Golf is a wonderful game enjoyed by millions and millions of men, women, and children across the country - often on a daily basis. For many, the game has reached a level where making a career move to find employment in the golf industry is a very real option. Unfortunately, making a living on the pro tour is typically not an option - the travel, the long hours of practice, and frankly, your handicap is just a little too high. However, there are many golf employment and career opportunities that exist aside from playing in the Masters.
 
One option is to teach the game of golf. This is a very diverse and open golf employment cookie jar to reach your hand into. Apart from being a private golf instructor, one may find golf employment opportunities as a teacher or director of a golf school vacation venue. Another opportunity would be working as a golf teaching professional in one of the thousands of private and public golf clubs in this nation. Furthermore, the golf teaching industry, which is a rather significant subset of the golf industry as a whole, has created various golf employment opportunities in specialty trades, such as golf club fitting, video swing analysis, or mental game consulting.
 
If teaching the fundamentals of the swing is not your thing, you could consider working in retail - helping avid golfers such as yourself - identify and purchase new golf products. From golf shoes, to golf clubs, to golf accessories, you will find these for sale at over 16,000 golf courses (almost all of them with standalone proshops) and over 2,500 independent and chain golf item retailers. This golf employment opportunity provides chances to work directly with golfers as well as being the 'first in' when it comes to experimenting with new equipment, devices, gadgets...and of course, the newest trends in clothing.
 
If the 'corporate' lifestyle is more inline with your career desires, there is certainly no lack of golf employment options. While you might not be out on the golf course, there are thousands of golf manufacturers and golf companies that have an entire corporate structure. Callaway, for instance, has over 3,000 employees and over $800 million in annual sales. An environment like that demands savvy people to work in finance, marketing, administration, product development, and various other aspects. This golf employment venue offers the opportunity to apply your love of the game of golf to basic business operations and functions.
 
From another business standpoint, golf employment openings can be found at clubs and courses as a club manager or director. More than being the golf teacher or pro shop manager, this golf job requires strong business management skills to help the club grow and essentially stay in business. The game of golf is great, but if the bills cannot be paid, then there will be no place for yourself and countless others of avid golfers to tee-off and enjoy a round of 18. Golf club management requires a special blend of business and personal/social skills along with a desire to see the game of golf grow and be enjoyed by the members and customers.
 
With over 16,000 golf courses and millions of people taking up the greens every year, golf maintenance is another golf employment track to consider. From cart repair and agronomy to merchandising and being the superintendent of a golf facility, there are countless options to consider. Taking care of the golf course and ensuring that the landscape, facilities, and equipment are up to par may be considered by some to be a thankless job. However, realizing that without your involvement, the game of golf would not be allowed to grow and be enjoyed by swarms of golfers, certainly has its rewards.
 
Since the golf industry is so immense with over 25 million golfers in America, it can potentially can reach into many aspects of our lives and there are many ancillary golf employment opportunities that exist in the hospitality industry (hotels, motels, travel), event planning (for charities, schools, corporate events), and speciality industries. Often, you can combine two or more of your passions (with one being golf, of course), to find more than just golf employment, but a rewarding career.