So do you want to be a tour player?

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30: For many Bermudian golfers their goal is to emulate the players they see on TV and play tournament golf.

Professional golf offers a range of career choices for talented golfers to pursue from tournament player to rewarding roles as club professionals, coaches or director of golf management positions.

Here are a few options:

European Tours

If playing full time is an ultimate goal, then the European tour, the Challenge Tour, and PGA Europro Tour (the tour I played — not very successfully, unfortunately) offer excellent opportunities.

Nick Jones is aiming to qualify for the European Tour, and with his father Eardley on the bag, he has every chance of making it onto the tour.

PGA Professional

For golfers keen on playing but also intent on making a career as a club professional, coach or in some other area of the golf industry, becoming a PGA member offers the preferred route.

Some players, such as Ian Poulter, elect to become PGA professionals first and then pursue a full time tournament career, safe in the knowledge they have other career options to fall back on.

Poulter, in my opinion is a real star, finishing his PGA studies before becoming a huge success on the World Tours.

The PGA and European Tour

The PGA and European Tour are two separate bodies, although with close historical ties. The current European Tour was created when the PGA’s tournament playing division became independent in 1984.

The PGA, which looks after the interests and training of club professionals and coaches, is based at The Belfry while the European Tour is situated at Wentworth in Surrey and is solely concerned with running tournaments for its members.

The PGA of America had a similar split to create the PGA Tour. When young golfers talk about ‘becoming a golf pro’ it’s highly likely they are referring to playing on the European or PGA Tour.

The prospect of playing the world’ws best courses, in front of large galleries, against the best players for fabulous sums of money is an attractive proposition to say the least.

Bill Haas won the Fed Ex Cup and the Tour Championship last week to win over $11 million dollars in the past seven days.

The reality is that competition is extremely fierce.

Each year just 150 tour cards are available for either of the Tours and the standard of play is very high.

The annual pilgrimage to Tour School, remains one of golf’s most daunting trips with literally hundreds of great golfers battling it out for just 35 or so cards.

For that reason, amateurs thinking about going for their tour cards or turning professional will probably need to be playing off, or equivalent to, a handicap of plus four as a minimum to have any realistic chance of cutting it and make a living at the highest level.

Developmental tours    and other routes

Players keen to make their way in tournament golf are best advised to try the developmental tours, namely the Challenge Tour and below that the PGA Europro Tour. These provide a stepping-stone with the Challenge Tour feeding the European Tour, and the PGA Europro Tour feeding the Challenge Tour.

Not forgetting Bermuda PGA’s own Jack Daniels Tour, which I hope will be a springboard for Daniel Augustus and other pros in the future.

Other routes for talented golfers include golf scholarships in America, which has a strong collegiate system and has proved a breeding ground for players from around the world.

Our own Michael Sims being a graduate of this system.

If you have got your heart set on following in Ian Poulter’s footsteps and becoming a full time tournament player, good luck.

And remember that down the years a number of golfers with determination, dedication and skill have shown it’s possible to turn the dream into reality even if it can take a long time. Golfers sometimes don’t make the grade until as late as their mid-30s. If it’s your dream — don’t give up on it.

However, the bottom line for many golfers eager to pursue a career as a full time tournament professional is money.

Quite simply it costs money to compete — entry fees, equipment, hotels, travel expenses, paying for expert coaching — it all adds up. Most players have to generate sponsorship to cover the expense of competing full time or rely on generous parents.

We had two of Bermuda’s best hoping for their big break last week at the World Cup qualifying.

Nick Jones and Daniel Augustus had an amazing opportunity to get into one of the best professional tournaments in the world. I was pulling for them, but sadly illness prevented them from building on an amazing start.

I am sure more opportunities will come their way and we will all be pulling for them going forward.

Paul Adams is the PGA director of golf at Rosewood Tucker’s Point.