Inside the ambitious plans for the next big tour in golf

We’re a long way from McKinney, Texas, where Kris Kim played in a PGA Tour event headlined by runaway champion Scottie Scheffler earlier this month.

Here at Belton Woods Hotel and Golf resort, the rising British talent is back pushing his own trolley at the Stromberg Masters, the eighth event on the Clutch Pro Tour’s packed 2025 schedule.

These humble environs in rural Lincolnshire couldn’t be more different from the $10million CJ Cup Bryon Nelson over at TPC Craig Ranch, but in many ways, they are no less important.

Because this ambitious development circuit, which launched in 2019 and has since grown to full 42-event calendar, is a place of both salvation and aspiration for many of the game’s dreamers.

Just ask Nicholas Infanti.

The American, who grew up playing his golf at TPC Sawgrass, has been slugging away on this side of the Atlantic since 2023. That grind was finally rewarded with an £8,000 first prize during a dramatic win in last month’s Motocaddy Masters.

“A couple of really good mates told me about this,” he says. “I’ve played the PGA Tour Americas, I played the Challenge Tour in ’23 and missed the final stage cut by one or two.

“I went back to the PGA Tour Americas and Monday’d in on the Korn Ferry Tour, but this year I’ve got some invites through here to get back on to the Challenge Tour.”

From Jacksonville via a friend’s house in Woking, Infanti has somewhere to find his footing in the game. He’s not the only one, either. Four South Koreans, three Saudi Arabians and a handful of continental Europeans populate the field this week in the countryside.

“It’s a great tour,” Infanti smiles. “I love the lifestyle out here. With this tour compared to some of the tours in America, it goes a lot further when you have good finishes. People in Europe take notice and understand it’s a really good quality field.

“There’s a lot worse things you could be doing then travelling the UK and Europe, playing golf.”

Yet for every redemption story like Infanti’s, there are plenty of other tales of woe. It’s no big secret that on a Tier 3 development circuit like this, the prize purses are largely funded by the players themselves.

Therefore, without the support of benevolent sponsors, most players are losing big money on weeks like these. Some fund their dreams by coaching and other part-time jobs, while others commit themselves totally and rely on professional golf’s fickle income streams.

It is why the fledgling circuit’s CEO, Tom Hayward, is so passionate about creating a sustainable environment that allows his membership to thrive.

Hayward was a talented pro himself who tried and failed for five straight years at DP World Tour Q School before creating a tour of his own. He knows the deal.

“I played in like 200 development events around Europe and Asia,” he says. “I felt like there was an opportunity in the market to deliver something a bit different.

“Everything from allowing men and women to compete against one another. Bigger and better prize funds. Making the events look better in terms of branding, signage. Trying to engage the players more. Trying to offer them better exposure with regards to media.”

Hayward, with the help of his fiancée and co-founder Lily, is certainly making waves.

In a unique format, the Clutch Pro Tour has been split into two tiers, with guaranteed prize purses already at £50,000 on Tier 1 and £20,000 on Tier 2.

And it’s a credit to those working behind the scenes that, in such a short period, the tour has replaced the now defunct EuroPro Tour as one of the main feeders to the HotelPlanner and DP World tours.

Indeed, the top three players on the Clutch Pro Tour order of merit earn full HotelPlanner Tour cards, while the top four on the points list by an August cut-off receive exemptions to the second round of DP World Tour Q School.

“Look at this week,” Hayward stresses. “You’ve probably got anything between five and ten ex-Walker Cup players.

“Without development tours – not just Clutch Pro Tour but your Tartan tours – they’d have nowhere to go. Without the independent tours like Clutch, there would be no Tier Three pathway platform for them. No other organisations are investing at this level.”

That this is already a well trodden pathway only offers more motivation to those here.

Brandon Robinson-Thompson won three times on the Clutch Pro Tour before he was fast-tracked to the HotelPlanner Tour, and now looks destined for a breakthrough win on the DP World Tour.

Tangible opportunities are within your grasp.

“What Brandon has done just shows that the competition is good enough that when you do get out there, you can still compete,” says Jordan Wrisdale, who was agonisingly beaten by Infanti in the Motocaddy Masters playoff.

