(04-14-2015 07:00 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(04-14-2015 06:09 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  I'd amend DFW's statement to read that most pros were introduced to golf at a very young age, and that has been their primary sport while growing up. They don't necessarily come from great wealth or their families belonged to private clubs, but golf dominated their formative years. That would include people like Rory, Tiger and Lee Trevino, whose fathers were obsessed with golf and passed that obsession onto their children. Yes, there is the exception here and there of a golfer who didn't really pick up the sport until his late teens or even college, but more often than not, you see stories about PGA golfers who were handed their first clubs at age 2 (or in Tigers' case, were making their first golfing exhibition at that age on national tv).

I wonder if there ever has been a survey published of professional athletes, and their families average incomes while growing up? Maybe golfers don't all come from wealthy families, but I'd bet their average family income would be at the top or near the top of a chart like that.

Yup. Of course there are exceptions, as there is with everything in life, but I'd be willing to bet that the average PGA golfer comes from a more affluent family backround than any other professional sport, with tennis the only other sport even close in average family income/net worth. Of the major team sports, baseball almost assuredly has the highest family income, and that's one of the reasons Rice, Stanford, UNC, UVA and Vandy can be so competitive (as placing value in education correlates directly with family income).

NCAA skiing and rowing are also probably up there in terms of the income of the athlete's families.

(04-14-2015 07:33 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(04-14-2015 07:00 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Yup. Of course there are exceptions, as there is with everything in life, but I'd be willing to bet that the average PGA golfer comes from a more affluent family backround than any other professional sport, with tennis the only other sport even close in average family income/net worth. Of the major team sports, baseball almost assuredly has the highest family income, and that's one of the reasons Rice, Stanford, UNC, UVA and Vandy can be so competitive (as placing value in education correlates directly with family income).

NCAA skiing and rowing are also probably up there in terms of the income of the athlete's families.

Ditto for NCAA hedge funding.

(04-14-2015 07:37 PM)smackdaddy Wrote:  

(04-14-2015 07:33 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(04-14-2015 07:00 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Yup. Of course there are exceptions, as there is with everything in life, but I'd be willing to bet that the average PGA golfer comes from a more affluent family backround than any other professional sport, with tennis the only other sport even close in average family income/net worth. Of the major team sports, baseball almost assuredly has the highest family income, and that's one of the reasons Rice, Stanford, UNC, UVA and Vandy can be so competitive (as placing value in education correlates directly with family income).

NCAA skiing and rowing are also probably up there in terms of the income of the athlete's families.

Ditto for NCAA hedge funding.

Equestrian has to have the most affluent...