Here is the deal. (Please dont move to the junior / college forum, I want the thoughts of adults with steady jobs, who can possibly relate.)

Im 25 never played college golf, I had shoulder surgery right after I graduated. I continuted to start working, Army, etc.

I currently have a long term job that I kinda enjoy and make 60K a year. Ir did take me away from my family and friends, and there is little hope of moving home.

I have been offered full rides to two (so far) local junior colleges, and after one season, am told I will move on to play at a unnamed Pac-10 school, if I want to. Im a +2 and only play maybe 3 times a month, but after working with a new swing coach, my name magically made it to the college coaches desk. I only started working with a coach as I wondered how good I could be if I played more and had better direction. Just something I need to know.

Here is my question, if you were me would you go play or keep the day job? I should be able to return to my current employeer after school is done, just not at the level I am at now. (Less money) I plan on working very little during golf season as I worked since I was 16 and played sports and school as well. I feel I owe it to myself to commit 100% to school/golf.

I will have two degrees that would apply to my day job now and the job I would like to have instead someday. Really the only downside is that I have to move back in with my grandma, lose my independance, and feel like Im letting my boss down as he helped me get to where I am now.

Any advice or anything I may have not thought of would be appreciated.

BP

if you're a +2 and only play 3 times a month?? GO FOR IT! Imagine if you played 2 times a day.. you'd be on tour.. seriously though im 26 and make a good amount in the corporate world.. is it doing something i love? NO.. is golf? yes.. i regret giving up on the scholarship opportunities i had when i was 17 to pursue other things.. right now i'm a 5 and play about 3 times a month.. and wonder how good i could have been had i taken golf seriously in college.

Tough decision. On one hand, you have a pretty good thing going right where youre at. On the other hand, you can chase the golf dream...

Question: What aspirations do you have after the college golf experience? Tour? If that is realistic, then by all means, make some sacrifices and chase it. If professional golf is not realistic are you just doing it just to do it/prove you can? It looks like you have put yourself together a pretty good life, why risk it for a couple years of great golf...

You have an opportunity to be accepted at an establishement of education through scholarships. You already answered your own question when you said Jump all over it.

There are sacrifices that you must undergo when you start out and nothing will ever be that exact way you want it to be but, in order to get where you want to go you have to be willing to deal with "Truth" and "Reality".

Truth - you will not be making as much money and have to live with Grams! (could be worse!)
Reality - It will take dedication and hard work to acheive academically.
Truth - You may or may not make the PGA
Reality - You need education to fall back on or to advance.
Truth - Do it now while you are young.
Reality - You will not get another chance to establish an academic foundation to build on.
Truth - No job will ever replace the feelings of what could, should, or would have been if you do not educate yourself.
Reality - The business world loves education and takes nothing more seriously than education and will discard you just as the Tour is no place for the lighthearted and no one is exempt from losing there card! They both will chew you up and spit you out.
Truth - Education saves you from being lost and searching for your next move.
Reality - Life is full of choices my man and you are now standing at the crossroads! You were given 1 Life to live, make it count!

Thanks man that was kinda the path I was thinking.

I am trying to figure out how I am going to make some money during all of this if as well. The family is kinda dependant on my Grandma and I dont want to be one of those people.

Can you take out student loans even if you are on scholarship? Finacial Aid? I just need gas and some spending money, as well as may 300.oo a month in bills.

BP

From what it sounds like - absolutely go for it. The one thing 99.9% of people won't say when they are 80 years old is "I wish I had worked more..." Try to look 15 years into the future, not just 4 years. When you're 40 and you look back, will you regret not going for the golf and additional education?

Second, while I'm not in the camp of advocating getting additional degrees just for the heck of it, the fact is that a single undergraduate degree now pretty much amounts to a high school degree of 30 years ago. Adding another layer of education will give you a 1-up in so many areas of life.

