Today, golf is one of the most versatile sports out there. To make it to the PGA tour is one of the hardest things in sports. Each year there are 50 tour cards given out. The top 25 scorers make the “top 25 list,” while the other 25 compete in various Korn Ferry Tour events to try and make the cut. To put this into perspective 1 in 16,468 players make the tour. That is .006% shot at making it.

Not only is making the PGA tour extremely difficult, but then once you make it you have to perform. If you are not in the top 20 for earnings you are loosing money playing the game of golf. The PGA doesn’t pay for anything related to the players. The player pay for their caddies, transportation, hotels, food, everything you could think of.

Now don’t get me wrong, players like Bryson and Bubba and Tiger, they are making millions and millions of dollars. The majority of their cash comes from sponsorships. The only time players make an absurd amount of money is for events like the US Open or the Masters or the PGA Championship. Typically the US Open’s purse is around $15 million. If you are not familiar with the meaning of “purse” it means that the players split the total amount depending on where you land the the scoreboard.

All in all, the sport of golf is super interesting. I love learning about how it works from the inside. Some of us only know what we see on tv. Which is old guys playing at beautiful courses getting paid extremely well to play a sport that looks rather simple. In this blog you will learn that golf is much much more than a hobby.

The sport of golf has been around since the 15th century. If you were playing golf back then, you would have been using wooden clubs hitting a leather ball filled with feathers. This stayed the same up until the 1850’s.

In the past 150 years golf has changed dramatically, more so in the past 20 years. Today the average player uses cavity back metal irons with huge metal woods and steel shafts. This caused golf statistics to increase over the past 20 years. Today people are hitting the ball farther and farther. Today, an average golfer is better than the best golfer 150 years ago.

There are a lot of factors why golfers are getting better and better. Some experts believe that it is all about the ball. The golf ball has a spin rate cap, meaning it can’t spin too much causing it to go farther. The more the ball spins the farther it goes. Having dimples on the ball make it so the ball pierces through the air hitting against it.

Everything about golf is about getting faster and better. The reason why so many people love the sport is because you can always get better. Today we have the technology to see the real time numbers of our golf game. These numbers explain why your shots look the way they do. In the past 10 years the average ball speed has gone from 98mph to 118mph. This means that the equipment is getting lighter and stronger.

In the coming blogs I will tell you all about the game of golf. Some things that I have learned since starting the sport. You may find that golf is a lot more interesting than you had assumed.

Sawyer Beth 2/18/2022