Yeah, I thought that it was pretty common knowledge that the A in PGA stands for alcohol. Tiger has shown what the P stands for and as for the G, the next golfer that I meet who doesn't gamble will be the first.

Awesome.

Fawcett,

I am glad you made it thorugh Q-school to get you out of the amateur tournies in Texas!!

Seriously though, that was pretty amazing what you did to get on the Nationwide tour. I was hoping you could get some momentum going but looks like it was tough for you to get enough starts.

Anyways, congrats on the great run and let's play some golf this year.

Galko

Thanks Steve...ya, they told me I would get in 8 of first 13 which is the first reshuffle of conditional rankings. Only got in 1 and from there you are screwed with trying to catch up. Only got one start all year where I knew I was in the field before Tuesday night...and that one was in Mexico. Best of the whole year was flying to Knoxville for the Monday Q made a 7 on first hole and rally to shoot 67. Missed by 1. Drove 6 hours across state to Memphis for the Tuesday Q for the St. Jude (they have it on Tues because US Open sectionals is on the Monday there) for a 7:15 tee time. Turn at 3 under and find out that I have moved from 9th alternate to in field back in Knoxville so I quit at the turn and drove 6 hours back across the state. No practice round and was 7 under through 12 and leading when called in for a rain delay. Slept on locker room floor for 3 hours and went back out slightly f'ed up from the 12 hours in a car and sleeping on a floor for 3 hours and flame out and missed the cut. Awesome. Go golf.

Hopefully I can get my am status back in a couple of years and come after you!

Scott, thanks for taking the time to write your response. How much is your coach in dallas?

ROFL

You're not as far off as you think.

$125...PM me and I will give you his info if interested.

not sure when the last time i looked at this thread, but fantastic stuff!!

As others have stated, A+++ thread. Great to have some of the experienced pros come out of the woodwork and share. ship---this and others should start a well.

I have a question about fitness if someone would be kind enough to input their advice- What kind of goals do you set when you go to the gym? Go for strength, flexibility, or somewhere in between? A couple years back I would work out hard 5 times a week, take supplements etc, basically pure strength training. I easily gained 30 yds to my drives without consciously changing a thing in my swing. I have been more lazy recently and have lost the muscle gain but not that much off my clubhead speed that I can tell. I wonder if the negatives of bulking up can outweigh the positives.

i've already posted a few times, but would like to say to OP to do it, but obviously be very cognizant early on if people are just much, much better than you and that will never change..... i know at least two guys i went to school with who probably went after it for 10 years, and i'm not sure either made more than a few cuts on the canadian tour. obviously they should have clued in much, much earlier.

and i'd read up on the mini-tours, maybe live cheaply in florida for 6 months chasing the dream.

if i could ask scott fawcett, how much work/time does it take to get your amateur status back??

I realize this isn't a question for me directly, but if you've played in tournaments and actually cashed a bunch, they're going to make sure you wait at least a year, possibly a full two, before they'll consider it.

For someone like me who played in a few PGA sectional events (tournaments for club pros) and only signed up for things like State Opens and US Open qualifiers and never really cashed in much of anything, after being away from it for a year, they reinstated my amateur status pretty much instantly.

Reinstatement of Amateur Status at USGA.org

Basically "One or two years" after the last point where you benefited from being a professional, even if that means as a club-pro I got free balls from Titleist.

I think I'm going to apply for my am status, would really like to be able to play in some events as soon as the golf bug comes back.

I have to imagine it being incredibly depressing and frustrating to be a "pro" and not being able to compete at that level, and also not being able to play in am tourneys either.

@smitty - I will let you know my thoughts on fitness tomorrow when I have a little more time.
@ smbruin - you just apply with USGA and they give you a time between 1 and 5 years depending on starts, cuts, money made, etc. First time around I got 3 years and my understanding is that if you turn pro a second time (like me) they give you 5. Hopefully only making 2 of 6 cuts will let me be back in 2 or 3 years.

@ clubchamp - a few years ago I actually bought a left handed 6 and 9 iron and hit balls lefty for about 3 weeks. My thought was that from that side at least I could start the learning curve over and get better and set goals. It does suck now knowing I will never be as good or even within probably 4 shots or more of where I was once I go back to work. Honestly I might try the lefty thing again or just hope Dallas legalizes card rooms and play poker more.

