Balancing expenses, sussing out good deals par for the course for these pro golfers
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American golfer Hannah Gregg saves on costs by getting her fiance to be her caddie.
PHOTO: HANNAH GREGG/FACEBOOK
SEOUL – There was once in the early days of her professional career that Argentinian golfer Magdalena Simmermacher’s bank balance stood at $0 as she waited for payments from previous tournaments.
The 28-year-old, who turned professional in 2019, considers herself fortunate as her parents have always been supportive of her golfing ambitions, especially since there were not many sponsors from her country.
The world No. 494 said: “I did worry, but I did know that they were supporting me. Every time you win some money, you get more excited and you plan better.
“It’s a relief when you do earn money to keep playing but you just concentrate and keep doing what you’re doing and the results will come.”
The cost of being a touring professional can easily pile up. That was the case for Simmermacher who had to travel to the United States and Europe to compete as there were not many opportunities in Argentina.
“If you miss cuts, you’re wasting a lot of money and you have to keep believing in yourself to get to the next level,” she said on the sidelines of the May 10-12 Aramco Team Series – Korea tournament in Seoul.
Even those who make the cut may not break even and it is a feeling that fellow professional and world No. 1,320 Hannah Gregg can relate to.
In April, she shared on social media that it cost her US$3,672 (S$5,000) to get to the Ladies European Tour’s Women’s NSW Open in Australia. This included things like flights, a work visa and food.
Gregg managed to save on a caddie – with fiance and fellow professional Fredrik Lindblom on her bag sometimes – and accommodation as she stayed with a host family. She placed 54th that week and earned US$1,144.29.
The 29-year-old American said: “After finding the funding to get started, you have to have enough funding for the bad and good weeks because your performance is not always going to be enough to keep you going. When you’re playing bad and you’re tallying up the numbers of how much it costs in your head, it’s kind of difficult to want to keep going.”
Others like world No. 580 Katja Pogacar try to avoid worrying too much about costs, but that involves thorough planning as she trawls the internet for the cheapest Airbnbs, flights and car rentals.
At the start of the year, she plans her schedule and makes sure she has the finances to fund it.
Hannah Gregg also does online content creation and co-runs a golf practice aid company to supplement her income.
PHOTO: ARAMCO TEAM SERIES KOREA
Pogacar also does not have a professional caddie with her, an expense she says would set her back by a four-figure sum weekly. Instead, the 30-year-old Slovene chooses to go with local caddies or rent an electric trolley during tournaments.
She said: “I made a deal with myself not to think about cost because then it affects my golf. If I need to stop, I would stop at some point without getting into debt. But so far, it’s been pretty good, I have some support from home but everything else is good management.”
But there are also trade-offs with these cost-cutting measures. Once in 2021, she opted to take a route with a 16-hour stopover to get to a tournament in Saudi Arabia. That decision may have ended up costing her more as the airline lost her clubs and she was reunited with them only five days later.
Katja Pogacar plans her schedule carefully to make sure she has enough funding for the tournaments she is playing.
PHOTO: ARAMCO TEAM SERIES
Sharing accommodation is another cost-cutting method for many players as Gregg often looks for hosting options.
The American also looked for alternative streams of income, such as sponsorship deals and online content creation, even before she turned professional.
Gregg and Lindblom also started Short Game Gains, a company that produces golf practice aids, in 2020.
While she is grateful to have a support system that makes juggling her various commitments more manageable, Gregg hopes there will come a day when she focuses more on golf as she works towards her goal of being on the LPGA Tour.
Making it to the Olympics after an injury ended her hopes of competing at the Tokyo Games is a driving force for Pogacar, while Simmermacher is chasing a win on the LET and hopefully, the LPGA one day.
Gregg said: “I remember I was not playing great (in 2023), I wasn’t having lots of fun on the golf course but there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”
