Big Life Decision

How close are you to graduating, what degree are you working on?

its my first year... im finishing my second semester right now... im a sophomore credit wise.. because of all my dual credit high school classes..

so i either i bail after this semester.. go live the dream in cali.. or stick it out..

Any reason you wouldn't go to a university with an accredited PGM degree instead of the San Diego Golf Academy?

[quote name='Dizzub' date='22 March 2010 - 12:43 AM' timestamp='1269236627' post='2332613']
Any reason you wouldn't go to a university with an accredited PGM degree instead of the San Diego Golf Academy?
[/quote]

ya.. because honestly.. if im going to be going to a legit university with a normal non golf curriculum (even if it has the pgm program) im going to want to be playing golf at that school as well...
and i dont really know if im d1 material because of my short junior golf resume...
and i dont know of any non d1 schools that have the pgm program...
but i guess i could always contact one of the coaches for one of those d1 schools and ask...

little history...
only started playing golf four years ago... my sophomore year of high school... basically i was judged by my junior and senior year of high school... so i had a very limited resume... although in those two years i did quite well... good enough to earn me a spot on a very competitive ncaa d2 team... (we won the tournament previous to our last one)

[quote name='JimmyP91' date='22 March 2010 - 01:48 AM' timestamp='1269236904' post='2332615']
[quote name='Dizzub' date='22 March 2010 - 12:43 AM' timestamp='1269236627' post='2332613']
Any reason you wouldn't go to a university with an accredited PGM degree instead of the San Diego Golf Academy?
[/quote]

ya.. because honestly.. if im going to be going to a legit university with a normal non golf curriculum (even if it has the pgm program) im going to want to be playing golf at that school as well...
and i dont really know if im d1 material because of my short junior golf resume...
and i dont know of any non d1 schools that have the pgm program...
but i guess i could always contact one of the coaches for one of those d1 schools and ask...

little history...
only started playing golf four years ago... my sophomore year of high school... basically i was judged by my junior and senior year of high school... so i had a very limited resume... although in those two years i did quite well... good enough to earn me a spot on a very competitive ncaa d2 team... (we won the tournament previous to our last one)
[/quote]

If its competitive golf you are after, there will be plenty of that just being in a PGM program without being on the team. Ferris State in Michigan isn't a D1 golf team but its still very competitive to get a spot on their team. But either way you can still play a good amount of competitive golf without being on the team...

As a graduate of PGCC (second class from the school) you will not be "placed". You will need to do work on your own to find your own job. They will help you with various things (resume, cover letters, etc.) but they are not going to do the work of applying and seeking out jobs for you. They might have a job center where alum or golf courses post potential positions there.

I would look at all of your options. SDGA is one. What about transferring to a college that has a PGM program? Remember when you graduate a 4-year institution you will have a degree that will help you if you decide to leave the industry. I had to return to school and it took me almost 3 years to finish my degree in order to have the ticket to enter the race. If you were to sacrifice 3 years now, you will not only have job experience, but the degree if you decide to leave the industry.

As far as being D1...that is all about your skills as a golfer. I don't know what you shoot and I don't know what your grades are. But if you can play and your grades are decent, you might be able to get onto a D1 team.

Finally. Living the dream. While going to SDGA is going to be fun and all of that...just think a little longer term. Shoot you could transfer to San Diego State or USD and do the same thing yet come out with a degree. College is supposed to be fun, especially for someone of your age. I just finished as a re-entry student and it was not bad.

Personally, I would stick in the 4-year, enjoy, build some life long friends, and have a blast. Jobs in the golf industry are down now anyhow. Plus you can get any job you would get after SDGA, with a degree and playing resume from college, it might just take a year or two longer. But at the end of the day, if you want to live the dream, the last year in college might be that for many. Just a thought.

Good luck

You should focus on getting your education, get your degree and try to get a job that pays well. After you make some money, you can then to REALLY enjoy your hobby of golfing.

Seriously, do you really want to be a club pro and give lessons to the people that are REALLY enjoying the hobby. I've seen the life of a club pro, not worth it IMO. You can make so much more money just being a sales rep for a company that sells products you don't really even care about. You want to be a rep in the golf business, selling retail clubs to golf stores, that job sux. Driving around, talking to people who don't know what WRX is and have no idea what the pros are really playing. That's fun, good times.

