Being a Tour Professional is not a free ride, there are numerous expenses that the professional has to account for; by no means is it cheap. PGA Tour professionals get their clubs, bag, balls, other equipment & most of the time their apparel free, by signing an endorsement deal with club manufacturers, golf companies & clothing lines. DP Tour (formerly European Tour) have similar deals with companies as does the LPGA Tour.
On the other hand, as you go down a professional tour level, like the Korn Ferry Tour, which is the tour right below the PGA Tour, some players have conditional status on the PGA Tour and may have better endorsement deals in place than some of their counterparts. Almost every Korn Ferry member has a deal with a major golf club company where they get their golf clubs and balls for free, but not all have apparel deals. There are many who have sponsorships from companies outside the golf industry and their respective logos are plastered over shirts, hats and sometimes golf bags. This is very prevalent on the PGA Tour and even the smaller deals that the mini tour guys get help set off some of their other expenses, but there’s still many to account for.
The PGA Tour Latinoamerica and the PGA Tour Canada have merged for the upcoming golf season and this will hopefully bring in bigger purse money through more advertisers and with the addition of PIF and their claim that they want to grow the game, there should me more money available. If this happens as we hope it does, then it will help offset some of the expenses these smaller tour guys accumulate throughout the season.
On these smaller circuits, the expenses add up rather quickly, as they don’t play for near the purse that the top tours play for. Many mini-tour pros with status on a respective tour, lose money on the season with all the expenses they endure. Getting endorsements definitively help, but are harder to come by for a golfer not ranked in the top 150 or even higher. If you have a sponsor, then in most cases you have to pay them back over time in hopes you make it. Increased purses on the smaller PGA owned and run tours would help if PIF filters funds down to them to help grow the game and let these pros play for the money they deserve to, play for.
Most PGA Tour events furnish players with courtesy cars, but this perk is not offered for the lower level Tours and not all LPGA Tour events. Therefore, pros playing in non PGA Tour events are responsible for their own transportation all week.
Being a member of the PGA Tour does have its bonuses, but isn’t cheap when you take a look at the many other weekly expenses they have that are not comped. The Korn Ferry, PGA Latinoamerica & Canada members do not get near the endorsements or perks as PGA Tour players, but the PGA Tour players still have weekly bills at each tour stop.
For example, on a cheap week, they still have these expenses, which could be more depending on the circumstances.:
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Airfare: $500-$1,500
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Hotels: $1,200 to $4,000
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Food: $500-$700
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Caddy: $2,000 (plus a cut of any earnings, usually 10-15% depending on where they finish & if they win, then there’s a bonus)
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Gas: $50-$100
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Locker room tip: $50-$300
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Miscellaneous tips: $100-$200
So, life on the PGA Tour can be luxurious at times, but it takes extremely hard work, determination and a LOT of devoted time, but also sometimes luck, to get to the highest level. If you know and thoroughly follow golf, then you know how difficult and expensive it can be for those seeking the path to the “Show” through the likes of the numerous mini-tours around the country, as well as some abroad. It is a true grind at times and the cost to get there can add up quickly. Once one arrives on the big stage, you must produce to stay there and enjoy the pleasantries, because there’s no free ride even after you arrive.
