$20 million purses and a $4 million winner’s paycheck might seem like the norm on today’s PGA Tour. But the reality for pros trying to break through is starkly different. And by “different” I mean couch-surfing, $20,000 debts, and hoping against hope. Believe it or not, three-time PGA Tour winner Ben Griffin has lived through it and recently opened up about his experience.

In an interview with Golf Monthly, the 30-year-old opened up about how expensive it can be to chase a career in professional golf. On the mini tours, travel, entry fees, hotels, and other costs can quickly add up. Players often have to spend thousands of dollars and still return empty-handed. For Griffin, that pressure became too much. By the time he made his way back to the Korn Ferry Tour, he had built up serious debt.

“I was honestly $20,000 in debt by the time I returned to the Korn Ferry Tour,” Griffin told Golf Monthly. “On the mini tours you’re betting on yourself. That’s what you have to do in golf, unlike other sports. Just trying to qualify for the Korn Ferry Tour, you have to pay $5,000 or more in entry fees; travel costs are high; a lot of guys couch surf when they can; and on top of that, you have to pay for practice rounds and cart fees, rental cars, and meals.”

Griffin, of course, speaks from his own experience. He turned pro in 2018, and after three years of playing on mini tours, Griffin was done chasing his PGA Tour dream. The bills kept coming, no matter how he played. By 2021, he stepped away from the game and took a job as a loan officer at a mortgage company to pay his rent and start clearing his debt. He had $15,000 in credit card debt at that point. That debt did not build up overnight.

Griffin was spending money month after month on entry fees, flights, rental cars, practice rounds, cart fees, hotels, and food. He had to pay for all of it himself, without knowing if he would make enough money back, and according to Griffin, this is pretty normal on the mini tours. Before you know it, your debt can reach five figures in a single month, Griffin said.

“You can get to $17,000 of debt in a month easily,” he said. “It’s very common on the mini tours. When I decided to go back on tour, I had the support of Doug Sieg and Lord Abbett financially to get rid of that debt.”

But it was tough for Griffin and extremely tough for any aspiring pro. Imagine spending years trying to reach the PGA Tour, only to settle for a regular job because of financial constraints.

Griffin’s world ranking dropped to 1,744th at the start of 2022. He had gone from chasing his dream on the course to building a career away from golf. But then help came from an unexpected place.

Doug Sieg, CEO and managing partner of investment firm Lord Abbett, had seen Griffin’s potential. When Griffin decided to return to golf, Sieg offered to cover his expenses so he could focus on playing instead of worrying about money.

“Doug is the reason I was able to get rid of those financial pressures and focus on playing and to think about winning every time I teed it up,” Griffin added. “I play my best golf when I am freed up and loose and having fun, and most people say the same.”

That support gave Griffin a fresh start. With the financial pressure off his shoulders, he returned to the Korn Ferry Tour and began moving up the rankings. He eventually earned his PGA Tour card and got another chance to chase the career he had once been forced to leave behind.

In 2025, everything clicked at once. Griffin won three times: the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the Charles Schwab Challenge, and the World Wide Technology Championship. He was also named to the U.S. Ryder Cup team.

The player who once had to leave golf to pay his rent was now playing at the highest level. But Griffin’s story also shows that the money pressure does not go away when a golfer reaches the PGA Tour. It just changes.

Griffin reveals how much PGA Tour expenses can eat into earnings

In a separate discussion about his 2026 season, Griffin said he was spending around $50,000 a week on average. That money covered travel, hotels, his caddie, coach, trainer, and physio.

His spending is on the higher side because some members of his team also receive performance-based payments. Still, the figure shows just how expensive professional golf can become, even for players who make it to the PGA Tour.

Of the $2.5 million he had earned in 2026 at the time of that discussion, Griffin estimated roughly $750,000 had already gone out the door in expenses. His caddie, Alex Ritthamel, earns a base salary plus around eight percent of winnings, rising to 10% for a victory. Coaches on the PGA Tour can cost $150,000 to $200,000 annually. A traveling physio typically costs $3,000 to $5,000 per tournament week.

Players near the bottom of the PGA Tour money list can face a similar problem. The player ranked 200th on the 2024 PGA Tour money list earned around $228,000 for the year, but after taxes, travel, coaching, caddie fees, and other expenses, the amount left can be considerably smaller.

That makes Griffin’s story even more striking. The biggest part of it may be that he nearly did not make it back. His journey shows how much money and sacrifice can go into a professional golf career, long before the big wins and paychecks arrive.