Opinion & Analysis

Chasing the dream: The different paths to a Tour card

Published

14 years ago

Sep 14, 2012

Matt Stansfield

By Matt Stansfield

GolfWRX Contributor

Many golfers who want to take their game to the next level and aspire to play golf professionally want to know what’s the best road to take.

Within Canada, the number of players choosing to cross the boarder to pursue the college route seems to increase every year. It’s an opportunity for a player to immerse themselves in a culture within the college community while gaining great coaching and tournament experience as part of the golf team. While that option will work for a large percentage of golfers, others here in Canada have chosen to stay closer to home whether that’s by way of the Canadian Tour or a local professional tour such as the Vancouver Golf Tour.

There has been talk that the Canadian Tour could potentially become the PGA Tour’s newest third-tier tour and be renamed the PGA Tour of Canada. Why should this potential take over be of interest to aspiring professional golfers across Canada and the U.S.? Well, the PGA Tour has remodeled its qualifying system and Q-school graduates will now gain their cards on the second-tier Web.com Tour. The PGA Tour of Canada could join the PGA Tour’s newly launched LatinoAmerica Tour as another option for golfers to chase their dream.

At the end of the season, the top players on the PGA Tour of Canada could be promoted to the Web.com Tour and would be that one step closer to realizing their dream of playing on the PGA Tour.

If the PGA Tour of Canada or LatinAmerica Tour seem like something you’d want to pursue, be prepared to live out of the back of your car and live on your sandwich of choice because unless you’ve secured financial backing, it’s a large investment to make if you’re not getting it done on the course week in and week out. If you’re only making $500 each event but you’ve treated yourself to more comfortable accommodation and paid the tournament entry fee, you entered red figures. Unfortunately for you, it was while looking at your bank account instead of the leaderboard.

This above scenario is why current Web.com Tour and Canadian Tour member Adam Hadwin chose to stay even closer to home and chase his dream by playing on the Vancouver Golf Tour; a local Professional tour that provides a place to play for both professionals and amateurs alike at a minimal cost. When Hadwin started playing on the Vancouver Golf Tour, he wasn’t a PGA of Canada Professional nor was he a Canadian Tour member, but he had turned professional and needed a place to play. After an initial $2000 loan, Hadwin would go on to make over $12,000 in just nine events on the Vancouver Golf Tour and has since gone on to make over $550,000 professionally.

If you’re looking to chase your dream and the college route isn’t the direction you want to go, look to the Vancouver Golf Tour or a local Professional Tour in your area and start realizing your dream of one day playing on the PGA Tour.

Click here for more discussion in the “Tour Talk” forum.

Opinion & Analysis

AVL: My U.S. Amateur local qualifying experience

Published

5 days ago

Jun 5, 2026

Andrew Von Lossow

This past Monday, I played in the U.S. Amateur local qualifier at Rock Creek Country Club in Portland, Oregon. A full tee sheet from 7:30 a.m. to 1:55 p.m., the top 11 scores would make it to the U.S. Amateur final qualifying.

I teed off at 10:48 a.m.. With the 7:30 am tee time, you can get a feel for the leaders’ pace, and they were off and running on the challenging setup at Rock Creek.

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Getting to the highlight of the round on the par five 17th, a drive up the left side and 212 yards left to the front hole location. I took out a 5-iron with plans of middle of the green. The ball ended up 8 feet left of the hole, pin high. A slight downhill putt dropped in for an eagle 3 on the 17th. With the cut line looking to be anywhere from -2 to even par. This was the boost I had been waiting for all day.

With making par from the trees on 18, it was time to wait for a potential playoff with a posted score of one under par 71.

Three hours later, it was playoff time. 8 players for 6 spots. I made par on the playoff hole, which was good enough to advance to the U.S. Amateur final qualifying in July. USGA qualifiers sure deliver on all of the emotions in golf!

Club Junkie

Building my 2026 gamer WITB: Ranking the contenders and new putter projects – Club Junkie Podcast

Published

7 days ago

Jun 4, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

The annual What’s In The Bag build is underway, and on this episode of Club Junkie, Brian breaks down the clubs currently leading the race for a spot in his 2026 gamer setup. From drivers and fairway woods to irons, wedges, and shafts, he ranks the equipment that’s performing best and explains what’s separating the front runners from the rest of the field.

Brian also heads into the workshop to discuss several putter projects currently on the bench. From head options and shaft choices to build ideas and testing plans, he shares what he’s working on and which putters could become serious contenders for the bag this season.

If you’re a gear junkie who loves equipment testing, club building, and the never-ending pursuit of the perfect setup, this episode is for you.

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Club Junkie

Tour Edge Exotics mini driver review + TaylorMade Spider ZT Max first look – Club Junkie

Published

2 weeks ago

May 28, 2026

Brian Knudson

On this episode of Club Junkie, I put the new Tour Edge Exotics Mini Driver to the test and break down the performance, forgiveness, distance, and where it fits compared to a traditional driver or strong fairway wood. If you have been curious about adding a mini driver to the bag, this one is worth a look.

I also dive into the new TaylorMade Spider ZT Max putter that was recently spotted and discuss the growing zero torque putter trend. Plus, there is a closer look at the new Project X Titan Yellow shaft showing up on the PGA Tour and what makes it different from other profiles currently out there.