May 28, 2026 · 48 min · 17 segments
This week on The Golfing Mind, we’re taking a different look at the PGA Championship — not through the eyes of the superstars, but through the remarkable stories of the twenty club professionals who…
Robin SiegerHostNo entities detected.
For those of us who are members of golf clubs that have a, a professional golfer in the shop, we see this man or woman turning up early in the morning, sorting out competitions, stocking the shop, giving lessons, advising on equipment, helping members with their game, repairing clubs in some cases indeed.
And not only that, but then trying to play golf themselves to a very decent level.
You know, to qualify as a teaching professional, you have to have a handicap, I'm told, of at least five or better.
Now, what I thought I'd focus on today was the 20 club professionals who qualified for the US PGA.
There's not a professional golfer in the world who didn't or doesn't fantasize about playing on the tour.
As a young man, I, I'm sure like so many of us, fantasized whilst on the practice putting green with a 10-foot putt saying to ourselves, "This for the Open Championship." I don't think anyone ever says, "This for the US PGA." Now, it's either The Open, the US Open, or the Masters.
Even in that great film Caddyshack, when Bill Murray goes, "About to become the Masters champion," it's the stuff of fantasy.
And as young children and teenagers, we fantasize about what would it be like to play on the tour.
In fact, I even wrote my acceptance speech for The Open Championship, which I've never obviously got to deliver because, you know, my plan was perfect.
You know, get down to plus six, turn professional, get a lot of sponsorship, uh, win a couple of tournaments, and then turn up age maybe 19 at The Open Championship, having to pre-qualify in a storm.
And then shooting lights out on the first day and becoming the center of the, uh, media attention, all waiting for me to blow up, uh, which I kind of do at the start of the back nine on the fourth round.
And then I sink a 75-foot putt with three breaks on the 18th to win The Open Championship, and then I deliver my speech.
So when, when I think of all these, uh, 20 club professionals who make it to the, to the major league, how must that feel for them? Because they're going to experience, believe me, more pressure than they've ever experienced before.
And I actually think, and I tip my hat to each and every one of them, even when you look at the final scores on the second day and you see some person whose name you've never seen before, and it goes plus 23You know, they're 23 over par for 36 holes.
But what can we ordinary human beings learn from, from these men? And I, I think the answer is quite a lot.
Because strangely enough, club professionals often possess mental qualities many elite amateurs completely overlook.
Well, of course, maybe one did or two, but the majority of them got there through hard work.
And the qualities that get you there is resilience, you know, adaptability, having a good perspective, emotional control, being accepting, humility, patience.
But most of all, and the one that I think is critical for the club professional over the touring professional, is they love the game.
For those of us who are members of golf clubs that have a, a professional golfer in the shop, we see this man or woman turning up early in the morning, sorting out competitions, stocking the shop, giving lessons, advising on equipment, helping members with their game, repairing clubs in some cases indeed.
And not only that, but then trying to play golf themselves to a very decent level.
You know, to qualify as a teaching professional, you have to have a handicap, I'm told, of at least five or better.
Now, what I thought I'd focus on today was the 20 club professionals who qualified for the US PGA.
There's not a professional golfer in the world who didn't or doesn't fantasize about playing on the tour.
As a young man, I, I'm sure like so many of us, fantasized whilst on the practice putting green with a 10-foot putt saying to ourselves, "This for the Open Championship." I don't think anyone ever says, "This for the US PGA." Now, it's either The Open, the US Open, or the Masters.
Even in that great film Caddyshack, when Bill Murray goes, "About to become the Masters champion," it's the stuff of fantasy.
And as young children and teenagers, we fantasize about what would it be like to play on the tour.
In fact, I even wrote my acceptance speech for The Open Championship, which I've never obviously got to deliver because, you know, my plan was perfect.
You know, get down to plus six, turn professional, get a lot of sponsorship, uh, win a couple of tournaments, and then turn up age maybe 19 at The Open Championship, having to pre-qualify in a storm.
And then shooting lights out on the first day and becoming the center of the, uh, media attention, all waiting for me to blow up, uh, which I kind of do at the start of the back nine on the fourth round.
And then I sink a 75-foot putt with three breaks on the 18th to win The Open Championship, and then I deliver my speech.
So when, when I think of all these, uh, 20 club professionals who make it to the, to the major league, how must that feel for them? Because they're going to experience, believe me, more pressure than they've ever experienced before.
And I actually think, and I tip my hat to each and every one of them, even when you look at the final scores on the second day and you see some person whose name you've never seen before, and it goes plus 23You know, they're 23 over par for 36 holes.
But what can we ordinary human beings learn from, from these men? And I, I think the answer is quite a lot.
Because strangely enough, club professionals often possess mental qualities many elite amateurs completely overlook.
Well, of course, maybe one did or two, but the majority of them got there through hard work.
And the qualities that get you there is resilience, you know, adaptability, having a good perspective, emotional control, being accepting, humility, patience.
But most of all, and the one that I think is critical for the club professional over the touring professional, is they love the game.
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