Third, if you're playing at a +2 only hitting 3 rounds a month, you obviously have potential that exceeds 99% of even the golfers on this forum (some of whom have played on tour, mind you). If you really enjoy the game why not go balls out and see just how far you can go? Of course, a full load of college golf is going to be a world apart from playing 3 times a month - do you have the stamina and love for the game to want to play EVERY DAY FOR HOURS and HOURS?

Fourth, yes there is loan money available. College financial aid packages include - if you ask - expenses for meals, lodging, transportation, etc - although nothing really for "entertainment." So if you get a full ride for tuition, you can get loans for the rest. The loan repayment period is 30 years (if you want) so it amounts to very little each month and is pretty much the best kind of debt you can have.

Fifth, watch that scene again (about 5/6th of the way through) in Good Will Hunting where Ben A. reams Matt D. for wasting his abilities while everyday guys look on in awe and wish for the chance in life that Matt D. had....may help you decide.

I'm 45 and "stuck" in a dead-end job, albeit it pays well, and I have great hours of work, good people around me.

I voted to GO FOR IT. If I had your talent, I would kick myself down the street for not at least giving the attempt to realize my potential. If you love the game, and think you can give a good run at College golf, Nationwide tour, PGA Tour, etc. etc., I would definitely go the golf route. I never had your talent as a youth, but I regret not "going for it" when I was younger in other endeavors.

And along the way.......get a useful degree, perhaps an M.B.A., Finance, something that will only add to your academic and business success.

if you don't try... you'll always wonder what if.... if you do... worse case scenario you find another job with more education to back you up

You should definitely go for it and and get the most useful degree possible out of it. It's really a win win situation no matter how you look at it, as long as you get a useful degree.

You might be able to qualify for extra scholarships because you are a "non-traditional" student - you have been out of highschool over 5 years. I would check that out, and yes, you can get student loans for expenses even if you are on scholarship. Your school will give the government an estimated cost of living and you can borrow up to that much

Also since you mentioned the army, you probably have educational benifits from there. If you havent already used your GI bill, use it. It doesn't matter what other scholarships/grants/loans you have you are still entitled to that money. I think right now it is at about $1100 a month and you can spend that moeny on whatever, as long as you are enrolled. Good Luck with whatever you choose.

As far as I can tell, there are no age restrictions for NCAA Div II and JuCos, but Div I definitely has an age limit: 24 yr old. So, I would advise you to be hesitant about the "offers" to move on to a Pac 10 school subsequent to JuCo.

Good Luck,
Tim

Double degree and a chance to play college golf, go for it.

Alright I'm not totally sure about eligibility if you've all ready attended and graduated from a traditional 4 year school but for DI once you participate in one year of varsity sports your clock starts and you have 5 years to play 4..but that doesn't apply to you..... and on the age limit of 24...Once you turn 24 your time counts down so you being 25 would leave you with 4 years to play 4...DII is different you have 10 semesters to play 4 years....I played football with a kid who played at A DI school as a freshman.... dropped out waited 10 years and decided he wanted to play again(he was a punter)... but because he only was enrolled in school for 2 semesters and he redshirted his first year at DI school he still had 4 years.....DIII is a totally different story... to play DIII there is no age or semester restrictions..... the thing is all of these situtations that I know of apply to people playing a sport than not finishing eligiblity... The NCAA can grant eligiblity for certain cases... Your best bet if you're really interested would be to contact the NCAA and explain your situation and see were you fall under their rules

I thought the rule was that once you began school, you had 5 years to get your 4 years of athletics in. I could be wrong though.

I have things I definetly regret not doing and I'm only 24. I didn't play golf much during my college days and wasn't very good then anyway. However, I did play tennis for 4 years for my college. It was a lot of work and I had a lot of fun. I went straight out of highschool, so it made it a little easier to make the decision.

Personally, I do it if I were you because I think you'de regret it if you didn't. If you don't do it, you'll always be thinking "what if". We're young yet, now's the time to take chances, especially when they could turn out really well. Living with your grandma won't be all that bad anyway. Between golf and school you won't have a ton of free time anyway. Do it now before you have a wife and kids..... then you won't have the option to not work until it's time to retire. Plus.... you'll come out of it with a degree anyway.

