Time must be right to turn pro

It is usually around this time of the year when many of the country’s top young golfers get ready to trade in their amateur status in search of the fame and fortune that awaits in the pro ranks.

No surprise there. The SGU in is the business of identifying the country’s most talented young players and giving them the tools they need to go far in the game. Trouble is, plenty of them won’t. And those who do might not get there anytime soon.

Now, before I go further, I want to make one thing clear. I’m not going to devote this page to debating whether young Scots golfers are any good or not. This magazine has done that before and, to my mind, it has been a pointless exercise.

Instead, I just want to give some pause for thought. Because whilst it would be nice if every young amateur who turned pro went on to be a massive success in the game, the reality is that it’s not that simple.

That’s not just my opinion. It’s a fact. The reason people are so impressed when the likes of Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth do well so soon after turning pro is because it doesn’t happen that often. The pro game is hugely over-populated. It’s like a party with too few seats.

I often think young players don’t fully grasp just how competitive a set-up they are joining when they turn pro. Its lure is obvious. It looks like a millionaire’s playground. But you need to have the fight, the dig, the persistence, the patience and the talent to be a successful tour pro – simply ‘wanting to be a pro’ won’t cut the mustard.

The difference between being an amateur and a pro is a bit of paper. However, it takes a bit of maturity and common sense to know when to trade places.

I had an interesting conversation with a well-connected agent recently. He told me he’d heard of a Scottish amateur who turned pro recently off the back of a less-than-glittering amateur career. He upped and made the switch with nowhere to play, no sponsors, and no real experience of pro events at the highest level.

Now, fair enough, that’s his call. But it makes no sense to me. I mean, you wouldn’t just one day jack in your job and call yourself a pro footballer without having a team to play for, would you?

Fundamentally, the difference between being an amateur and a pro is a bit of paper. However, it takes a bit of maturity and common sense to know when to trade places.

Perhaps some of our young players lack that. They have a bit of success as an amateur and then think they’re ready to go toe-to-toe with Tiger.

It’s not that straightforward, though. Just ask Barry Hume. He opened up to bunkered last year about giving up on life on tour. It’s not a decision he took lightly but fair play to him for having the gumption to call it a day when the money and playing privileges dried up.
Hume is now reinstated as an amateur and is forging a good career for himself off the course. Scotland’s young amateurs could learn a lot from listening to him.

Or they could look at Matthew Fitzpatrick. As the US Amateur champion and winner of the Silver Medal at this year’s Open, the young Englishman has more right than most to take the pro plunge but he won’t until he’s got a degree behind him. He wants something to fall back on in case he, as his own dad put it, turns out to be “a flash in the pan”.

That’s how cruel this game can be for the majority of players. You’re never much more than a few bad rounds away from being an also-ran.
I’m not trying to dissuade anyone from turning pro. I’m just saying do it when the time is right, not when you think it’s right.

• THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN ISSUE 126 OF BUNKERED

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor