady's how to hit the ball an extra 5 yards. I know, because that's what I used to do.

However you want to be a PGA "TOUR" Professioanl and a top 10 player in the world and play against Tiger on Sundays!! This is a lofty goal, I would never discourage you, but the first guy was right....you need to find some more shots, because there's a big difference between Firestone South and your local muni where you always win two skins and take 10 bucks off your buddies.

The secret to big time tournament golf is to constantly get yourself used to playing in tournaments under tournament conditions. You didn't say how old you were, but if you're young, play on your high school team and in any junior tourney's that you can, then I would suggest going to a college where you can play and then keep playing in as many tournaments as possible.......if you play enough you'll find out pretty quick if you have the game to be a top 10 player, or even if you're good enough to be a tour 'rabbit'.

Good Luck to you!!!

Answer 4

Ohio Golfer hit it on the head. Before you worry about to much else, you need to practice and improve your game. You will want to invest in a good PGA Pro teacher to help you.
My uncle is on the PGA Tour and lets just say it isn't an easy or calm process. He is still working very hard, he has won 9 tournaments and has finished very well. Earned over 14 or 15 million from just tournaments. It is a VERY tough process to become a professional golfer. You may think you are ready at one point, then the next day, you will think the total opposite.
E-mail me at [e-mail] and I can ask my uncle specific questions cause my parents are in Italy and him and his family came up here for 3 weeks.. to stay with us.
It is my dream to become a pro golfer - obviously LPGA. But I have 2 years left in highschool, then college.

Good Luck!

Answer 5

I'm pretty sure this guy is asking how to actually get on Tour, not how to get better. Nice try though people.

First, you must apply to be a professional with the PGA of America. As long as you have an adequate handicap, I don't believe you have to pass any kind of tests, you just fill out the paperwork and maybe pay a fee. After that, there are a couple routes to take. One way is to go to Qualifying School. You sign up and pay the fee, and then you play the very long tournament (I think it's 7 days) and if you finish high enough, you get a one year tour card. If you finish that one year high enough on the money list, you can earn your card for one or several more years.

Another way to go is to simply sign up for open tournaments, pay the entry fee, and finish well in the preliminary qualifying tournament. This is commonly referred to as "Monday qualifying," and you will hear them talking about it from time to time when watching tournaments on television. Again, if you finish the season high enough on the money list this way you can earn your Tour card. You can also do the same thing by playing in Nationwide Tour events, but you must place higher in the tournaments in general to earn enough money to get on the PGA Tour.

Many players you see coming right out of college into PGA Tour events (like Tiger 10 years ago) got on the Tour through sponsors exemptions. This is when the tournament allows a player to enter the tournament without qualifying even though they did not get in through the the other means listed above.

Answer 6

Practice, play, practice, try to find players at your level to play with, play (different courses), play in tournaments (gross play only - forget the handicaps and scramble formats).

Want to determine how good you are? You need to play competive golf at your state level. Contact your state golf association for the top 4-5 tournaments. Get out and play under these conditions with the best players in your state. This will give you an idea of your level of play.

One problem I see is that many golfers have a handicap that is based on their home course. Thy play that ONE course over and over. They can tell you what club they hit from every spot on the course. They don't even read the putts since they've putted on the same greens a thousand times and know the breaks by memory. When they go to another course they are lost. The putts don't drop, which puts pressure on the rest of their game, and they fall apart.

Answer 7

You need to find another 3-4 shots per game to be competitive. We do not see even par compete on any tour and in many tournaments you will not make the cut.
For most the only way to become a professional is pick up the latest EA sport golf game. I find it is the only way.
I am not bad having been 3 under at a championship course, but it was a one off and the pro is able to do this week in, week out.

Answer 8

To play in a normal PGA tournament, you can do a couple things. You can go to Qualify School which occurs in stages.
http://www.pgatour.com/2007/qschool/08/23/qschool_info/index.html

If you finish high enough you qualify for the PGA tour for the following year. Something else you can do, if you have a 1.4 handicap or less you can Monday qualify for a tournament. If you finish in the top 10 of the tournament you automatically qualify for the following tournament. There are other pro tours that you can qualify for. It's like minor leagues in baseball. You can go to Europe or Japan as well to play in their professional leagues. Todd Hamilton, who won the '04 British Open, played professionally in Japan for years. BTW, The PGA qualifying school costs a whole lot of money.

Answer 9

You have to be able to consistently shoot under par at championship courses from the tips. Be able to make 10 foot putts consistently. And oh yeah, have lots of money. It takes money to make money in that sport.

Answer 10

GO to Q-School and earn your tour card or join the Nationwide Tour