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What would YOU need to make to sustain playing on tour?

Space Bandito

Space Bandito

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Yesterday's post round interview with Vaughn Taylor got me wondering: How much money would you need to see come your way in order to make playing on tour worth it.

There's a lot of dew sweepers out there that most of us have never heard of. I'm sure they're not making a lot, but they stick it out.

Figure you have to cover this (and a lot more:)

Entry fees
Caddie fees
Travel
Accommodations
Meals

Would $100k cover a full season? $200k? So after expenses, how much would you need to profit in order to make it worth it for YOU?
 
pmm21 said:
Yesterday's post round interview with Vaughn Taylor got me wondering: How much money would you need to see come your way in order to make playing on tour worth it.

There's a lot of dew sweepers out there that most of us have never heard of. I'm sure they're not making a lot, but they stick it out.

Figure you have to cover this (and a lot more:)

Entry fees
Caddie fees
Travel
Accommodations
Meals

Would $100k cover a full season? $200k? So after expenses, how much would you need to profit in order to make it worth it for YOU?
Click to expand...

After expenses, if I cleared $50k I'd be fine. It's about what I make now. If I'm going in the hole then it's not worth it. Plus wouldn't all of those expenses be end of year write offs on your taxes?
 
there is a youtube channel from a minitour player that talks about that stuff and life on minitours. it is pretty eye opening, I invite you guys to look at it, pretty eye opening.


 
I don't know the exact umber but it would have to be enough to allow my wife to quit her job and travel with me full time.
pmm21 said:
Yesterday's post round interview with Vaughn Taylor got me wondering: How much money would you need to see come your way in order to make playing on tour worth it.

There's a lot of dew sweepers out there that most of us have never heard of. I'm sure they're not making a lot, but they stick it out.

Figure you have to cover this (and a lot more:)

Entry fees
Caddie fees
Travel
Accommodations
Meals

Would $100k cover a full season? $200k? So after expenses, how much would you need to profit in order to make it worth it for YOU?
Click to expand...
 
bogeyme said:
After expenses, if I cleared $50k I'd be fine. It's about what I make now. If I'm going in the hole then it's not worth it. Plus wouldn't all of those expenses be end of year write offs on your taxes?
Click to expand...

I guess my question is more: how much including expenses? I'd guess a lot of guys are flying coach, staying at the Holiday Inn and eating at Applebee's, but that adds up week after week.
 
Time away from family would have to be included and would be a big expense in my book. I would have to be able to clear at least $250K minimum to make it work.
 
If I win the lottery I'll focus on making the Champions Tour in 4 years otherwise I'll stick to my day job.
For every one golfer that makes it I bet there are 500 that can't even make ends meet.
But to answer your question, I'd say 400k would do due to a shorter career.
 
pmm21 said:
I guess my question is more: how much including expenses? I'd guess a lot of guys are flying coach, staying at the Holiday Inn and eating at Applebee's, but that adds up week after week.
Click to expand...

Before expenses I'm thinking $300k+ would be the answer. I didn't think about having my wife quit her job and travel with me so yeah that number would have to be big.
 
I have no desire at the age of 52 to play golf for a living. Heck, if I was 32 I’d feel the same way. The travel and time away from family would kill me. I’d be much happier to be a amatuer that could occasionally compete at some senior state tournaments, which I hope to do by this summer or more realistically in 2019.

To make it on the PGA Tour and keep your card you have to be one othe best 80 or so Americans at your job each year(out of about 20,000,000 male golfers in the U.S. In contrast, to make a comfortable living at my sales job I probably only need to be in the top 2,000,000 of all the salespeople in the U.S. A much easier task and I only travel 5-8 days a year for work!



Don’t forget taxes either. Phil makes about $35 million a year and pays a 50.3% income tax rate on all of his income over $1 million. Gotta love California taxes.
 
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As much as I'd love to play professionally, I don't think I could live on the road like they do. It'd have to be a 7 figure number.
 
These days I wouldn't have any desire to play on a tour. The amount of time you would have to spend practicing and the time away from the family is not something that interests me. I think I'd get burnt out on golf and I don't want that to happen.
 
If I were 22 and un-married, I would do it for 50k after expenses. The travel and meals covered are valuable in themselves. The rest would be enough to put some away, and not feel crushed by the weight of competition.
 
If you were playing in 30 tournaments a year I would guess that (air fare, hotel, food, caddie fee) would come close to $100k in expenses. And that's not everything you have to cover. Entry fees alone will add a lot to that number. So that being said, I think I would want to make at least $300,000 in total. It would cover my expenses and give me some money to cover life outside the tour.

I agree with the family aspect. Both my wife and I travel all the time, so that wouldn't bother me. Once Junior is in school I may have a different outlook.


I would like to think that if I could walk away with enough to cover my at home, and off season expenses (cost of living, vacations, stuff for the house, etc.) that would be enough as it sounds like a dream job to a lot of people. But I think I would need more.
 
I talked for a while with a web.com player last June while at an event. He was staying at the house of the relative of a friend of mine, who lived on the course where the tournament was being played so I was able to talk to him after his round.

He finished in the top 50 on the web.com money list...I believe around $90k for the year. He also won about $100k on the PGA Tour as well.

