Professional Golf—A License to Spend Money? Issues of Money in the Lives of Touring Professional Golfers

Abstract

Drawing on figurational sociology, this article examines issues of money that are central to touring professional golfers' workplace experiences. Based on interviews with 16 professionals, results indicate the monetary rewards available for top golfers continues to increase; however, such recompense is available to relatively small numbers and the majority fare poorly. Results suggest that playing on tour with other like-minded golfers fosters internalized constraints relating to behavior, referred to as "habitus," whereby many players "gamble" on pursuing golf as their main source of income despite the odds against them. Golfers are constrained to develop networks with sponsors for financial reasons, which has left some players with conflicting choices between regular money, and adhering to restrictive contractual agreements, or the freedom to choose between different brands.

‘Friends as enemies’: A sociological analysis of the relationship among touring professional golfers

“…The glamorous portrayal of life on tour sometimes presented by the media is actually far from the ‘truth’, where many players are often terribly lonely and are involved in somewhat superficial relationships characterized by considerable tensions. Players could, of course, leave the tour and take up different occupations, however, such was their deeply rooted involvement in the sport, and the fact that many felt that a big break (or the next tournament win) was just around the corner, that many professionals felt it difficult to disengage from the game, given the large rewards that are also on offer for the most successful (Fry et al, 2015). Thus, whilst many of our participants realized they could make a career out of golf, or by becoming a ‘pro’ within a local club, they continued to put up with the drudgery that can be life on tour for what they perceived to be the potential long term benefits.…”

“…For example, some players said travelling companions helped relieve the logistics of travelling and many had a network of golfers with whom they could share rooms. Sharing rooms appeared to be more common for those who played in tiers lower than the EPGA tour and thus they tried to develop a group of players they could stay with to keep down the costs of pursuing a career in professional golf (Fry et al, 2015). In other words, a similar ‘economy of favors’ (Ursell, 2000: 813) seems to exist amongst professional golfers as it does amongst professional musicians.…”

Financial well-being of sportswomen

“…However, there is a gap in knowledge about individuals who are not full-time employees of an organisation and do not have a stable source of income. These include sportspeople who are often on contract with clubs and are paid in prize money or endorsements (Flake et al 2013, Fry et al 2015. In this regard, sportswomen fare even worse (Clarkson et al 2020, Pavlidis 2020), often on one-year staggered deals with the option to extend each year and this means sports clubs can always access their financial position for the year ahead before committing to anything (Land, 2020).…”

Learning to be a professional football manager: a Bourdieusian perspective

“…It can be understood as what energises the development of a field (Moore, 2012). The general distinction that Bourdieu makes is between economic capital (that which can be directly converted to money) and symbolic capital, which includes sub-3 See also, Fry, Bloyce and Pritchard (2015) who use the concept of habitus to examine how professional golfers make sense of their workplace experiences as they seek to reconcile sporting and financial objectives and pressures. types such as cultural capital (for example, gained through formal education) (Moore, 2012).…”