What exactly is qualifing school in golf?

Question

Help me understand the process of getting into any PGA tournaments.

Answer 1

If you can get through Q-school you are allowed to play on professional tours.  Most mortals can't even qualify to go to Q school leave alone get through it.  Hey Golfergirl if you are trying to get on the LPGA tour stop spending so much time on Yahoo Answers and get back out the range!!!  Most of us are just killing time at the office.

Answer 2

Oh Boy you don't want to know! I have been trying to get my LPGA card and it is BRUTAL. These girls are beasts. I really have to start pumping some iron and working on not going past parallel. The guy above me basically just answered it for you.

GolferGirl

Answer 3

Qualifying school is for amateur and professional golfers wanting the opportunity to play on the PGA Tour.  It is a series of tournaments occurring in stages over a 3-4 week(maybe more) period.  You'll have to finish fairly well to earn your PGA playing card for the following season.  For those that don't, they can play on other professional tours.  Call them the minor leagues of golf.  A golfer that has a 1.4 handicap or less can try to Monday qualify for a PGA tournament.  If that happens and you finish in the top 10 of that tournament, you automatically qualify for the following tournament.  Other ways to qualify for the PGA Tour is to play well enough in the "minor leagues" and make it that way.  The Nationwide Tour is one of those "minor league" tours and if you win 3 tournaments you qualify or if you earn a certain amount of money.  You've got to have game to make it.

Answer 4

In professional golf the term Qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S. based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the tour for the following season, otherwise known as a "tour card", meaning that they can play in most of the tour's events without having to qualify. They join the leaders on the previous year's money list/order of merit and certain other exempt players as members of the tour.

Getting through the qualifying school of an elite tour is very competitive and most professional golfers never achieve it. There can be up to four stages to negotiate, each of them like a regular golf tournament with only a small number of players going on to the next stage. The Final Qualifying School may be played over up to six rounds, compared with the standard four rounds in a professional golf tournament. However players who are successful at Qualifying School can reach the elite level of competition very quickly.

Some lower status tours are open to any registered professional who pays a membership fee so they don't have a qualifying school.