Think about who is having fun when it comes to golf. The guy writing scores down on the Titleist logoed cardboard scorecard sheets, or the guys standing there waiting for him to do it. Right, it's the guys waiting, because they made a nice little nut selling helicopter parts to Bangkok, who can afford the $29,000/year to be a member of the club. Club pros are like a stick of chewing gum, fresh and minty at the beginning, and then after a while, they start to lose their flavor and then they get spit out.

Every club pro that is rich, filthy rich has one of two things. A side business for income, or a rich wife. That's it. Have fun teaching women and children how to play golf.

College is a business, they don't care about teaching you anything, they care about taking your money and giving you a piece of paper that doesn't do anything except keep you out of a McDonalds flipping burgers. You need to develop your own skills, start doing P90X today, learn martial arts, become hardened to the world and everything that will be thrown at you when you leave college. Take no prisoners, and if anything become a businessman and create products for the world to enjoy. Don't become another typical consumerist American, do something with your life that revolves around the profit motive. Go to a business school, learn business.

Ahhh, the joys of cynicism. A young sprout like yourself, thinking he's going to be rubbing shoulders with Mickelson and Els. Maybe you will, maybe you won't, maybe the world ends in 2012. The choice is yours and yours alone, like Ole Mac used to say on the Nickelodeon show Secrets of the Hidden Temple. Ya know the one, where the host would propel from the ceiling. His name was Kirk Fog, Kirk F'n Fog. He wanted to become a club pro, and he ended up hosting a kids show on station that slimed celebrities in the 90's. I hope you are reading all of these things, and I know that the real tdk8180 is going to probably kill me when he reads this tommorow. He shall learn his lesson for leaving his laptop on the kitchen table, with his ALMIGHTY WRX page up. He can't live with out it, what would he do with out the almight WRX.

I bid you adieu young man, may your wings take dream.

Get a degree.

I think getting the degree would be a better way to go my friend. I know, I sound like the typical no fun guy, but it's really the smarter move. It seems liek you have your mind made up to leave college and go and might be looking for someone to help you find solid reasons?

Stay in the UNIVERSITY system and get that degree. A four year degree is very important and you'll need that to compete in the REAL world. -That is unless you are Doogie Howser or related to Gates or Buffett.

You can always go back to a PGCC type school after. Also, National University now has a golf curriculum.

Good Luck.

You need to stay where you are at. You are privileged enough to be playing golf at the D2 level and getting a real education in the process.

SDGA and all of the schools or their ilk, are nothing more than beauty schools for golfers, their are one track focused and not worth much outside of golf.

Enjoy your college years playing golf on a team and going to school, they are the best years of your life.

NMSU. (New Mexico State University) PGM Program, Year round golf

[quote name='JimmyP91' date='22 March 2010 - 01:29 AM' timestamp='1269235786' post='2332600']
hey guys,

help me out.. idk if i want to stay at missouri southern state university, and continue to be a student and a golfer there... or if i should move to san diego and [b]join the san diego golf academy, and work on my pga stuff[/b].

i know that i am going to wind up working in the golf industry because thats what i have a passion for, and since the s.d. golf academy places u into a career when u graduate i figure this might be the way to go..

not to mention... san diego.. perfect weather..
and it would be a great place for me to try to accomplish my main goal of playing professional golf.

any help would be appreciated

if you have anything negative whatsoever to say..
do not post it.. cuz really nothing negative would be relevant ..

thanks
jimmy
[/quote]

The San Diego Golf Academy doesn't work on PGA stuff...

When you say your main goal is to play professional golf, does that imply the PGA Tour?

I would encourage you to think about what it is [b]specifically[/b] you want to do in the golf industry first...

PGA membership has its privileges, not always necessary in some situations, but definitely helps in others...

Spend some time identifying what you really want to do, [b]specifically,[/b] and write them down in order according to what you most want to do...

nobody [b]ever[/b] regrets getting a degree from a university.

College is the best time of your life.

stay in a real college.

hey guys,

 

help me out.. idk if i want to stay at missouri southern state university, and continue to be a student and a golfer there... or if i should move to san diego and join the san diego golf academy, and work on my pga stuff.

 

i know that i am going to wind up working in the golf industry because thats what i have a passion for, and since the s.d. golf academy places u into a career when u graduate i figure this might be the way to go..

