Playing golf as a Professional in SG

Good day all!

I've been thinking about this for quite some time and i realised maybe can find some pple on this forum who has done so or thinking of turning pro.

So question is what does it take for a amateur golfer like me to turn/be considered as a professional golfer?

Looking forward to hear from all of you guys!

Cheers!

http://sinpga.org/contact.html

How old are you and are u a scratch player already?
If you are like me, past 30 with wife and kid. stick to your day job :p

I also wan to turn pro!

I'm 27..Not married no kids...
Not a scratch player yet tho.

I am sure JL and Justin can share their own experiences on becoming a SPGA Professional

Details are normally found in the entry form. Good Luck!

http://sinpga.org/May%202012_PRO_test__Entry_Form,%5B1%5D%5B1%5D.pdf

Derek wrote:

I am sure JL and Justin can share their own experiences on becoming a SPGA Professional

Details are normally found in the entry form. Good Luck!

http://sinpga.org/May%202012_PRO_test__Entry_Form,%5B1%5D%5B1%5D.pdf

Wow! Thanks bro! This is helpful..
Hmmm 6 strokes over par over 2 rounds.. not easy huh..
Shall work towards that from now!

Thanks alot!

More experience sharing is welcome.. i believe there are many more out there like me!

teaching pro or touring pro?

bkll wrote:

teaching pro or touring pro?

Touring pro?

jelvinpost wrote:

Derek wrote:

I am sure JL and Justin can share their own experiences on becoming a SPGA Professional

Details are normally found in the entry form. Good Luck!

http://sinpga.org/May%202012_PRO_test__Entry_Form,%5B1%5D%5B1%5D.pdf

Wow! Thanks bro! This is helpful..
Hmmm 6 strokes over par over 2 rounds.. not easy huh..
Shall work towards that from now!

Thanks alot!

More experience sharing is welcome.. i believe there are many more out there like me!

You are welcome.

However, less than 0.4% of golfers have a handicap below 5, and the proportion of scratch golfers is much much smaller, so I doubt if there are that many like you around. It takes talent and dedication to become a Pro Golfer, and that should be respected. Good luck on your journey.

Jelvin. good luck in your quest. It is a great journey, but one that should not be taken lightly. Otherwise it is just a novelty like idea and there are better ways to throw away money.

What is it going to take? Good financial backing, solid fundamentals or innate natural ability, the willingness to practice until your hands and body hurt on a daily basis, in todays game the willingness to get in shape, a sound putting/short game, good coaching, and a little bit of luck.

I have chased this dream and it is no joke. The depth of talent in professional golf, let alone touring professional golf, is astounding. Shooting under par is not as easy as the people on TV make it look.

Sorry if I come across a little harsh as that is not my intent. But this is a real honest opinion of someone who has chased that dream for the better part of 15 years and understands what it takes and what is needed to succeed at the highest level.

Wow, can try senior pro!

i asked a few guys if they know how much LCB has made this year and how much he has spent for travelling expenses for 2012...

anyone wants to make a guess. if you have a day job stick to it, even if you are talented and very good...unless you can be as good as David Lipsky.

DGman

Personally I think it's quite hard making a living as a playing pro here, unlike in US or Aust. If not CTH would not have shifted to KL.

Eric, I think per trip to any tournaments would be around 2-3K？LCB I think made more $$ from sponsor than on tour?

enwee wrote:

Personally I think it's quite hard making a living as a playing pro here, unlike in US or Aust. If not CTH would not have shifted to KL.

Eric, I think per trip to any tournaments would be around 2-3K？LCB I think made more $$ from sponsor than on tour?

According to your initial statement you think it is easy to make a living a a playing pro in the US?

I am curious as to what the basis of this argument is?

I will grant you that travel expenses can be high here, depending on where you travel to. But they can be high in the US as well. Please elaborate on why you think it is easier to make a living as a playing pro in the US or AUS vs. here.

DRGjr72 wrote:

enwee wrote:

Personally I think it's quite hard making a living as a playing pro here, unlike in US or Aust. If not CTH would not have shifted to KL.

Eric, I think per trip to any tournaments would be around 2-3K？LCB I think made more $$ from sponsor than on tour?

According to your initial statement you think it is easy to make a living a a playing pro in the US?

I am curious as to what the basis of this argument is?

I will grant you that travel expenses can be high here, depending on where you travel to. But they can be high in the US as well. Please elaborate on why you think it is easier to make a living as a playing pro in the US or AUS vs. here.

U got me all wrong, because US　more tour events there than just one Asian tour and prize money higher. Just like why so many people wanna go on the J tour because of the money. Why people come onto Asian tour? Partly because of the joint events that Asian and European tour events, if they win one of such event, they can secure a European tour card where there's bigger prize money there，see Jbe Kruger and Simon Dyson.

It's not easy being a touring pro anywhere, hundreds maybe thousands are chasing that dream but how many actually makes a decent living out of it?

Like Eric said , stick to your day job and just enjoy playing the game.

Cheers!

Anyway I think most of the touring pro made more $$ from sponsor than playing?

enwee wrote:

DRGjr72 wrote:

enwee wrote:

Personally I think it's quite hard making a living as a playing pro here, unlike in US or Aust. If not CTH would not have shifted to KL.

Eric, I think per trip to any tournaments would be around 2-3K？LCB I think made more $$ from sponsor than on tour?

