33 replies to this topic

[Bingo1976]

No worries - I totally agree. I'm not in sales, so probably have a bit less fredom than you.

Luckily, I have more of an 'asian' view on money these days thanks to the other half, so I have been stashing away the money that my mates are busy pissing up against the wall every weekend, so I can afford to take a pay cut if it allows me to get into the industry, and also to move somewhere cheaper than the global financial centrs that I am pretty much forced to live in in my present line of work.

I think with golf, you either go at it hard as a youngster when you have the comfort of not having to keep a roof over your head, and try and make ok money by the time you are 25 (ie Club Pro), or, as I am hoping, cut your teeth in the 'real' world of business first and then try and apply those skills at the higher end of the industry. I've spoken to a coupleo f GMs who say that my CV would be interesting to them, and there are plenty of projects in China, Vietnam etc. that I am sure I could transfer my project management and finance skills towards.

And worse case, I can say I tried!

[llamont]

I worked at a municipal course for about five years (senior year of high school through senior year of college, where I earned my BS Degree in finance).  During my junior year of college (2002/2003), I had received the opportunity to work with the PGA of America for a summer.  I'm from Ohio but the internship would've taken me to Ponte Vedra Beach to work at the TPC Sawgrass.  I talked long and hard with my boss/head pro whom happened to be very honest and sensible about what I was getting into. The experience would've been a blast but the one thing to understand about working in the game is that you rarely get time to actually play and enjoy it. Not to mention, my game wasn't at the level where I would even fathom the idea of trying to make a living off of it. So, after sitting down with my parents and my boss (at the time), I opted to pass up the internship for one that was directly related to my field of study. And to this day, 10 years later, that was one of the best decisions I made in my young adult life.  Now I can play the game when I so chose and on my own terms.

Edited by llamont, 17 December 2012 - 01:08 PM.

[ckguy914]

I went to school for a degree in Electrical Engineering.  Right before graduation I was interviewing for jobs and I would always get asked "What is it about the industry what interests you?  Why do you want to work in the field?"  I couldn't come up with an honest answer.  I decided that if I couldn't answer that question, then I probably shouldn't spend the rest of my life doing it.

Golf have always been a passion but I have always heard of horror stories about working at courses and retail stores.  A major OEM is in town but I don't know anyone in the industry or have any connections.  I thought that I just gotta get my foot in the door somehow and move up from there.

Armed with an engineering degree fresh off school, I applied and worked on the production floor building clubs making $9/hour.  As soon as I became eligible I applied to various internal job postings within the company.  Currently I am a test engineer in the testing department and I absolutely love my job.

[iteachgolf]

Gongshowguy16, on 28 November 2012 - 09:38 PM, said:

While I work for a large corporation, like you I hate the corporate feeling. But I could stay in the same sales position I'm in and not have to become a manager or district manager. I control my destiny and income, no one else does. So I get your point. I would love to use my business skills and find a way to incorporate that into golf. But until I owe no more money to anyone, I will continue down the path that is working. At 36 you also have a very clear understanding of what will work and what won't, what is logical and practical. I was just trying to help the guys who were saying they were 15-16, life comes at you fast, it did for me at least (and I have small debt/school loans compared to most). Anyways, not trying to be that "life lessons" guy, I hope everyone is successful and is passionate about what they do!

Not everyone has the same experience.  I was in school for engineering and left after 3 years to do golf.  I won't say what I make but I've done ok you could say, own two BMWs rather than a rusted CRX, and made over $28k my first full time job in golf (make considerably more now) and have never had to work more than 50 hours in a week.  There is opportunity there is you are motivated and have skills.  Not everyone in the industry is broke