 

not to mention... san diego.. perfect weather..

and it would be a great place for me to try to accomplish my main goal of playing professional golf.

 

any help would be appreciated

 

if you have anything negative whatsoever to say..

do not post it.. cuz really nothing negative would be relevant ..

 

thanks

jimmy

Hey Jimmy,

Get your degree.

I can infer that more likely than not, you are a smart young man (heck, you got college credits from high school advanced classes!). If golf and the golfing industry is your passion, take advantage of both and play in college. As DRGJR72 said, it may only take a year or two longer, yet it also can open doors in the corporate aspect of golf companies or anywhere else for that matter.

Youth is a time of energy and passion as most (if not all!) of the fortysomething WRXer's will attest, but it is also a time when we can make MANY mistakes that can bear dire consequences for the rest of one's life. Not getting a degree would be one of those. You do not know if you will still have the same passion for golf in 10, 5 or for that matter 1 year from now (although i suspect you will!) and your degree will not be an impediment to pursue it, yet not having it can taint your future.

If you want to go into the golf business, then go ahead! Just make sure you have ALL the tools at your disposal to assure you that you will NOT disqualify yourself of an opportunity for being 'underqualified'.

My advice to you would be, follow your heart, but let your brain decide. Just my 2¢ worth.

Wish you all the best!!

J.R.

Get your degree. You can do anything in golf with a degree, without a degree your options are going to be limited

Stay in school and get your degree

I agree with everyone else here. Stay in school and finish your degree and work on your game, you won't regret it. Once you complete your degree you can always attend the golf academy. This way if the academy doesn't work out you always have your degree to fall back on. It's not always guaranteed but it's better than not having anything at all. Plus, you have youth on your side so there's no time strain.

Get your degree.

If you're in a hurry, go to summer school ... but get your degree.

It appears Golfwrx sentiment is unanimous...and off to San Diego he'll go!

It appears Golfwrx sentiment is unanimous...and off to San Diego he'll go!

C'mon Borthwick, let's hope that he listens to us, the 'old WRXer's'!!!

Beacuse old WRXer's RULE!!!

J.R.

I have to agree with everyone, get your degree. The SDGA doesn't give you anything towards the PGA, you would still have to go through the apprentice program.

You will be more valuable to any golf club with a degree anyway, it will seperate you from others.

Just my 2 cents!

I will say what most pros in the business say: If you want to play golf, do not get in the golf business.

Get your degree. In the long run that will help you out more in the working world and counts for more than going to a school that is purely focused on golf.

If you really want to transfer, do it for the right reasons. I changed schools 2 time through my college career (starting out playing soccer got hurt transferred, went to next school hated it and left to another one) and it is a royal pain. If anything transfer to the best academic school you can and go from there. Pursuing a career in golf with a real 4yr degree will give you much more of a leg up than going to a trade school.

Get your degree. Do many of those enrolled in PGM programs play on their school's golf team? I briefly looked into the program at Miss State until the director said he didn't like for his students to be on the golf team.

Take this is from someone that hires BS/MBA trainees.  Stay in college and get your degree.  Way to many people give up college in favor of attempting golf only to realize they are not going to be on tour, the golf world is downsizing and it doesn't pay very well too boot.  

It's better to have a degree from a college/university then a certificate or AA from a golf school.  If we extrapolate out five years it's likely not to be much different.  Having a BA/BS credential to rely upon puts you in a much better position then all the guys and gals with PGA certificates.  Besides you can always do the golf thing after college; it's less likely the other way around.

Old WRX'ers know way more then the youngsters.  We've paid our dues and having been through it.

lol..

thanks everyone..
seems as if i have some more thinking to do...

college is obviously the way to go.. but my parents ARE moving to cali..
so it looks as if i will be applying to ucsd.. usd.. etc etc..
thanks
jp

Jimmy, I welcome you as a resident af the San Diego area. Perhaps you could apply for an internship at one of the OEM's based here. It would be a great experience for you and also help you cultvate some contacts. Remember its not always what you know, but who you know. Get your degree first and then pursue your dream.

STAY AND GET A DEGREE!! As a graduate of the SDGA I can honestly say it was the biggest waste of money ever for me. Please feel free to PM me for further details.