According to your initial statement you think it is easy to make a living a a playing pro in the US?

I am curious as to what the basis of this argument is?

I will grant you that travel expenses can be high here, depending on where you travel to. But they can be high in the US as well. Please elaborate on why you think it is easier to make a living as a playing pro in the US or AUS vs. here.

U got me all wrong, because US　more tour events there than just one Asian tour and prize money higher. Just like why so many people wanna go on the J tour because of the money. Why people come onto Asian tour? Partly because of the joint events that Asian and European tour events, if they win one of such event, they can secure a European tour card where there's bigger prize money there，see Jbe Kruger and Simon Dyson.

No I was just going off of what you said.

Yes there are more events, but does that make it easier? Maybe some attempt the J tour or the Asian tour or whatnot, but does that make it any harder because 20 guys from various places opt to play here? Is your argument based on travel expenses or is it based on difficulty of the tour? THere are mini tours in the US in most states, from there the top several typically go on to the PGA tour ( I can site several examples that are friends of mine), the European tour, the South African Tour, the Tour del los Americas, etc. The joint events here in Asia seem to be limited and unless you have some type of status or ranking, you are not playing in that anyhow.

My question to you is...Do you think Simon Dyson would rather play on the Euro tour or the Asian tour? You stated earlier that it was harder than in the US or AUS to make a living, so why does he not go there?

I say go for it. What's there to lose? just start by taking the pro test..

Chase the dream even if it's just a semi-realistic one. You only live once and the last thing you wanna do is keep asking 'what if'.

You could be good enough! Don't let these guys breed self-doubt.

i did a calculation

normally 4 days tournament.. plus 2 -3 days of preparation.

Plus air ticket / transport

exclude tournament fee..

caddy, physio.. coach..

per tournament easily SGD 8-9k

there is a huge difference between the top 100 players in the world and the top 30 from the european tour, players who have won majors and asian tour event.....in terms of appearance money, invitations for top 100 world-ranked players (usually with guarantee expenses), perks such as free accommodation and marquee cars, the big names get them but the lesser known players do not get any of those and they pay out of pocket.

playing on the tour is not as easy as it seems. for someone like JB Kruger, he has played on the sunshine tour and many years on the Asian Tour before winning and hitting the big one. he deserve it cos he is not afraid of trying to win.

i have a friend who flew in from Switzerland to play in the Handa and he made $0 cos he missed the cut under harsh weather delay, he then flew to Malaysia as first reserve and never even got a chance to tee off cos nobody retired before the game. Kiradech retired after 10 holes and that could have been Martin's chance to play.

so he spent all the money and he gets to play 2 rounds, hopefully Indonesia will be more rewarding this week.

as for LCB, he as made under US$4700 this year....he has played in 6 events so minus the singapore and malaysia event, he must have spent at least US$2500 to US$3000 per event including of basic travel, meal and caddy expenses.

its a tough life to be a pro but if you win you get TV coverage and the sponsors would normally based their sponsorship on media mentions or brand association.

DGman

DRGjr72 wrote:

enwee wrote:

DRGjr72 wrote:

enwee wrote:

Personally I think it's quite hard making a living as a playing pro here, unlike in US or Aust. If not CTH would not have shifted to KL.

Eric, I think per trip to any tournaments would be around 2-3K？LCB I think made more $$ from sponsor than on tour?

According to your initial statement you think it is easy to make a living a a playing pro in the US?

I am curious as to what the basis of this argument is?

I will grant you that travel expenses can be high here, depending on where you travel to. But they can be high in the US as well. Please elaborate on why you think it is easier to make a living as a playing pro in the US or AUS vs. here.

U got me all wrong, because US　more tour events there than just one Asian tour and prize money higher. Just like why so many people wanna go on the J tour because of the money. Why people come onto Asian tour? Partly because of the joint events that Asian and European tour events, if they win one of such event, they can secure a European tour card where there's bigger prize money there，see Jbe Kruger and Simon Dyson.

No I was just going off of what you said.

Yes there are more events, but does that make it easier? Maybe some attempt the J tour or the Asian tour or whatnot, but does that make it any harder because 20 guys from various places opt to play here? Is your argument based on travel expenses or is it based on difficulty of the tour? THere are mini tours in the US in most states, from there the top several typically go on to the PGA tour ( I can site several examples that are friends of mine), the European tour, the South African Tour, the Tour del los Americas, etc. The joint events here in Asia seem to be limited and unless you have some type of status or ranking, you are not playing in that anyhow.

My question to you is...Do you think Simon Dyson would rather play on the Euro tour or the Asian tour? You stated earlier that it was harder than in the US or AUS to make a living, so why does he not go there?

When there's more events the chances of exposure is higher. There are so many smaller tour in US where they can judge on the standard. If u had not read on the strait times wk ago why Justin Han had to quit playing on the Asian tour and went into coaching and why CTH had to shift to KL?

Ａｓ to answer your qns. As an Englishman, Simon Dyson definitely would play in a European Tour more. C'mon, if he can made a decent living in Europe I don't see why he should go to US? But who knows? Rory is going to play in more PGA events this year. Remember Michael Campbell? He was struggling in the PGA tour. But of course we are looking at the glamourous side of the pro on TV. Who knows how much work they had put into it?

As for the joints events, of cos they are limited or else might as well change the Asian tour name to European tour. But still it's a great jumping board for all these players.

i think selling equipment in GR is easier... kekekeke