JS Pro Golfer?

[ShootingArts]

Back when I wore a younger man's clothes a handful of college age youngsters that had been trying to hustle pool discovered the golf course. No doubt with the help of a dad or two they became caddies. They said it was much easier to hustle old fools on the golf course than on a pool table and wanted me to join the party! I didn't mind hitting golf balls but I didn't like the idea of chasing them all over hell and a hunnert acres, I passed.

An executive at a large corporation went and played in a pro-am event. He was in a foursome with another amateur, Rodriguez, and Jack Nicklaus. The amateurs hit their balls nicely up the middle on the first tee, Rodriguez hit his ball considerably further and in nice shape for his second shot. The long retired Jack Nicklaus hit his ball about a hundred yards further than anyone else. The executive knew he was in for a long long very embarrassing day!

Hu

 

[u12armresl]

It’s worth mentioning that you can be a pro golfer without playing on the PGA tour. The top guys on the Korn Ferry tour earn well over $500,000 in a season. The minimum purse right now is $750,000 for an event and is scheduled to bump up to $1 million next year.

There are lots of smaller professional tours out there as well. Like pool, a lot of guys struggle to make ends meet playing golf professionally, but you don’t have to be on TV every Sunday to do it…

I understand that, and JS ain't making it on the Korn Ferry tour either.

 

[Scrunge19]

He’s probably the equivalent of a 600-650 Fargo at golf. Real good, better than a lot of the local guys but not really very close to even being a low end pro let alone being able to compete on any of the tours.

People just cannot imagine how good a pga pro is at golf. It’s probably the same difference going from 18 to scratch as it is from scratch to pro.

 

[fan-tum]

Ya, it's just laughable that any human can easily make the pro tour. More garbage.

Glad to see you posting Jay.

Gotta be a reason you see pretty much the same guys on the tour year after year while many, many are trying to join the most desirable club in the world... untold riches for doing what comes easy for these pros.

 

[skip100]

To be a “pro golfer” all you need to do is pass the PGA’s Playing Ability Test, which amounts to breaking 80 twice in a row. Not that tough.

Korn Ferry players likely have the equivalent of a +6 or +7 handicap. Better practice up if you want to compete with them

 

[joelpope]

To remain qualified or earn you tour card you must win/finish high in a particular event or be in the top 150 on the money list. The current #150 made $483,905 in tournament winnings.

If there is a pool player that was good enough to play on the PGA tour they surely would

it is the smallest gene pool of professional athletes out there, out of an approximate 80 million golfers globally only the elite 175 plus exemptions qualify for the PGA Tour. That would be .000002%

 

[garczar]

To be a “pro golfer” all you need to do is pass the PGA’s Playing Ability Test, which amounts to breaking 80 twice in a row. Not that tough.

Korn Ferry players likely have the equivalent of a +6 or +7 handicap. Better practice up if you want to compete with them

Average PGATour player is about a +5.4 The lowest i've seen is around +8.5 KFTour players average around +4. A friend who is a scratch player got to play with a tour player once down in Fla. Told me he needed about 3-4 a side to be anywhere close. Those guys are on a whole different level.

 

[David in FL]

To be a “pro golfer” all you need to do is pass the PGA’s Playing Ability Test, which amounts to breaking 80 twice in a row. Not that tough.

Korn Ferry players likely have the equivalent of a +6 or +7 handicap. Better practice up if you want to compete with them

Not even that…

The player ability test is one of the early steps in a fairly lengthy process necessary to become a PGA of America teaching professional. I did it about 20 years ago more on a lark than anything. The PGA of America is a completely different organization than the PGA Tour, though many understandably confuse the two.

In order to be a “professional golfer“, i.e. play in professional tournaments where prize money is awarded, all you have to do is declare yourself to be a professional, hand over your entry fee, and play. In doing so you lose your amateur status and are no longer eligible to compete in amateur only events.

There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of small professional mini tours that are conducted throughout the country. A half dozen or so in Florida alone. Of course nobody is getting any richer playing in those than they are in local or regional pool tournaments either…

 

[David in FL]

Average PGATour player is about a +5.4 The lowest i've seen is around +8.5 KFTour players average around +4. A friend who is a scratch player got to play with a tour player once down in Fla. Told me he needed about 3-4 a side to be anywhere close. Those guys are on a whole different level.

I was fortunate enough to play a round with Graham McDowell several years back at his home course here in Orlando.

At the time I was playing off of about a four handicap. Not “good“ by any stretch, but I can usually get around a golf course without embarrassing myself. We played the course at about 6800 yards and I was very pleased to shoot 78 on a tough, unfamiliar course, playing alongside a world class tour professional. McDowell shot 63, smoking and joking (and drinking) the entire time, and never made a putt of any real length. He played off of +6 to my -4 and beat me like a rented mule. It was worth the $50 he stole from me to watch it up close…

 

[garczar]

I was fortunate enough to play a round with Graham McDowell several years back at his home course here in Orlando.

