How do you become a PGA Tour pro?
Posted: April 18th, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Travel For Disabled | 13 Comments »Suppose there is a really good amateur golfer with single handicap and he wants to play in the PGA Tour, what are the steps?
idk
The first thing you need to do is talk to your local club pro. he or she may be able to give you inormation on qualifying school. from there its a crap shoot. There must be several minor tours beneath the PGA, but I am sure you have to go to Q-school first
good luck
I recommend reading “A Good Walk Spoiled,” by John Feinstein. It’ll give you a good idea of how difficult it is.
Q-School is a good start. Don’t remember if you need anything to enter Q-School other than proof that you’re a very low handicap and the cash to enter.
u have to win the amature tour an earned ur pga card tiger won the amature tour twice before he went pro n got his pga card! but before the amature tour u have to rank in a lots of regional events near were u are!
all you have to do is win a few tourneys and stick around the top of the board a few years and they will start to look at you…. just repeat TIGER and you will get in
You have to enter state amateur tournaments to qualify. You must win one of these before going to the next level.
first things first, you need to get lower on your handicap, single digit…im guessing about a 5 – well most pros, if they had a handicap would be a +2 – +3. you need to be able to shoot in the mid 60′s on a course that is 7200 yards with thick rough and fast greens. being able to shoot 73 from 6600 yards doesnt cut it.
do well in state amateur tournaments – if you cant place in top 5-10 you cant play on tour
Q-school
try and qualify on mondays for tournaments that allow that
First Tiger’s handicap over his last 20 rounds is +10. Next thing you need to do is practice about 6-7 hours a day. Hit about 1000 golf balls a day and work on your short game for hours. Then say you are good enough to play on tour you can do a couple things. Q-school is the most direct way on tour but is very difficult to go through 3 rounds of golf with the last round being 6 days of golf in a row. You can also Monday Qualify for certain events usually they are held at a different golf course then the tournament. You can also try to qualify for the US Open. I would suggest the US Open. It is the cheapest of the three options and you will see exactly how you stack up against some of the best competition. You can also qualify for the Open and keep you ametuer status
If you are a single-digit handicap now, the PGA Tour is out of reach. But you begin working your way in that direction though smaller tours. How do I know this? I tried myself and did not make it.
I played collegiate golf and won many events through my college career. I was a zero to +1 handicap upon graduating. Even at that point I realized I was not ready for the PGA. So I moved south and attempted playing smaller tours first in order to get my game PGA Tour ready. I was hoping to do so within 5 years. I joined the NGA/Hooters Tour with a small sponsorship. I learned quickly (but not quickly enough) that my game wasn’t even ready for that. After one year I was done. I am now an instructor and have been for 10 years.
My suggestion. Go south. Find a smaller tour(s) that fits in your budget if you don’t have a sponsor. Stick your nose in there and see if you can play with those guys. Be realistic about your own game. If you realize that you have to put together 2 or 3 “great” rounds in order to just compete or make the cut, you’re not ready. What you want is for your average rounds to still be competitive and your great rounds to put you at the top of the leaderboard.
If moving around like that isn’t an option, I would suggest entering your state’s professional open tournament. See if you can hang with those guys first.
First way – qualifying school:
It costs about $5,000 to go to the PGA qualifying school, but anyone can go. Each year only about the top 6 or 7 people in qualifying school (out of several hundred) get their PGA tour card.
Second way: If you win three tournaments in a row on the Buy.com tour then you automatically get your PGA card for the rest of the year.
Third way: If you are in the top 150 on the money list you get your tour card for the next year. This is how Tiger did it without going to Q-school.
Now, once you have your PGA tour card – then the hard part starts. There are about 250 PGA tour members, but only about 177 get to play each week. So, the lower ranked PGA pros sit home week after week just waiting for a chance to play, knowing that if they aren’t in the top 150 on the money list its back to Q-school!
And if you aren’t playing well below scratch golf then there is no point in going to Q-school. If you can consistantly shoot -5 to -10 on your local course that you might have a chance.
Best bet is to start on the Buy.com tour (I don’t know how you do that) or one of the other PGA tours (asia, europe, etc) that are less competitive. Making a living on those is very, very hard also because even if you ware winning you barely make enough to pay your travel bills.
Good luck!
a single digit hdcp’er doesnt have a chance to make it on the pga tour.
Go to sleep and dream.
If you have a single digit handicap then dream on. Most scratch golfers don’t even have a chance. Your handicap needs to be at least +3 or +4 to even consider playing with those guys and you need to do that on courses that are over 7000 yards. If you are that good then try to qualify for the US Amateur.
A few steps on the road which you might take are
1) Pass the PAT(Playing Ability Test)
If you can’t do this then you may as well give up.
2) Try to qualify for events such as the US Amatuer and US Open.
3) Try to make through Q-School to play on either the Nationwide or PGA Tour.
4) If you can’t then try to play on mini tours or development tours.
It’s a tough road to play in the PGA Tour. The first thing you need to do is improve your game. When you say a single digit handicap that could be a 1, a 5, or even a 9. None of which are near good enough to play professional golf. Golf is a job for PGA Tour professionals, they put over 40 hours a week into their game. If you don’t have that time to develop your game, then you probably won’t make it to the PGA Tour.
Good luck on a tough journey.