Also, HOW 'BOUT THEM COWBOYS!

Also, also, what is a "well" that smitty asks about?

ship this, thanks very much.... it seems somewhat strange to me that they do it based on how much success you had.

I think it is so they can let a club pro play am events quicker while a playing professional should have to "dumb" his game down a little...kind of like why there is a mid-am level - 32 year olds got sick of getting their as* kicked by kids straight out of college.

The Well:

A stranger is being shown around a village that he has just become part of. He is shown a well and his guide says "On any day except Wednesday, you can shout any question down that well, and you'll be told the answer" .

The stranger shouts down several questions, and all are answered. The stranger is impressed, and after thinking a minute he shouts down: "Why not on Wednesday?" and the voice from in the well shouts back "Because on Wednesday, it’s your day in the well".

You would be a good candidate to go in the well.

I'll hop in a well and see what happens. Theoretically I need to go back to work this year so I would just have to see how much time I spend at the bottom....no clue how to start it though.

Do people ever throw money down the well?

I think other forums have a well every week or month or something run by the admins with a lineup of forum members who want to be in the "well" each week. With the low volume of the golf forum tho, I'd say just start a thread yourself if interested.

This is the best piece of advice in the thread. Take the shot. At least if you miss you'll know you didn't have it and can live in peace. To live life without knowing would be torment if you ask me. Make it a real shot too - don't just dabble or dip your feet in the water. Go at it full bore.

Also good advice. I can tell you from my own pursuit of sports that at the highest levels the psychology is everything. For all of Tiger's amazing physical abilities, I've never seen or heard of a more sound psychological game than he has - at any sport.

What's your impression of Rory McIlvroy? Does he fit with the other young stars like the above mentioned and guys like Camillo, Sean O'Hair and the like? What do you think it is about these guys that are young and make it out on the tour vs those who don't?

i once thought about becoming a golf club...

Another Kid trying to love the dream, you have to applaud his desire to try and get there. I am 24 years old and I am a assistant pro/teaching instructor at a course here in Massachusetts. I just recently obtained my class A-8 PGA of America classification. I attended college at Holy Cross in Worcester which is a division 1 school. I played all 4 years on the golf team and I had mild success, I won a 13 team invitational and had a half dozen other Top 5's, I was a +0.5 when I was a freshman and when I graduated I was a +1.8. While I was a college student, I was a Runner-Up at the Massachusetts Amateur and I qualified for the US Amateur once (didn't qualify for match play). I also won the Massachusetts Junior AM twice and made it to the Quarter Finals of the US Junior AM when I was in highschool. When I graduated I thought I was the man and was ready to take my game to the pga tour, god was I wrong. I was 22 and renounced my amateur status, I entered the 1st round of Q-School, and went and fired 75-79-73-85, yes an 85. My world was crushed, my dreams shattered. I came into this with the wrong mind set and the wrong work ethic. As Scott mentioned, "these guys are good" is a true understatement. These guys know how to save shots and there course management is phenomenal. I really tried to leave my Q-School experience behind me and packed up my clubs and drove to Canada and tried monday qualifying for various events on the Can Tour. I played 7 monday qualifiers and made it into 2 events. I missed the cut in both events I played in and came home with my tail between my legs. I then contemplated trying Q-School again and thought better of it, I spent that February down in florida and obtained apprentice ship in the PGA of America Certification program. I got enough credits in early 2009 to obtain my Class A-8 certification. I have been a Assistant Pro since march of 2009 and it has been a pretty good gig. My base salary is quite low and embarassing, but I am able to do a lot of lessons and clinics which is tax free and I can charge upwards of $60 an hour.

My advice to the OP is you must really bust your ass to make it. You need to play 5-6 times a week and spend countless hours at the range, chipping and putting green.

I still have dreams of one day making it to the pga tour, but the keyword is dream. Maybe I will monday qualify for the local pga events but time will tell. I am content working in the golf business, giving lessons, and playing in the state open, Us open local qualifer, and a few pga tour monday qualifiers for sh*ts and giggles. There is no time to practice when you work 65+ hours a week.

Good luck kid and give it a try, it will come back to haunt you if don't at least try.

Rory is awesome. Also watch Matt Every from the Nationwide and a kid named Kevin Chappell who will be on the Nationwide this year. He has poor status and I will take bets on him finishing top 25 and being on Tour in 2011. He is the real deal.