How Many Pro Golfers Are There? [A Lot]

The PGA Tour is home to plenty of the best golfers in the world including the likes of Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods.

However, outside of the sphere of tour players, the game of golf has a whole host of other professional golfers that you’ll see at the local golf club.

So how many professional golfers are there in the world? Let’s take a look.

How Many Pro Golfers Are There?

How Many Pro Golfers In The World?

How Many Pro Golfers Are There?

There’s approximately 50,000 professional golfers in the world, from tour players to club professionals.

The PGA of America is home to nearly 29,000 members, all of which are golf professionals. Whilst the PGA, the UK equivalent, has around 8,000 golfers.

Golf is played in over 200 countries and hence there is a large number of club and teaching professionals.

These include teaching professionals of all different qualification levels, who either teach at a golf club, driving range or other golf facilities, as a Head Golf Professional, for example.

It’s very unlikely you’ll ever see a local club professional out competing in PGA Tour events, however, each year the PGA Championship opens up the field to a number of the top players in the PGA Professional Championship, for PGA of America golfers.

Some may occasionally get into a PGA Tour event via Monday qualifiers or sponsor exemptions, however, this is very rarely the case as they just don’t have the time to practice and play to a high enough standard.

Alongside the teaching professional golfers, there’s also the pros that don’t necessarily coach and may make their living working in the golf club operations rather than coaching golfers.

Then you’ve got the golf professional that plays on the mini-tours. These players will still be trying to earn their PGA Tour card, so will spend a lot of time travelling around on the smaller tours which offer very low prize funds but give a chance to compete and gain experience.

Only a small percentage of golfers actually play and will ever play on the PGA Tour. Other tours such as the Korn Ferry Tour and the European Tour (DP World Tour) will also have many top professional golfers, however, the goal for most is to become a PGA Tour player and bag a PGA Tour win.

Final Thoughts

Only a very few golf professionals will ever hold PGA Tour cards. It’s sometimes easy to forget, but the top PGA Tour players we see week in and week out are only a tiny proportion of professional players in the world of golf.

It’s great to watch the likes of Rory McIlroy ripping it up at the US Open, but it’s also great to have a knowledgeable coach who can help fix your slice when you need it.

FAQs

How many pro golfers are in the PGA?

The PGA of America has almost 29,000 golf professionals, which includes both touring pros such as Tiger Woods and Rickie Fowler, as well as teaching and club pros.

How many golf professionals are there in the UK?

The PGA in the UK has over 8,000 members, including those working in the UK and many more working abroad.

How many golf professionals are there in the US?

The US has approximately 30,000 golf professionals. These golfers range from those playing on the PGA Tour or in Korn Ferry Tour events to teaching pros at the local driving range.

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