We talked about all the expenses and travel. Often times they are staying with families on the course that feed them and take care of them for the week. Then they're often traveling the country in a car with another player, eating fast food most nights and getting laundry done at the local laundry mat. Most times they are using local club caddies each week that are provided at the course.

He said he thinks you have to earn around $75k per year to just break even and keep hanging on with all of the expenses they have, even while staying with families and friends... Unless you have someone backing you off course. Especially on the lower level, there's not much in terms of endorsements or anything.

So back to the main question.... For me, as long as my expenses as a pro were covered and I'm able to cover my basic costs back home and I was having fun, I wouldn't care how much I was clearing. I love to play. I like competitive golf and being out there. My friends and family circle is pretty small and technology keeps you in touch. "Find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life". Playing professionally would certainly be that for me. I think number wise, I'd need to clear $25k after expenses to survive.



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Rusty Casino said:
If I win the lottery I'll focus on making the Champions Tour in 4 years otherwise I'll stick to my day job.
For every one golfer that makes it I bet there are 500 that can't even make ends meet.
But to answer your question, I'd say 400k would do due to a shorter career.
Click to expand...

Problem with the Champions Tour is the main way to get in events is career PGA Earnings. It is built soley to get names you recognize on the course not let a 50 year od elit am who is plenty good enough to decide to give it a go.


As far as how much to make it is hard to say. The tee up money you get get for using certain clubs without being on staff goes a long way. Honestly as long as I could get to the next event I have status in I would. As far as worrying about spending time with kids family even if I had one it would not be a concern. I grew up with travelling parents, would go 2 weeks without seeing my mom and didn't even like my step dad so would say 2 words to him and I turned out fine. Kids are too worried about these days imo

Now all that is about the PGA tour. I can't imagine trying to grind any tour or so called tour that you are 100% funding the prize pools. That is a joke and I would rather play poker. If it doesn't give you a path to qualifying for web status then it is worthless.
 
MPlefty said:
there is a youtube channel from a minitour player that talks about that stuff and life on minitours. it is pretty eye opening, I invite you guys to look at it, pretty eye opening.


Click to expand...


That's a great video, thanks for posting.

To answer the OP- man I don't know I'd need to get a deal where all my expenses are covered because if I was focused on trying to cover my next day or next week I'd struggle to focus on the golf and the prep that I'd wind up suffering as a result. Fun thread!
 
Several hundred K$ and given my game the only chance I'd ever win anything would be to luck one in on a hole with a car for a HIO.
 
If I could make what I make now (after everything) and got to play golf for a living sign me up!
 
If I was guaranteed to make 100-120k a year then I think I could do it. I mean there would be plenty of THPers in each city I play in who would let me crash in their home right? Haha I’d let them caddie along with pay for the stay :)


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tahoebum said:
I have no desire at the age of 52 to play golf for a living. Heck, if I was 32 I’d feel the same way. The travel and time away from family would kill me. I’d be much happier to be a amatuer that could occasionally compete at some senior state tournaments, which I hope to do by this summer or more realistically in 2019.

To make it on the PGA Tour and keep your card you have to be one othe best 80 or so Americans at your job each year(out of about 20,000,000 male golfers in the U.S. In contrast, to make a comfortable living at my sales job I probably only need to be in the top 2,000,000 of all the salespeople in the U.S. A much easier task and I only travel 5-8 days a year for work!



Don’t forget taxes either. Phil makes about $35 million a year and pays a 50.3% income tax rate on all of his income over $1 million. Gotta love California taxes.
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I don't get why he lives in California. The rest of those guys all live in Florida. With the money he would save he could rent a house in California for the entire year and visit whenever he wanted.
 
I can't fathom the grind of the guys on the mini tours and even the web.com, but then I think about the caddies and can't figure out how those guys survive out there! The only conclusion I can come to is that a bunch of them (players and caddies) must have friends, family, and clubs backing them at least a little. I might be totally wrong, but then again, I can't fathom scraping by week after week...too damn stressful to me.
 
Yeah he chooses to live there for family reasons I assume. I guess he is good with lighting 5-10 million dollars on fire.
 
shanewu said:
I can't fathom the grind of the guys on the mini tours and even the web.com, but then I think about the caddies and can't figure out how those guys survive out there! The only conclusion I can come to is that a bunch of them (players and caddies) must have friends, family, and clubs backing them at least a little. I might be totally wrong, but then again, I can't fathom scraping by week after week...too damn stressful to me.
Click to expand...

The web isn't even close to the same grind. While travel expenses are high you are playing for sponsor money added. I think entry is like $100. Compare that to silly mini tours where you have to pay like $700, then golf expenses taken from that for green fees. You might win like $2k or 3k. Anything worse than 2nd or 3rd place you are out money. They would be much better off just finding cash games to play in.
 
I read that Monday qualifiers cost players $400, and all players pay a $50 fee per tournament. So factor that $450 into your numbers - if you're the guy we're talking about, you're probably playing every Monday.
 
That is the cost for people without some sort of status on PGA tour. Basically the weekend am or pro dreamer grinding mini tours. $100 is cost with status
 
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