Can anyone offer advise

[scott.cant.putt]

Ok guys il tell ya my problemo
Iv just turned 17 and am currently at 6th form and am thinking of which universitys i want to go to and what career paths i want to take.
I have seen a few uni's that do golf degrees which i would really really really like to go on as it is my dream to be a golf coach.
Currently i have been playing crap at golf as i switched clubs and need time to adjust and i have only been playing a year and at the end of last year was shooting about 17 over par at my local course of red (junior) pots and i want to know:
Firstly I am unsure if i am good enough i personally think i am able to get to 4.4 handicap so i can go on a PGA course or get down to a single figure handicap so i can go to uni course without taking a gap year to try and get my hadicap
Secondly if i go on this course and cant get a job as a coach what other jobs are available in golf with a degree
And finally is it worth taking a gap year out of school to try and lower my handicap to 4.4 and go on the PGA course of teaching?
Just give me your opinions good or bad but personally i would like to go to uni and study a course where no handicap restrictions and then after the 3 years i may then go on the PGA teaching course if im good enough but it is somethings i would love to do
Thnaks

[scott.cant.putt]

Sorry that was badly written
Basicly there are 2 universitys either
Birmingham which you require a 4.4 or better handicap(this is the PGA course)
or Guildofrd which you must be capeable of reaching single figured handicap
Last year i was playing to a 17 handicap
This year my hadicap of yellow/white pots would be about 28 as i am struggling with my new clubs but i am having lessons which is helping me a lot
Is it worth taking a year out of school to try and get the 4.4 handicap or should i go to the other uni first and then try and go on the PGA one

[ezra76]

As you probably know, getting from a 17 to a 4.4 is a huge leap. Don't put off starting your education to persue that goal full-time. I took a year off school, that was the plan anyway. Now I am 30, a full-time student and feel like I'm playing catch-up. Life will not get any easier for persuing your eduction as you get older. I'm sure you'll have to take a whole lot of non-golf related courses. Start there.

[Davebud]

I was just going to take a year off, I am 38 and never went back. My life has turned out fine, but I am not teaching history or science, and that is my only regret. Life has a funny way of taking you down roads that were never even on the map.

[scott.cant.putt]

the thing is the course at Guildford and Birmingham is Golf Management which yes includes coaching but also includes managment so that i can take it into other areas
Someone said to me, 'If you can have a shot at your dream why not go for it' which plays on my mind a lot as i can have a try at it and if i fail then so wot ive lost 3 years of my life but at least it would of been fun and if i do well then i can persue a dream

[Davebud]

If you find after you start the first courses that they are not a direction you will enjoy, transfer. That way you will be working towards your dream and at the same time getting value out of that year. If it takes you 2 years to get your handicap inline well then you have 2 years af management training and that will just translate into more money.

[scott.cant.putt]

thanks a lot
so u recon i should go on the golf management whilst tryin to get ma handicap down and then if i cant get my handicap down i can do the management side of things?

[Davebud]

try it, it's

[Matthew_22]

Definitely go for it 100%.

With all the spare time you get while attending university, you will have every opportunity to lower your golf score. It's just a matter of how hard you are willing to work for a few years so you can set yourself up for later on.

And also remember, you don't have to achieve what you are aiming for right away, it may take years. But if you are willing to put in the work I can't see how it couldn't work out.

[VtDivot]

Optimistic Outlook -

You're young. You'll make plenty of mistakes and learn from them. If this career doesn't work out you can call it a maturation process. You won't know unless you try.

Pessimistic Outlook -

You have a high HCP and prob not enough time to get down to a level worthy of a teaching professional. You will make very little money in this profession.


I'm 31 and personally, I'd love nothing more than to quit my job and to pursue a career in something golf related. However, I realize that I would not be able to make an adequate amount of $$$ doing this. Since you are young and perhaps have softer financial burdens, maybe you could give it a go.

