How to Become a Professional Golfer

Many people want to make a living by playing golf as a professional golfer. The road to being a top golfer can be long, with years of hard work. In addition to playing on the PGA tour, you can also be a professional golfer by playing on the Nationwide tour, mini-tours and being a club professional.

Step 1: Improve your golf game. To be a professional golfer, you need to be a very low handicap golfer or a scratch golfer. Consider taking lessons from a club professional and be prepared to play very frequently to practice and focus your game.

Step 2: Compete in local amateur golf tournaments. If you are competitive in these tournaments, begin playing state level amateur tournaments. Check with your local and state golf associations for details.

Step 3: Compete in mini-tour events, such as the Hooters tour. You can play in mini-tour events as an amateur or you can declare yourself a professional golfer. You must note this on the registration forms for tournaments. If you play as an amateur, you cannot accept any purse money that you win.

Step 4: Compete in the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament. Register for the tournament by downloading the application from the PGA Tour website. Submit the application and entry fee before the deadline. This tournament is also commonly known as Q-school or Qualifying School. There is a pre-qualifying round and three stages to this tournament. If a golfer makes it to the final round of the tournament and does not qualify for a PGA Tour card, he is eligible for the Nationwide Tour. The top 25 golfers in the final stage earn PGA Tour cards.

Step 5: Win golf tournaments to maintain status on the tour you are playing. Each tour has specific requirements to maintain your tour card. To keep a PGA Tour card, you must be in the top 125 on the money list or meet one of the other special exemptions.

If you enter a tournament as a professional and decide you want your amateur status back, you need to apply for reinstatement through the USGA.

Another way to make a living by playing golf is by becoming a PGA Club Pro. For more information, see How to Become a PGA Pro (see Resources).

• http://www.pgatour.com/qschool/ — PGA Qualifying School website
• http://www.pga.info/AboutThePGAPro/31851301.htm — How to Become a PGA Pro
• http://www.usga.org/playing/amateur_status/amateur_status.html — USGA Rules on Amateur Status