Rolling the Dice - Amateur Style
So gambling is an addiction right? What about playing local golf tournaments with small amounts of Pro Shop credit on the line? Do these people have problems?
Though I do enjoy throwing a few bucks on whatever mediocre sporting event is on television, I prefer to blow my whole weekend and often a fair amount of money playing cow pasture billiards with dreams of walking away with my arms full of Titleist Pro Vs, visors, and shirts that will eventually be the reason for hysterical laughter from younger people.
Like most kids who grew up playing golf, I had dreams of playing on the PGA tour. For kids, daydreaming about playing professional sports is the adult equivalent of taking two shots of Jack Daniel's and smoking a Newport. Ok, maybe not that good, but when you're young you're still not certain that your life will turn out to be a stagnant rehearsal of day after day mediocrity.....uhhhhh, I mean a lovely and fulfilling schmorgasborg of exciting employment, wonderful family, and friends that never forget to call you back.
Ok, so we've ended up somewhere in the middle, but there are in fact real people that play professional sports and I can't help but wonder if it's really as fantastic as I dreamed before I realized that I'd be better hitting a keyboard than a nine iron. And as Terrell Owens has shown us time and time again, the truth is that most athletes aren't living in the lap of luxury and perpetual happiness that I so often desired as a kid.
Golf has to be the most difficult sport in which to survive professionally. There are no contracts or guaranteed payment just for lacing up your spikes. Yes, Tiger Woods does rake in about eighty million dollars a year and is married to a model, and most of the top 125 players on the PGA tour are very comfortable financially, but the majority of professional golfers are either fighting to make the coveted top 125 or playing on mini-tours wrestling over minimal prize money.
After playing the Boulder shoot-out I thought about the guys that missed the cut this week at the Something Or Other Classic and walked away with nothing after spending thousands of dollars on travel and lodging. All they can do is get in their Honda Civic and zip on over to the next suburban town, play at some posh club with rich membership that doesn't include them, and then see what special is being served up at Applebees that night. I couldn't imagine being responsible for a family while trying to make it on tour. Marginal players certainly can't afford to have their family travel with them to tournaments. I don't think single players have a much better situation either - meeting chicks at strip mall Chinese restaurant bars may not be easy, especially when you're gonna be on the road the next week and you've got a 7:14 tee time the next day. My father spent a couple of months playing qualifying tournaments for the PGA tour before running out of money and taking a job as a teaching pro. He described the experience as "a lonely existence."
So while I go back to my generally rewarding job and steady paycheck (with Pro Vs in hand, thank you), there are folks betting their livelihood on whether a damn golf ball rolls the right way. I'll root like hell for the little guys out on tour, but in the meantime I think I'll feed my debatable mild addiction and roll the dice in low profile amateur events - and dream about a fresh dozen of Titleists.
Tee it up and fire a stinger two iron to John Poole at poolejohn@gmail.com
Though I do enjoy throwing a few bucks on whatever mediocre sporting event is on television, I prefer to blow my whole weekend and often a fair amount of money playing cow pasture billiards with dreams of walking away with my arms full of Titleist Pro Vs, visors, and shirts that will eventually be the reason for hysterical laughter from younger people.
Like most kids who grew up playing golf, I had dreams of playing on the PGA tour. For kids, daydreaming about playing professional sports is the adult equivalent of taking two shots of Jack Daniel's and smoking a Newport. Ok, maybe not that good, but when you're young you're still not certain that your life will turn out to be a stagnant rehearsal of day after day mediocrity.....uhhhhh, I mean a lovely and fulfilling schmorgasborg of exciting employment, wonderful family, and friends that never forget to call you back.
Ok, so we've ended up somewhere in the middle, but there are in fact real people that play professional sports and I can't help but wonder if it's really as fantastic as I dreamed before I realized that I'd be better hitting a keyboard than a nine iron. And as Terrell Owens has shown us time and time again, the truth is that most athletes aren't living in the lap of luxury and perpetual happiness that I so often desired as a kid.
Golf has to be the most difficult sport in which to survive professionally. There are no contracts or guaranteed payment just for lacing up your spikes. Yes, Tiger Woods does rake in about eighty million dollars a year and is married to a model, and most of the top 125 players on the PGA tour are very comfortable financially, but the majority of professional golfers are either fighting to make the coveted top 125 or playing on mini-tours wrestling over minimal prize money.
After playing the Boulder shoot-out I thought about the guys that missed the cut this week at the Something Or Other Classic and walked away with nothing after spending thousands of dollars on travel and lodging. All they can do is get in their Honda Civic and zip on over to the next suburban town, play at some posh club with rich membership that doesn't include them, and then see what special is being served up at Applebees that night. I couldn't imagine being responsible for a family while trying to make it on tour. Marginal players certainly can't afford to have their family travel with them to tournaments. I don't think single players have a much better situation either - meeting chicks at strip mall Chinese restaurant bars may not be easy, especially when you're gonna be on the road the next week and you've got a 7:14 tee time the next day. My father spent a couple of months playing qualifying tournaments for the PGA tour before running out of money and taking a job as a teaching pro. He described the experience as "a lonely existence."
So while I go back to my generally rewarding job and steady paycheck (with Pro Vs in hand, thank you), there are folks betting their livelihood on whether a damn golf ball rolls the right way. I'll root like hell for the little guys out on tour, but in the meantime I think I'll feed my debatable mild addiction and roll the dice in low profile amateur events - and dream about a fresh dozen of Titleists.
Tee it up and fire a stinger two iron to John Poole at poolejohn@gmail.com
posted by John Poole at 6:34 PM
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