Golf influencer Paige Spiranac has stepped down, but the end of her professional golf career still doesn’t sit well with her.
On a recent episode of Spiranac’s «Playing A Round» podcast, he recalled the «broken» feeling he had when his year-long career as a professional golfer came to an end.
After playing at the University of Arizona and San Diego State, Spiranac decided to try his hand at the professional circuit after flirting with tennis.
«From the first golf ball I hit, I dedicated everything I had to being a professional golfer,» Spiranac said.
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Paige Spiranac of the United States poses for photographs on day one of the Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic at Emirates Golf Club on May 1, 2019 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Tom Dulat/Getty Images)
Spiranac revealed that growing up, he would constantly work to hone his golf skills.
«I studied at home. I practiced every day, from morning to night. It was my only goal. I was a high-ranking junior golfer and then, at 18, I had to make the decision to go to college or become a professional».
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The 29-year-old added that she and her family believed that playing golf at the college level would give her a chance to be part of a team, but said she eventually began to grow frustrated with her lack of success.
«So many growing pains. I was burned out, I wouldn’t say golf, I was just dedicating my life to something and not really seeing results. With gymnastics, it was difficult because I was fighting injuries, and then with golf, golf is a Such an interesting sport because you can work out, eat well, practice and still not achieve your goals. That was something to me that I just couldn’t understand.»
“It also went against everything my parents ever told me because I come from two athletes. They always said, ‘If you work hard and dedicate your life to something, you will succeed.’ But that wasn’t the case with golf, and I was freaking out because I felt like I should be performing at a much higher level… I had everything to be a world-class golfer, but I just couldn’t say it. together and I didn’t know why. I was going really crazy.
Eventually he decided to change his approach to golf.
«It got to the point where I stopped caring. I wanted to have more of a social life. I wanted to have fun. I was tired of dedicating my life to something and just not seeing the result. So when I was playing at SDSU, I just lost my desire for it.»
Paige Spiranac participates in the Berenberg Invitational on October 04, 2021 in Bedford Hills, New York. (Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for the Berenberg Invitational)
But before his last semester at San Diego State, Spiranac was determined to continue pursuing his dream of playing goal at the professional level.
She was set to become SDSU’s assistant golf coach, but suddenly she became a social media sensation.
«I was playing very well and then my whole life was turned upside down,» Spiranac said. «I blew up on social media. I didn’t end up going back to being an assistant coach. I didn’t even finish my last semester of college. I never got my degree, which is such a crazy thing and I’ve never talked about it. I was two credits short of getting my qualification».
She noticed that things really changed when she traveled to Dubai to play.
«…Then I got the invitation to go play in Dubai. I blew up there. I played golf professionally for a year and I was mentally exhausted. In golf, you fail more than you succeed, and I was doing it in the public eye. Everybody told me, ‘You should quit. You should give up. You’re no good.'»
«All these things, and I was already dealing with these mental issues from years and years and years of trying so hard and coming up short, and I broke down. I honestly broke down. I broke down and stopped. I said, ‘Maybe I’ll come back,’ and I’ll never I’m back to try to play golf professionally again.
Social media personality Paige Spiranac hits from the sand during the second round of the PGA TOUR Champions Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge on April 27, 2019 in Ridgedale, Missouri. (Matt Sullivan/Getty Images)
Spiranac has more than 3.7 million followers on Instagram and more than 800,000 followers on Twitter.
He currently works with various brands and attends events as a golf influencer. Spiranac said that she is happy with her current career, but given the choice, she would choose to play competitively rather than influence.
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«If I had the option to do what I’m doing to play on the LPGA Tour, I would probably choose the LPGA Tour because that was just a goal that I always wanted to achieve and it was a dream of mine and I wish I would have marked it off before I went on to work on the full-time media,» Spiranac said. «But that’s not how life works.»