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A lot of people would kill for the chance to play golf for a living, and Ben Griffin has been able to do exactly that since turning pro in 2018. While he’s racked up over $2 million during his time on the PGA Tour, he’s also had to fork over a fair amount of money to compete in the first place.
The Chapel Hill native played golf at the University of North Carolina before taking his talents to the Korn Ferry Tour in 2018, and while he temporarily stepped away from the game to take a job as a loan officer for a mortgage company, he was able to earn his PGA Tour card after playing a round with the CEO of an investment firm who agreed to back him financially to help him pursue his dream.
While Griffin is still in pursuit of his first PGA Tour victory, he tied for third at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship in 2022, finished in the 63rd spot in the FedEx Cup rankings, and capped off his inaugural season with a grand total of $2,008,294 in prize money.
However, as he noted in a recent TikTok, he also has plenty of expenses to deal with on a weekly basis while competing in tournaments around the world.
@bengriffingolf Traveling ain’t cheap! How much I spend a week on tour #golf #pgatour #travel
As Griffin notes, he (like virtually every golfer on the PGA Tour) doesn’t have to worry about paying for clubs, balls, and other equipment and is able to take advantage of the courtesy vehicles players can use to get around after arriving at an event.
With that said, being a PGA Tour golfer isn’t cheap when you take a look at the many other weekly expenses he has to take care of himself, including:
- Airfare: $500-$1,500
- Hotels: $1,200 to $4,000
- Food: $500-$700
- Caddy: $2,000 (plus a cut of any earnings)
- Gas: $50-$100
- Locker room tip: $50-$300
- Miscellaneous tips: $100-$200
Based on those numbers, a “cheap” week (without the caddy’s percentage taken into account) would set Griffin back $4,400, while the most expensive would come in at $8,800.
As he notes, that doesn’t even account for the money he and other players may drip on coaches, trainers, and travel expenses to bring family members and close friends to tournaments, so while being on the PGA Tour seems like a pretty sweet gig, it’s definitely also a pricey one.