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Wrisdale is an ambassador for Stromberg and is decked out in their slick new range for his first round at Belton Woods.

“It’s really good kit and it helps out massively,” he says. “This is an expensive sport. It’s tough. If you don’t perform well you’re going to be losing a lot of money – but this is great because it gives you the opportunity to chase your dream.”

Stromberg joined the Clutch Pro Tour in 2025 as title sponsors of this tournament – as well as the circuit’s official clothing apparel provider.

“We are conscious that golf can be costly to participate in,” says Adam Peet, Stromberg’s marketing manager. “Our latest collection is accessible to everyone without compromising on quality and functionality.

“By removing the price barrier, we aim to encourage more people to get into golf. It’s that simple. “Supporting the next generation of emerging golfers is important for not just us, but the game of golf as a whole.”

As the Sponsor and Partnership Manager, Hayward’s right-hand man Callum Mackay is tasked with transforming the circuit with more deals like these.

“Our message is to provide opportunity and try and make a systemic change,” Mackay, also a former mini tour pro, says. “And if you’ve got a brand that ties itself and has the message of doing that, then those are the brands that we’re looking for.”

The challenge for the Clutch Pro Tour now, however, is to cast the net even wider.

An international expansion has allowed for an extended season outside UK climes, with visits to Oman and Morocco before the Tour Championship at Al Hamra Golf Club in Ras Al-Khaimah in October.

Those moves, while ambitious, have actually proved a necessity in a stifling market.

While trying to maintain affordable travel costs for a largely UK-based membership is a top priority, Hayward feels there has been no choice but to look elsewhere and give his players somewhere to play.

“UK golf is in such a poor place,” he explains. “And what I mean by that is that it’s probably one of the only major countries, in terms of European golf or world golf, where the national federations, national PGAs don’t support the game through to the professional ranks.

“Are we aware that it costs the players more money? Of course we are. But it’s so tough to run the tour in the UK. We’re the only tour in Europe that has to pay for golf courses. And that’s not a reflection of us doing a worse job compared to other tours.

“That’s just the fact that in the UK no one supports development golf. Our fear is that if we just stayed in the UK market, our product and level of service to the players would actually diminish.

“Venues like this willing to do this type of stuff are few and far between. Then you trade it off against some of the venues and the buy-in that we’re getting from the quality of facilities.

“There’s incredible golf courses. And their buy-in to the project is completely different to what you get in the UK. The trade-off hopefully for us is that in time we believe there will be more funding lines internationally.

“We’ll be able to increase prize funds and reduce player costs. In the UK, you’re literally having to charge the players a premium to be able to create a prize fund that’s worthy of their time.”

Those prize funds, while extremely healthy at this level, are strikingly modest when you quickly rise up the ladder. One thing that the Clutch Pro Tour can offer players, however, is world ranking points.

After a 17-month application process, this circuit was accredited by the Official World Golf Rankings Board last April. This marked a huge shift in influence for a tour that had only been running five years.

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“That was huge,” Mackay says. “I don’t think people realise the financial commitment that you have to put forward to OWGR. I’m not saying it’s a fee that you have to pay, but the criteria to be able to be eligible for OWGR –  you have to make a lot of financial decisions.

“It has to be 54 holes with a 36-hole cut. All of a sudden, we’re going from two-day events, having to pay for a golf course for two days, to having to pay for a golf course for three days.

“Where it has rewarded us is that it’s given us a standing, where OWGR is great to have associated to the tour.”

So while there have been frustrations and a fair few stumbling blocks during this rise, the Clutch Pro Tour is being run by a small, bullish team that won’t let convention get in their way.

They are already convinced they have the best fields in development golf on this side of the Atlantic and have now built a brand which could transform into a household name.

“In terms of the numbers, what we’re delivering, prize money, OWGR points, and incentives, it’s by far the biggest and best on a European scale,” Hayward says. 

“What it looks like in four or five years time – I’m not sure whether it will be Clutch UK, Clutch Europe, Clutch MENA (Middle East and North Africa) –  that’s one of our goals,” he says. “Or whether there’s a stronger association to build with the DP World Tour and European Tour Group, too. 

“Ultimately, we want it to be a world-leading development platform.”

Ben Parsons is the Senior Writer at bunkered and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.