Young Chanelle Wangari is a golfer in the making. If you can’t play the game but you still have passion for it change course, find something else to do within the industry. PHOTO | FILE
For many years now, I have encouraged those who earn or intend to earn a living from golf to widen their horizon, to think beyond earning money as a touring professional.
While those who knock golf balls around and earn millions of dollars per year are the most famous and visible in the industry, there are many more actors in the industry who earn a great living from the game.
For example, it is common knowledge that golf caddies on the world’s main tours are very well paid, some earning even more than most touring professionals.
Recently, Limuru’s David Ndung’u brought to my attention an interesting article in Golf Digest titled What People in Golf Make.
According to the story, the US golf industry is worth $70 billion (Sh7.2 trillion), generated by 24 million golfers on about 15,000 golf courses.
The report further states that golf employs nearly two million people with a total annual wage bill of $55.6 million (Sh5.7 billion). The outgoing PGA Tour Commissioner, Tim Finchem, has an annual pay package of Sh565 million while the CFO of the same tour earns Sh180m. The men’s head coach at Georgia Tech earns Sh22 million per annum, about Sh1.8 million per month and the women’s head coach at UCLA earns Sh15.5m per annum or Sh1.3m per month.
For the caddies whose players finish in the top 40 of the PGA Tour money list, the expected earning is Sh16m per annum or Sh1.33m per month. The top professional at an average public golf course earns Sh4.8m per annum of Sh400,000 per month, similar to what a golf retail store manager or assistant golf professional takes home.
What is my point? Simple really; a lot of our top professionals and aging elite amateur golfers would be much better off giving up playing the game and branching off to another area of the same game. Only a small number of our top golf professionals have banked over Sh5m in the last 10 years.
Missed cuts at the Kenya Open are the order of the day, lack of a proper tour and the odd events here and there offer less than Sh1m in total prize kitty.
Winners at most professional golf events in Kenya bank Sh300,000 on a good day.
Now, some of these guys know this game backwards, unfortunately they aren’t great touring pros. So why not become a caddy or take teaching seriously?
Or go into management? Now, if you have been paying attention, head coaches in the US make over Sh1m per month. So, what are you waiting for? Get on a plane and go! Caddies are taking home Sh1.33m per month for crying out loud, go carry a bag, earn a living and be around the game your love.
The PGA Tour for 2016 lists only six players who earned more than $5m (Sh515 million). In other words Finchem, the Tour Commissioner, finished in 7th place on the tour money list without hitting a single golf ball. The guy who finished in the 100th place took home just over $1m (Sh130m), the CFO of the tour took home $1.8m (Sh185.4 million) .
So, if you can’t play the game but you still have passion for it change course, find something else to do within the industry; start teaching, become an international tour caddy, anything is better than continuing to embarrass yourself year after year. Take a chance.
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