Congratulations! You have qualified for the U.S. Open! Or maybe the PGA Professional Championship! Or maybe the U.S. Amateur, a PGA Tour event, a prominent Amateur or Junior Invitational.
Your dedication and attention to your game has really paid off!
Now, you get the great thrill of figuring out how to navigate yourself from right now to the first (or 10th) tee of the first round.
What will you see a lot of between now and then? No, I do not mean the practice area or golf course to get your game ready. No. You, or someone on your behalf, will see a lot of dollar signs.
Dollar signs you owe – not them owing you.
And do not forget time.
I recently discussed the concept of backers and investors in professional golf, and if you read that piece or have experienced it firsthand, you may be turned off by your prize money being split between you and someone else. Turned off a bit? Not an unreasonable feeling, as that was my thought as well, even when I was writing it.
Why operate under such agreements in the first place? After all, having a backer is not required. If I win, say, $10,000 in a tournament, why can't I keep it all?
I glossed over this in that article, but to get to an event is expensive and sometimes complicated.
How and why? It cannot be that difficult; people go on buddies’ golf trips and vacations all the time. Well, the tournament tells you when it will be; you do not get to look at your schedule and pick a date.
Quickly, can you be away April 23-29, 2026? If the answer is no, you just forfeited your spot in the PGA Professional Championship. If the answer is yes, what do you need to get in order around your house and workplace to get there?
Now, where are you going to stay? What about your flight to get there? What about a rental car? At least those are more typical questions tied to ordinary vacations and getaways.
What about your caddie? Are you going to try to find a caddie there or are you bringing one with you? How easily can your caddie be away for those dates as well?
What about other family members and pets? Are they coming as well or are they behind? Bigger question is will they need assistance around the house in some way to make up for your absence? How long can you realistically be away?
And lastly, how much will all of this cost?
When I traveled to my two PGA Professional Championships, for each event, I had $300 in round-trip airfare, $1,200 hotel bill for the week, and a $600 rental car bill. That was just for me.
Before getting to the first tee in each of the first rounds, I was already $2,000-plus in.
Sure, if I would have taken home five figures in prize money, that would have been great, as I could use a new car, but the cost to get there adds up quickly. And not to mention, my workplace ran a person short for the week, as did my family, pets, and home.
A PGA Tour player, or someone who travels often to events, has some advantages in their favor. Frequent-flyer miles, rewards for rental cars, and hotel chains help deflect costs over time. For a player like me who travels so irregularly, I am more likely to pay full price.
A one-time event, or a once-every-so-often event, bearing the cost is one thing; repeating a dozen or so times a year is another. Backers can help deflect some of those costs in exchange for a less-than-100% cut in potential winnings.
Are backers worth it? Of course, that depends on the person, but maybe you see how they have come about.
Speaking of, despite my predicting a good showing in my PGA Section’s Professional Championship, I shot 84-74 in my attempt to qualify for the 2026 PGA Professional Championship and came up woefully short.
A part of me was not disappointed to not make it to Bandon Dunes in April 2026. I have never been, but I have yet to hear anyone say anything bad about the area and the experience. I even had a member tell me if I made it, they would bear the cost themselves to caddie for me.
And yes, I would like to make a trip at some point to play there. But to play in the event?
Bandon Dunes is a two-hour drive from Eugene, Oregon. I live in the Southeast, and my airport does not have a direct flight to Eugene. A connection to get to become two hours away means the likelihood of playing a practice round the day I arrive is greatly reduced. That means a seven-day trip becomes eight days.
After the final round, I have another two-hour drive back to Eugene. It would be unlikely to find a departing flight late enough to compensate for me playing and then making the drive, so I would have to stay another night before leaving. The eight-day trip becomes nine days.
Flying east, I am unlikely to get home, by making a connection somewhere, anytime before mid-afternoon, which means I would now be nine and a half days in.
Whew. Sounds great to be playing on the Pacific Coast, but yikes, that is a tall order for everyone back home.
The 2027 event is at Streamsong in central Florida. I could drive. Besides the drive home after finishing up the final round, that is tremendously simpler.
So, congratulations on gaining entry to your event. There is a lot of effort to get things in order by tournament week. Getting help is nice to deflect the costs, even if it means taking a smaller cut to the other end. Time is the most difficult part, especially if you live or the venue is in a hard to get to area.