From Layoff to Pro Golf. Here’s What Happened.

In 2022, I was working at Apple as a software engineering contractor on the iCloud team. I loved the work, and more importantly, I loved the people I worked with on that team. Unfortunately, when the Fed hiked interest rates, Apple decided to cut “high-risk” projects, and I was one of the first to go. Luckily, I had a little money saved then, and I decided it was time to go on sabbatical and pursue my dream — pro golf!

I was 32 at the time, and I know it’s not the ideal age to start pursuing a sport professionally. However having already had some experience competing professionally in snowboarding when I was younger, I learned that age can often be an illusion in hindsight. What do I mean by this? Well, everyone ages differently, and it’s easy to be fooled into thinking you’re too old for something when the reality is that 30 is the new 20!!

In hindsight, I gave up on snowboarding too early. I thought I was too old after I came home from serving an LDS mission and falsely assumed that I had given up my snowboarding career. In hindsight, 21 was SO young and it seems silly to think I was too old at that age. Would this happen with golf? Would I look back when I was in my 50s and think- why did I think I was too old to play pro golf at age 32? Following this logic I decided to give it a go!