As far as eligability goes, not sure on that.... I know you only get 4 years of eligability. Whether that's only over a 5 year span, I'm not sure. I know our hocket team use to red-shirt a lot of freshman to prolong them being "on" the team. If you don't play in and college sanctioned events, it doesn't count as being on the team for that year, even if you practice with them every day. Our tennis team, as well as all of our sports were DIII, with the exception of our hockey team, which was DI. Our situation was a bit unique and we had to fight with the NCAA about it every year. There were a few other schools in the area that also had DIII for all sports then DI hockey teams though....

And student loans...... I would hope they give you some sort of scholarship with your skill. Even if they don't, studentl loans are a good source of money and are fairly easy to get. Between my wife and I we pay a little over $1,000 a month in student loans, so they do come back eventually. That's after having over 50% of my college paid for by academic scholarships (I didn't get anything for tennis) and splitting the difference with my parents...... the same for my wife...... darn you private schools.......

I'd say, 100%, go for it.

If you don't, I could understand that too though.

I'm with so many others, go for it! My wife and I both work, both of us earn in the 6-figures, and if a university offered me a full-ride where I could get an MBA (or other Masters) AND play golf, she'd tell me to go for it!! We'd make do with the lower income for a while, it would more than be compensated for after I got the other degree.

Think of it as an opportunity to invest in your future with someone else's money!! Go for it!

I'd do some research before taking the 24 years old rule as complete fact...

There has been a couple stories recently where older people have played major DI college football--"Pops" was a guy that played football at South Carolina in his late 30s/40s http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6083905/

As for do it or not...YOU GOTTA GIVE IT A GO!!!

I agree you should go for it. I too returned to golf from the corporate world in my mid twenties. It is definitely a step back. I was making a very, very good income at a major investment firm. You wll have to figure out a way to make ends meet. Odd jobs and sponsors were the way for me as my non-compete agreement locked me out of the financial field. If you don't make it as a pro, you have picked up additional education and can go back to work later. The older you get and the more financial repsonsibilities you have, the harder it is to chase a dream. The bottom line is if you want it bad enough, you can figure out a way to do it. You already know what kind of work it will take to get to the next level. Now you need to check with the NCAA clearinghouse for eligibility rules. I looked at returning to college to play golf but couldn't because I had played basketball for a couple of years and my eligibility had run out ( even though I didn't graduate or play 4 years). You also need to map out what your ultimate goal is. To play college golf? Mini Tour golf? PGA Tour? Then get with your coach and put a plan together. I wish you all the best.

I was the one who put in the post about age/eligibility. It's been over a decade since my college days, so please don't rely on me as the ultimate source on eligibility. I was posting the cautionary advice because I just wanted to make sure that you did due diligence before accepting any offers predicated upon future Div One play.

Overall, I think you should do this if the opportunity is as good as it sounds. I loved my college golf experience. If you can get in a good program (doesn't even need to be great) then it's really a great way to meet lifelong friends, enjoy yourself, improve your game, and perhaps step up to the next level. As a more mature guy (but still a kid to me!) you should be well prepared to deal with the potential pitfalls of the college scene. In no particular order, here is what to look out for: mind games within your team, group think and excessive drinking, unrealistic/high expectations, and taking yourself way too seriously. If I had the process to do over again, I'd go for a much simpler degree (note: engineering + golf = excruciating pain), practice my short game more effectively, play and gamble far less, party a LOT less, ignore the few jerks (every team has at least one true as$), work out a lot more, and work more with the coach. Not all college coaches are great teachers nor people, but a lot of them are both and I had a great one. Unfortunately I didn't approach him enough nor readily accept his advice. In retrospect, I could have gotten a lot more out of the whole process if I had not been as headstrong.

Good Luck,
Tim