'You See A Lot Of Guys Who Will Start The Season But Run Out Of Money' - Pro Details Brutal Reality Of Finances In Mini-Tour Golf

With hundreds of millions of dollars in prize money floating around at the top end of the men's game, the race to reach the world's leading circuits is as fierce as ever.

The ultimate aim for most is the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour or the LIV Golf League, with comfortable earnings available in several other tours beside.

Those three main tours are where the 'guaranteed' money is, though, with LIV offering at least $50,000 to the bottom finishers in each of its 57-man events while the other two give out stipends to those whose earnings fall below a certain mark.

The DP World Tour will provide players with up to $150,000 each providing they play 18 events in a season, and it's possible to ask for $20,000 up front if people prefer. Meanwhile, the PGA Tour's version measures up at $500,000, so no one is struggling to make ends meet there.

But in order to try and make it, players and their teams will have to take a huge gamble.

And that often starts with grinding to earn promotion via mini-tour golf, of which there are dozens of small satellite tours around the world but only a select few promotion spots on the line in each.

While the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is significant, the cost of simply breaking even in as high as the third tier of pro golf can end the dream for plenty.

Piers Berrington is a pro currently plying his trade on the Clutch Tour - which is based in England - and admits he has seen "loads" of his peers call time on their careers due to a lack of funds.

The 29-year-old turned to the paid ranks himself eight years ago following an 18-month stint at West Texas University and has been toiling hard to realize his dream ever since.

Berrington, who has 10 professional titles under his belt, has flirted with the HotelPlanner and DP World Tour on occasion but is yet to firmly cement a place where the cash flows a little more freely.

Speaking to Golf Monthly, the man who began his golfing journey as a teenager playing Walton Heath explained how much most pros at his level are spending per season and offered a rough breakdown in terms of where the money goes.

Berrington said: "Let me give you a breakdown of a Clutch event, for example. So you have £500 ($670) entry to play the event, you have £20 ($27) for the course guide.

"You have your Airbnb. So let's say what's an average on Airbnbs. If you're traveling with a few people, I'm traveling with a few boys this year. So it's working out some weeks you go to cheaper places.

"We were up in Skegness and we was able to get a three-bedroom place which cost us... I think it was £150 for the whole week.

"Average, you're looking at around £200 ($268), let's say. So, you've got £500 ($670) entry, £20 ($27) for your course planner, let's say £200 ($268) for your accommodation for the week. £100 ($134) in petrol, and then a bit of food and other bits and bobs.

"You kind of spend £100 ($134) on like some snacks or going out, even eating at your place... let's say you're looking at something like £900 ($1200) a week.

"Then it depends on how many coaches you've got. I have a full swing coach, I have a putting coach, I have a chipping coach, I have a psychologist and I have a personal trainer. I have five trainers. So if you're seeing them every month, that becomes expensive in its own thing, but you're investing in yourself.

"In an average year, if you're going and playing a winter tour as well, so you're playing a full season on a tour... I would throw out a ball-park figure of £40,000 ($53,590) is around what most guys would be spending on this level. I reckon £40,000 for a season."

The figure Berrington quoted is clearly changeable, with some players preferring to try and spend as little money as possible by any means necessary while others see splashing out on a nicer place to sleep, for example, as an investment in the long run.

This is why a variety of sponsorships for players like Berrington is absolutely vital at this stage of their careers - helping them drastically reduce the deficit as they chase one of only three HotelPlanner Tour cards on the Clutch Tour every year.

Players are likely to have club deals and clothing agreements which could be worth in the region of $10,000-$20,000, but they still often require further support from local businesses and wealthy contacts to reach the £40,000 ($53,590) mark Berrington quoted.

And even then, it's incredibly tough to ensure a player's outgoings do not exceed their income. Ultimately, the key to increasing their chances of progressing is simply by playing well and trying to make as much money through performances as possible.

However, that's pretty tough in the third tier and beyond. Prize purses on the Clutch Tour are £50,000 ($67,000) a time and feature fields of 150 players or so - at least at the start of the season.

Berrington, who finished T7th and T6th most recently and sits inside the top-20 of the Clutch Tour rankings at time of writing, shared how few players make a profit each week.

He said: "You win £8,000 for winning. I finished T6th last week and won £1,600 I think it was. So you've covered your costs, but you've had to finish sixth that week.

"Say you spend £900 on average a week, you've got to finish [17th] or better out of 150 players. And there are a lot of good golfers."

To highlight the 29-year-old's point, players like Paul Waring, Chris Wood, Dominic Clemons and Chase Hanna have all played Clutch events - be it Tier 1 or Tier 2 - this season.

Berrington also shared he's regularly seen other DP World Tour pros at the level over the years, including a certain Aaron Rai once Covid restrictions were first lifted in 2020.

With such a high quality of field to compete against and an insufficient level of prize money to supplement everyone who makes the cut, Berrington admitted the people he shares the driving range with in April are not always the people he continues to practice with in August.

Asked if he knows anyone who has the ability to play pro golf at a higher level but has been forced to walk away due to financial constraints, Berrington said: "Loads of players. Yeah. Loads of players...

"Or you see a lot of guys who will start the season and run out of money. They'll start the season, let's say they have £20,000 and once that's gone - if they haven't had a good season where they're not making any money - they can't play anymore. I think that's what you see more.

"You see more at the end of the season the fields drop off a lot because boys just can't afford to do it anymore.

"In the three main categories [in Europe], so your DP World Tour, your HotelPlanner Tour and your mini tour, the mini tours are the least money but they're the most expensive entry fees.

"So, for example, when you go up to HotelPlanner Tour, you only pay 50 euros ($58) to enter. You then pay 30 euros ($35) for a yardage book. And then you have to pay flights, which I don't know, they're like £200 ($268) or so, ballpark.

"You hire a car, £100 ($134), accommodation, £200 ($268). So, you're kind of around the same or maybe even a little bit less some weeks on your expenses but you're playing for 300,000 euros ($350,000) whereas we're playing for 58,000 euros ($67,000). So you're playing for six times the amount and it's costing you the same or cheaper."

As you may have worked out by now, it's no picnic trying to make it to the top in pro golf and the love of the journey has to remain for players to continue grinding for years and years - something Berrington is adamant he retains as he speaks to me from the picturesque Gloria Golf Resort near Antalya, Turkey.

He said: "You have to stay very grounded and in your own lane with how you're feeling because, you see so many guys come and go and you become mates with these guys and everything.

"You see who they are and everything and then they throw the towel in, and it's like you've really got to just stay in your own lane and trust what you're doing because some people can't take it."