I decided to write this post based completely on my experience. The transition from an amateur player to a professional is going to be different for every player. If you have been playing huge amateur events, then playing a local pro tournament will probably feel no different to you. However, if you only ever played local amateur tournaments, then going pro will be a bigger transition than you might have thought.

I went pro in May of 2017. I had played as an amateur for a year and a half at the time. The biggest amateur tournament I ever played was Collegiate Nationals. The tournament that I first played Open at was Two Days in May in Spotsylvania Virginia. It is an A-tier and drew some decently well-known pros. The first thing that I noticed was the fact that I didn’t get a players pack. This will depend completely on the tournament, but for the most part you end up paying more for the tournament and get no players pack. There is nothing wrong about this, but it did catch me off guard at first. The next thing that I noticed a difference in was the skill and professionalism of the players. Now keep in mind that Two Days in May is not an average big tournament when it comes to professionalism. Not saying that as a bad thing necessarily, but it was not your typical A-tier vibe in my opinion. This was still a big difference for me in going from an Am to a Pro. The players took themselves and the game much more serious than the majority of players that I had played with in the past. This made me feel more pressure to perform and execute every shot during my rounds. Playing in this environment was more fun to me than playing in an environment where nobody really cared. The best way to describe the seriousness of the play is like being on lead card at an amateur event. Each player took themselves seriously, but we still talked and joked and had fun during the round. Personally, this style of play helped me improve drastically in between my ears. My mental game was boosted by adapting to the professional mindset. Once I started to believe in myself and take my own game serious, I started to notice that bad shots did not affect me nearly as much as they used to. I was and am able to bounce back quickly after bad holes instead of letting them change the rest of my round. I also noticed an increase in my focus during the round. Knowing that I’m playing Open makes me feel like I need to execute every shot because I know a stroke is many times the difference between cashing and walking away with nothing.

So with all that being said, how can you prepare to move up or apply these things to your game now? I think that the biggest thing that you should focus on as an amateur is taking yourself seriously and being confident in the skillset that you have now. I am not saying do not have fun playing, but if your goal is to be at the top of the sport, there is going to come a time where you have to take your game and yourself serious. I think that the transition will be a lot smoother if you begin doing that and playing with a pro mindset as an amateur before you move up. I also think that you will be surprised at how much you can improve your game by simply changing what goes on inside your head. Always have fun and stay positive, but act like you expect a professional athlete to act and carry yourself in that manor. You will be surprised by the results.

Want a better mental game? Check out this book!