Amateurism is, once again, on my mind. 

Maybe it’s because the U.S. Am at Merion is around the corner, or maybe it’s because every mid-am meme I post on Twitter generates 100k organic impressions. 

Amateur golf is and always will be, the lifeblood of the game. Every historic club in the world has a history of hosting renowned amateur championships while continuously holding that side of the game in high regard. 

The definition of an amateur has changed drastically in five years.

Turn on the US Amateur in a few weeks and you will unquestionably see the top players plastered in ads as if they were on TOUR. I don’t have a problem with NIL. The money earned isn’t prize money… and we have to pick our battles as the professional game bleeds evermore into top collegiate play.

The line between pro and amateur has become blurred to the point where I have to wave the white towel here. As long as the USGA allows it, NIL endorsements will continue to proliferate among top amateur players.

In an ideal world, amateurs would turn down sponsorship money, but we live in a Capitalist society, and I can’t blame the college kids for making money where they can. A lucrative professional career is never promised…

As the line between elite college player and professional steadily evaporates, the fever dream of a TOUR card has never been more potent.

Turning professional used to be a difficult decision. Golf was top heavy, in the sense that only the best players made real money. The “mules” of the TOUR weren’t making life-changing dough.

With the sport more popular than ever, it’s become increasingly profitable to turn pro, with a seven-figure payday awaiting any player who earns a TOUR card. The math is now more justifiable than ever, albeit the odds of making it on TOUR remain slim.

The result of this recent shift in economics? A plethora of pros who chased the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, only to discover the leprechaun had left them with no gold and an open door to reinstatement.

Hungry for competition, these professionals now parade themselves into amateur and mid-amateur events. Some even brag about their newly reclaimed status!

I can’t blame them, I can only blame the institutions which have enabled a generation of professional wash outs to plague the mid-am game. More on that in a minute.

Before I lay into the governing bodies, I’d like to tell you what an Amateur is, so we are crystal clear.

In my view, an Amateur is someone who does something simply for the love of doing it. In golf terms, that means that golf cannot have ever been a job. If you’ve ever made a putt or played in a golf tournament to put food on the table for your family, you cannot, by definition, be an amateur.

Extreme, yes, but we have to draw the line somewhere.

The one overlooked element is the timeframe tied to a player’s professional stint.

“Oh BTG, he hasn’t been a pro in years, he isn’t even good anymore!” This rhetoric misses the point entirely.

Time does not matter. It’s not about skill level, it’s about your relationship with the game.

A smart man once told me that incentives drive behaviors. It’s true in most cases. I am failing to grasp why the USGA continues to let professionals contaminate the amateur game. It is not a revenue-generating area for them, in comparison to the major events they put on like the US Open, which generates tens of millions of dollars in revenue. So why let it happen at all?

Is it a side effect of the misplaced “Grow the Game” mantra which has spawned a counter-insurgency of “Shrink” manifestos on Twitter? Or does the USGA simply not care to look after the pure amateurs?

My only thought is they simply don’t perceive the reinstatement influx as a cancerous growth spreading across the competitive side of the game. Which, by the way, is a huge problem!

For an organization tasked with growing the game, how can they turn a blind eye to their most devoted amateur players? The amateur side of golf hardly needs new players, and to estrange this loyal, core group is a disgusting act of betrayal.

As much as it’s easy to point out the pros returning to the Kingdom of Amateur Golf, it’s more important to criticize the underlying foundation which allows them to compete with players who have always played the game under a different set of circumstances.

Shame on the USGA. It’s time to overhaul the system.

In a perfect world, I’d wave a magic wand and instantly ban any pro from competing in amateur events. Sadly, this is neither pragmatic nor realistic, and I’m here to propose an actual solution.

1. Any player who achieved full status on the KFT or PGA Tour cannot regain amateur status. You made your bed. Time to sleep in it.

2. Minimum 10 year waiting period + double the amount of years you were pro. Rewarding the guys who only played a year or two.

3. $10000 reinstatement application cost. It’s going to be painful. I considered adding a % of gross earnings as well. It should hurt.

4. Extensive professional earnings documentation required. No funny math. This leads me to my final point…

5. Panel hearing. Have to plead your case as to why you are worthy of amateur status. This one is my favorite. I’ll hear every case solo if I have to, free of charge. I’d even go so far as to live stream it to make sure everyone understands what the benchmark is. Not every applicant will be awarded amateur status. This isn’t a participation trophy situation.

Other ideas I like:

If you have any other ideas for how to fix this issue in our game today, hit reply to this email and let me know.

A proper golf vest is a critical layering piece when there is a slight chill in the air. It’s not quite cold enough for a full quarter zip or a sweater, but you want to keep your core insulated.

My current rota consists of the H&B King Vest (not a model they make anymore, but I linked their full suite of vests), a Johnnie O Charlton I scored at a recent thrift store, and an SDI TEC vest (the company is defunct, but you can buy their stuff on eBay).

It’s a bit eclectic, but I think you can get creative with brands + fits of vests.

Some other brands and models that are on my mind include Zero Restriction and Kjus. I don’t own either, but I would like to.

I recently started a community for you, the reader, to connect with other readers of this publication. I’ll hop on frequently to discuss anything and everything that is relevant to what is discussed here. I might just make a channel for the sole purpose of discussing amateur reinstatement. Who knows.

Paid subscribers will have exclusive access to channels in the community.

You can join here.

Growing up, my Dad always made us carry a second ball in our back pocket as we played. Pace of play superseded any superstitious thoughts of performance.

Some rounds I never thought about it, and some rounds I had to hit more than a few provisionals. I’ve found it helpful to just quickly re-tee without thinking about how poorly I hit the shot prior. Could just be me, but thought I’d share.

Especially when taking a caddie, you don’t want to have to field a short-hopped toss from center field from an older guy who may or may not risk throwing his shoulder out.

Talk soon,

BTG