At the time I was playing off of about a four handicap. Not “good“ by any stretch, but I can usually get around a golf course without embarrassing myself. We played the course at about 6800 yards and I was very pleased to shoot 78 on a tough, unfamiliar course, playing alongside a world class tour professional. McDowell shot 63, smoking and joking (and drinking) the entire time, and never made a putt of any real length. He played off of +6 to my -4 and beat me like a rented mule. It was worth the $50 to watch it up close…

He's one of my favorite players. Must have been awesome.

 

[David in FL]

He's one of my favorite players. Must have been awesome.

Coolest guy in the world.

Halfway through we were having a beer and he mentioned that while he was in college his father used to give him a hard time because all he did was “drink beer and play golf“. Graham said “And you know what? Now all I do is drink beer and play golf”…

 

[KAP1976]

Back in the 1990s when the “Michael Jordan is so good at golf he may try and qualify for the PGA Tour” bullshit started, someone asked Peter Jacobsen his thoughts on the idea.

“I have a better chance of playing in the NBA than he does of making the Tour,” he said.

And MJ is not a bad golfer in the least, but he’s nowhere near these trained gorillas.

 

[bud green]

Here’s the total payout for those who made the cut at Southern Hills:
1. $2,700,000
2. $1,620,000
3. $1,020,000
4. $720,000
5. $600,000
6. $516,250
7. $475,000
8. $436,600
9. $400,000
10. $371,250

I just copied and pasted the top 10 rather than the whole list for this weeks PGA tour championship major. Crazy money.

 

[AtLarge]

... it is the smallest gene pool of professional athletes out there, out of an approximate 80 million golfers globally only the elite 175 plus exemptions qualify for the PGA Tour. That would be .000002%

Well, .0002%. But that's still pretty small.

 

[pw98]

JS is the best, or at least was. I've heard a pro player say that Earl could have been a pro golfer and just laughed.

JS used to post here, a long time ago. I think that is where he mentioned he has shot rounds of 63 which is amazing golf. He then went on to say he played with Boo Weekley, and played well and shot around par. Boo shot 65, made it look simple, and was one of the worst putters on the pro tour. John never said he could compete with the top pros.

Given the prize money, number of players in the world with high school and college teams, coaches and sponsors, the level of play in top pro golf is just different. A very small percentage of people attempt to play serious pool, massive numbers of people play golf and to make it to the top is brutally hard.

I know a pool player from a hall around here who played golf in college for 4 years. He said a few people just have it and most people dont. He said his short game was really good but these other guys had the whole package. Meaning they could drive the ball a mile. This was back in the 80s when the equipment wasn't as good as it is today.

He said his college was invited to the big ten tournament and he went there and played and saw this one golfer who was acting cocky and thought "i can hang with him and i want to beat him badly". Well he got paired wth him and then then he saw him drive and thought "I could never do that". Then he saw him play the rest of the course and thought "I could never do that." He said at that point he realized it didn't matter how hard you try some people just have the ability to to be great at a sport and others don't. He also told me he wished he had spent more time playing pool when he was younger than all the time playing golf. He also said this guy at the big ten tournament went on to win a PGA major.

 

[Nostroke]

He told me once that he would have had trouble making the Nike Tour (now Korn Ferry tour). He's played with guys on that tour and he said they are much better than him.

You have to totally dominate your area or you are not making it on tour. I had a 2 handicap when i was 16 and even on a State level, i couldn't beat any of the better guys. The handicap system was different back then but 0 was as low as you could go.

 

[sjm]

John once told me that he'd gamble with former US Ryder Cup member Boo Weekley and that the match was very close if Boo gave him two shots a side (meaning four shots per eighteen holes). That's not quite pro, but it's awfully good golf.

 

[RRfireblade]

Avg tour pro is roughly a +6 hdcp. That's insanely good.

Better than that. I was +7 and couldn't hang on.

And don't forget all these earnings and winnings that you see tossed about here and there, are all well before taxes and expenses....all payed by the golfer. (Outside of sponsorship and appearance which only apply to the very top players)

 

[u12armresl]

John once told me that he'd gamble with former US Ryder Cup member Boo Weekley and that the match was very close if Boo gave him two shots a side (meaning four shots per eighteen holes). That's not quite pro, but it's awfully good golf.

John's said a lot of things.
Funny for a guy who could play on the tour to have a go fund me for $5k huh?

 

[Jimmorrison]

John's said a lot of things.
Funny for a guy who could play on the tour to have a go fund me for $5k huh?

Are you claiming JS said he could play on tour? By all accounts, he said the opposite. You pretend he said it, so you can burn him down. Why? What’s the point?