Amateur Golf's Reinstatement Problem Has a Simple Fix

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Roughly 800 former pros apply to regain their amateur status every year, and virtually all are approved. This week at the U.S. Mid-Amateur, 7 of the 8 quarterfinalists were reinstated amateurs, and so are both finalists.

Career amateur TJ Shuart, a veteran of 12 USGA championships, joins Isaak to ask whether a reinstated pro is ever really an amateur again. They walk through why the USGA built the Mid-Am in 1981, the news that brought this to a head, and the toughest counterarguments. Then TJ lays out a simple fix: a waiting period based on how long you played as a pro and how high you got.

Every player discussed followed the rules as written. This conversation is about the rules.

Feedback or a topic idea? isaak@playready.golf

CHAPTERS

0:00 Preview

0:27 The fork in the road: pro or lifelong amateur

2:31 Why the USGA built the Mid-Am in 1981

4:30 TJ Shuart's career as an amateur

7:22 The Mid-Am 20 years ago