FIGURES released by the game's governing bodies show that the number of players abandoning professional golf has remained remarkably constant in recent years. What makes the figures especially intriguing is that they are set against marked increases in those opting for careers in paid ranks.
Last year, the Royal and Ancient had 62 applications for reinstatement, which is only one more than in 1990, though there were fluctuations in between. Meanwhile, the US Golf Association granted reinstatement to 414 players during 1996, compared with an all-time high of 492 in 1982.
Typically, a golfer must complete a two-year waiting period, though the process may he extended or shortened. This reflects the official view that the professional holds an advantage over the amateur by devoting himself to the gamc as his profession, a benefit he doesn't necessarily lose simply by deciding to abandon paid ranks.
"Many young golfers are applying for reinstatement after trying professional golf as a career choice," said Tony Zirpoli of the USGA. "These players are coming back to enjoy the great competition that amateur golf can provide."
That may be so. But it is equally true - certainly on this side of the Atlantic - that more players are remaining as professionals, because of the additional options open to them.
It is also true that players are now far better prepared for the move to paid ranks than their counterparts of 20 years ago. A major element here was the change of rule in 1992, whereby European Tour aspirants could in future compete in the first qualifying stage of the Tour School and still retain their amateur status.
Another key factor, according to Grant Moir of the R and A, has been "the change whereby assistants in a club professional's shop can now do a probationary period and still remain amateurs".
Against that background, it is interesting to note the experience of Francis Howley, who worked as an assistant in the professional shop at Milltown GC, before earning a European Tour card in November 1925. [Having lost that card, he is now competing on the Challenge Tour.
For the benefit of aspiring tournament professionals, the annual Qualifying School was introduced on three UK courses in 1976, when there were 127 cards to be won. A year later, the 36-hole cut in a regular tour event was raised from 50 and ties to 65 and ties.
The next major change came with the introduction of the all-exempt tour in 1985. Then, in 1989, the European Satellite Tour was launched, to be changed to the European Challenge Tour a year later. And in 1991, the number of cards available from the Challenge Tour was raised from five to 10.
Since then, competitors' options have been further broadened by a growth in pro-am competitions at national level, as with the PGA Irish Region. And there are the so-called mini-tours, such as the Howson Tour in Britain and the Florida Tour in the US, where Eoghan O'Connell was successful earlier this month.
"Had those options been available to me, they would have made a huge difference to my chances of becoming a successful professional," said Roddy Carr yesterday. Instead, after playing in the victorious Walker Cup team of 1971, when he took three-and-a-half points out of four, he turned professional only to endure repeated heartbreak before being reinstated as an amateur in 1979.
"It happened to European players on both sides of the Atlantic," he added. "The American way of breaking the spirit of would-be foreign invaders at that time was through the Monday qualifying process. I remember Peter Townsend missing 13 Mondays in a row before eventually throwing in the towel.
"We had a similar situation with pre-qualifying in Europe, where about 100 players would be challenging for eight or nine places. After travelling maybe several hundred miles for that chance, you had to hang around for a week if you failed to make it."
Carr went on: "I remain convinced that I had the ability to make the grade, but I went about it the wrong way. One major mistake I made was not to accept the offer of a golf scholarship from Jessie Haddock (one of the leading college coaches in the US) at Wake Forest. Then there was my inability to achieve the necessary week-to-week consistency that, the professional game demands."
So, through repeated failure on the regular tour, Carr's confidence took a hammering, to the extent that by 1975, which was one of his better years, he picked up an extremely modest £1,442 in prize money.
"If the Challenge Tour had been there then, it would have given me the chance of getting my confidence back, by competing anonymously," he said. "Instead, I reckon I went through two nervous
It is often said that if a player can't win in his home country, he has no business trying to win elsewhere in Europe. Yet Martin Sludds has failed to achieve European Tour success despite twice winning the Irish Professional Championship.
The fact is that there can be no hard and fast rules. So it was that applications to the R and A for reinstatement from players in these islands rose from 100 in 1978 to a record 250 in 1980. One of those casualties, Garry Hay of Scotland, endorsed Carr's view when he said: "I got some terrible advice - I should never have turned pro when I did."
The R and A figures for the last seven years are: 1990 - 61 applications; 1991 - 67; 1992 - 64; 1993 - 71; 1994 - 53; 1995 - 94; 1996 - 62. In the US, the figure for 1989 was 423, compared with 414 last year.
According to Carr, a US scholarship offers Irish players the best preparation for a professional career. As he put it: "If you don't make it at college level, you're wasting your time".
Which means that when the time comes for them to leave the amateur fold, successful US-based players, such as Keith Nolan and Richard Coughlan, stand a splendid chance of making the grade - just as Philip Walton, and Paul McGinley have done.
