How to Become a Professional Golfer: Tips to Go to the Next Level

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Do you love golf? Are you on the links every chance you get? Do you love the game so much that you would be willing to play full-time? If that sounds like a dream come true, then you may have thought about going pro. After all, if you are working a nine-to-five job, then it can be hard to dedicate your time and effort to get better at the game.

Thankfully, though, the path to pro golfer status is much more straightforward than you may think. While other sports like football or basketball may require raw talent, golf is a game that you can improve at with more practice and a commitment to fundamentals. Best of all, you can also play well into your later years, meaning that you don’t have to be young and virile to make the pros.

If you are serious about turning your passion for the game into a full-time endeavor, then you will want to follow this tutorial . One word of warning, though, that just because we are laying out the steps to your pro golfing action plan doesn’t mean that you can go from amateur to professional in a few weekends. It will take time and dedication, just like anything else. Also, we do have to mention that this is only good for the US, so if you live in Europe or elsewhere, you’ll have to figure out what you can do to get to the big leagues in your country.

Golf Gear You’ll Need to Become a Pro

Fortunately, if you are already a golfer, then you should have most everything you need already. The biggest challenge is finding the time to practice your game and compete in tournaments, so as long as you have the standard gear (clubs, bag, balls), then you should be ready to go as is. There is something to be said for having the best equipment, but in the end, your technique and skill level are far more important than the material of your club or the design of your bag.

• Full set of golf clubs
• Golf bag
• ​Golf balls
• Golf shoes
• Membership to a golf club
• Golf GPS device
• Golf rangefinder

You’ll want to find the most comfortable golf shoes for walking and do plenty of walking in them since you’ll most likely need to walk the course in tournaments. You can also choose to carry your golf bag or find a golf bag for push carts that you can walk with easily.

In some tournament play you won’t be able to use golf GPS watches or golf rangefinders, but for practice you can use them to get your shot distances down.

Again, if you have all of these things already, you are ready to go. As you improve your fundamentals and start rising through the ranks, you may choose to upgrade your gear as you see fit, but that will be a personal choice.

Step by Step Guide

As we mentioned, getting to the pros is more about commitment and perseverance than anything else. While that does mean that even if you are terrible now, you can still probably manage to get pro status, it also means that you have to dedicate yourself to the game. If you start to get tired of it or want to quit, then pro life probably isn’t for you.

Step One: Practice, Practice, Practice

No matter how good you are now, you can always get better. There is a saying that we think is fitting for this occasion. “An amateur practices until he gets it right; a professional practices until he can’t get it wrong.” That means that you should be out on the links as often as possible.

For the best results, focus on your problem areas first and then move onto things that you already feel that you’re good at doing. If you want to be better than the competition you have to get all of your skills up, meaning that driving, chipping, and putting all have to be top notch. Now, being pro doesn’t mean that you have to be the best, but you do have to be better than most.

Step Two: Compete in Local Tournaments

This is where you’ll start to cut your teeth and see what professional golfing will be like. As a pro, competition is where you will be most of the time, so if you haven’t been in a tournament before you need to start. Play these kinds of events until you can start to place in the top five or ten consistently.

Step Three: Compete in Mini-Tour Events

The PGA Tour is where you will obtain your pro golfing status, but before you can get there, you should do the mini-tour events so that you can compare yourself to other pro and semi-pro players. Competing against amateurs at your local club is one thing, but here it is something else. You can also play as an amateur at these events, but you can’t keep any prize money.

Step Four: Play a PGA-Qualifying Tournament

Once you’ve got a few mini-tours under your belt and you feel confident that you can place in a PGA Tour, then seek out a qualifying tournament and enter. This is a long and arduous process in itself, so you have to be ready to play in multiple rounds. That being said, you can still be eligible for the National Tour if you don’t make it into the PGA. Only the top 25 golfers make it in.

Conclusion

Once you’ve gotten your PGA Tour Card, you are officially a pro. To maintain that status, you will have to compete in PGA events and follow your qualification standards (usually, it’s that you have to place above a certain level). As long as you can do that, you’ll be a pro.

We hope that you enjoyed this tutorial almost as much as you enjoy the game of golf, and if all goes well, we’ll see you on the next tour circuit! Happy golfing!