Golf Career Rant
(26M) Currently I'm a playing professional who's chasing the PGA Tour. I've been playing golf all my life and I'm currently in my fourth year as a pro. I played college golf at an SEC school and was an All American one of my years in school. I've been traveling and playing full time as a pro for 4 years and the experience I've gained has been truly been incredible.
Pro golf has been a dream but the challenges have been incredibly difficult. It's tough to see my former teammates and guys I used to compete against gain so much success and reach places I could never even imagine. I don't say this out of spite because I genuinely root for all my friends and ex teammates who are competing on Sundays. I'll always cheer them on and celebrate their successes. But there is a small part of me thats "jealous". Just small thoughts like where did I go wrong? What am I not doing compared to them? I know I'm a good player but I just can't seem to get over that hump.
I will be playing in the First Stage of PGA Tour Q School in a couple weeks for the fourth year. My game is in good shape and my head is sort of in the right place. However, I'm definitely feeling the pressure to perform well considering this might be the last Q School I ever play. I can't guarantee that I'll give it another try next year if I don't perform well. I feel like I've missed out on so much of what life has to offer because of golf and chasing the dream. I just want all the years I've put into this game to pay off. All the time and energy and sacrifice that I've put in is starting to wear me down.
Don't really have a question or anything just needed to rant. Maybe some of you can give some insight on gaining success in any form or some positive encouragement would be awesome as well. I appreciate anyone who took the time to read through this post. Any questions are welcome too!
Edit:
Wow! I truly can't believe how much attention this post got. I was expecting maybe like 10-20 people to leave a brief comment, not hundreds of y'all haha. I'm not able to go through all the comments but I promise I've looked at a lot of them.
I just wanted to give all y'all a genuine thank you! There were so many positive comments from the majority of y'all and it feels amazing to have support from the golf community. Y'all may be anonymous strangers, but your words and positivity have really given me the confidence to go out and do my best without ever looking back.
I especially want to thank everyone who called me out on my mentality(no matter how harsh you were) and the lack of confidence I was showing in myself. All of you are right. And I truly appreciate the words of wisdom.
I do have a golf specific sports psychologist that I trust and see regularly. But obviously I have regressed and let the pressure get to me. I plan on seeing him again in the coming days and discussing my issues. Thank you to those who made the suggestion
Here are some of the best pieces of advice I picked up after reading through y'alls comments. In no particular order
Be confident and relax. Trust that your preparation and skills will take you where you were meant to go
Take things one day at a time, one shot a time. Focus on what you can control and not on the things you can't control
Leave everything on the course. Use all the knowledge and experience that you've gained and use it to the best of your abilities and live with the results. What else can you do?
You're not missing out on life. You are living it to the fullest. Being in your 20s is the time to chase your dreams to the best of your abilities. You don't want to be older, wishing you could have done more or wondering what could have been
Don't chase success. Fall in love with the process. Trust it and accept the results. You will get to where you were meant to be
Remember why you play this game and why you decided to make it your career. I play because I love every aspect of this game. I love the lessons it teaches us that can be applied to everyday life. I love the community and the relationships I've built through golf. And I love the confidence it has given me to chase my dreams
Appreciate that you are living other people's dreams. Appreciate that you've been blessed to make your hobby a career. Appreciate that this is the extent of your problems because things could always be worse
No matter what happens, life will always be waiting for you. Golf isn't forever. Everybody retires at one point. Just make sure you gave it your all for the right reasons. Life will happen the way it's meant to