[Don]

Scott: you say you have been playing for about a year, and have a 17 handicap? And you need to get it down to 4.4? That's not a likely outcome by the time you want to go to school. Be good to get it down to 10 or so, and I assume that 4.4 will have to be from the back tees, not up closer. So that 4.4 is really going to be a hard thing to come by. My recommendation would be to go to the school that requires a single figure handicap, assuming you can get down to that in time. If you are currently playing at a 28 with the new clubs, that's a big improvement, and will not be easy to reach. I hope you can get what you want and go to the school that is best for you. But remember, it may be good to have dreams, but you have to be ready for what turns out to be real. Work at it, and see what comes. Good luck with it. Don.

[Highdraw34]

Here is some advice that I would offer. I know you are over the pond and I don't know what your financial situation is. Come to the US. Go to Florida. The PGA has it's own school in Florida. I don't beleive they require handicaps. It is pricey but they teach you all about being a golf pro. They teach you how to run tourneys, they teach you how to be the next best thing to a touring pro. Not to mention you get great access to their facilities. Now you will absolutely take your lumps and probably live like a pauper for a few years, but nothing great comes without sacrifice.

Second thing is turf management. I went to a small college in North Carolina. Our golf team was made up solely of Europeans. Not one American born player on the team. The reason they all came was for our Turf Management program. They spend their college years playing golf, working at the local private club (which was immaculate) and studying golf course design and the ins and outs of grass. At the time I played Lacrosse and had put my golf game aside (biggest mistake I ever made). Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that those guys got more tail than I could phathom. Every time I turned around some cute souther bell was drooling all over their accents.

The thing about this is, if your goal is to lower your handicap and make golf a career, then you need to eat, breathe, sleep and fart golf. You need to learn as much as there is to know about golf. The course is designed to beat you. The more time you spend on the course and learning about the course the better prepared you will be to beat it. Plus if you go to school in the southern US, you can play golf 10-12 months a year. Can you do that in England?

Here are some links that i found that might help you

http://www.sdgagolf.com/golfprofessionals.html

http://www.pga.info/professional.asp

www.pfeiffer.edu

The last one is my alma matter and they would accept anyone with a pulse and plenty of financial aid available.

[scott.cant.putt]

Thanks a lot guys i really really wanna become a good coach or player manager or something along those lines and yes i was thinking of going to the US and trying something there which would be fantastic and i will bear that in mind. What i may do is go to the university that requires a single figure handicap and then try and lower it then go to the US and go on one of those courses and imporve my knowledge further and then hopefully i can get my dream job if not better as golf is huge in the US

[EnglishGolfer]

Its a big step getting into the higher eschelons of golf. When I was 14 I got my handicap down from 28 to 10 in one season and won an award from the daily telegraph for doing so. However in the 14 years since I have only managed to halve this handicap and there are thousands of lads out there who are a heck of a lot better than me without even trying. When it comes to taking a year out to improve your handicap in most cases i would say do it in order to follow your dream, but if you can't get down to at the most 7 handicap playing in weekend competitions you might be deluding yourself.

Two of my friends spent last year trying to get down from 2 and 1 handicaps to scratch to qualify for some American college course somewhere but they found it incredibly difficult to make that last leap, (only one of them made it).

I have also considered the management side of things but these positions are also very difficult to get into as they often ask for people with experience regardless of qualifications. Maybe a better option would be a business degree or HNC as the knowledge from one of these is much more transferrable so all your eggs aren't in one basket. Try looking on here from time to time to see what is on offer http://www.pga.info/jobs.asp?cat=27 and what is required. There's also golfjobs.co.uk but I think it's quite a new site so isn't very well stocked at the mo'.

Sorry to be rather negative but I put all my eggs in one basket when I was 16 and it went tits up which has left me somewhat bitter . I've not given up hope of someday working in golf somehow but it just won't be what I used to dream of when I was a lad.

On the other hand, if you really make a go of it will you give me a job?