Carry Golf Has Distributed $285k To Golfers
Carry Golf has raised over $330,000 from 325 people.
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Today At A Glance:
Carry Golf launched its second cohort in March. They have raised over $330,000 and distributed $285,000 to early-stage professional golfers so far. They will distribute more funds in the coming months from the fan-investors. Today’s newsletter details the cohort of golfers and how they performed in 2023, as well as the overall outlook for 2024.
Read Time: 6 minutes.
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Hey Golfers —
Lives will be changed this fall as professional golfers aim to earn a Tour card. Q—Schools have begun for the DP World Tour and LPGA Tour. And Pre—Qualifying begins this week for the PGA Tour.
Here is a look at how many cards are available for each tour.
PGA Tour — 5
DP World Tour — 25
LPGA Tour — 20
The PGA Tour has four stages of Q—School — it is expensive. Below are the nonmember entry fees.
Pre—Qualifying — $3,000
First Stage — $5,500
Second Stage — $5,000
Final Stage — $4,500
A successful golfer in the Pre-Qualifying Stage must pay an additional $3,000 before the First Stage.
If a golfer starts at the Pre-Qualifying Stage and earns a PGA Tour card, they will spend $6,000 on Q-School entry fees. Add on expenses, and a golfer could exceed $15,000 in their quest for a PGA Tour card.
The PGA Tour does have a purse for the Final Stage of Q-School. The winner will receive $50,000; fifth place will earn $22,000.
The LPGA Tour has three stages in its Q-School. The entry fee is essentially a flat fee of $5,500 to earn status on the LPGA Tour. The LPGA Tour also has a final stage purse of $150,000 paid out to the top 45 and ties.
Q—School requires a significant amount of capital. In most cases, a golfer will need at least $40,000 per year to give professional golf a proper run to cover expenses.
One of the many ways a golfer can raise money to compete professionally is by selling shares in themselves. I wrote a piece in March detailing my former teammates’ journey to raise money — and eventually running out of money.
In that piece — I wrote about Carry Golf — and how Carry is working to create better access to money for early-stage professional golfers.
Carry Golf vetted and selected ten golfers as part of its second cohort. The goal was to raise a little over $1.1 million via crowdfunding investment to provide each golfer with $50,000 for two years of expenses.
The timing was less than perfect — as the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank coincided with the crowdfund launch. Carry revised its goal to $550,000 to provide each golfer with one year of expenses. The closing date to reach $550,000 is this Friday.
Here is how it works.
Carry is utilizing crowdfunding technology to raise money for the cohort of ten golfers. An investor does not need to be accredited — essentially, anyone can invest. Around 60% of investors are accredited, while the remaining are not.
One share is worth $50, and the minimum investment is $250.
The ten golfers receiving money must pay a percentage of their gross on-course earnings when they compete in tournaments where the purse is at least $1,500,000.
It is important to note that bonuses like the FedEx Cup bonus are not eligible for payout.
The payout percentage is based on how much is raised via the crowdfunding investment.
$255,000 — 7.5%
$405,000 — 11.25%
$550,000 — 15%
Golfers in the cohort will pay a percentage of their gross on-course earnings until March 31, 2027 — three and a half more years.
Carry Golf has already raised over $330,000 with an additional $25,000 committed. Over 325 people have invested, and nine have invested $10,000 each.
Here are the ten golfers in the cohort and their 2023 Tour Status:
Alana Uriell — Epson Tour Status
Brett White — Conditional Korn Ferry Tour Status
Chandler Blanchet — PGA Tour Latinoamerica Status
Graysen Huff — PGA Tour Latinoamerica Status
Hannah Gregg — Epson Tour Status
Kaitlin Milligan — Epson Tour Status
Kristen Gillman — Epson Tour Status
Quinn Riley — Conditional PGA Tour Canada Status
Sarah Rhee — Epson Tour Status
Tyler Collet — No Status
So, how did the cohort perform in 2023?
The group has competed in six events eligible for payout (purses greater than $1.5 million).
Chandler Blanchet was the money list leader for PGA Tour Latinoamerica. The solid play awarded Chandler with Korn Ferry status for 2024. And he is exempt to the Final Stage of PGA Tour Q—School.
Kristen Gillman is currently 17th on the Epson Tour money list. The top ten golfers on the Epson Tour receive an LPGA Tour card for 2024. There are four Epson Tour events remaining in the year.
Alana Uriell is 48th on the Epson Tour money list, Kaitlin Milligan is 91st on the Epson Tour money list, and Sarah Rhee is 114th on the Epson Tour money list.
Tyler Collet made it through the first stage of DP World Tour Q—School and will be playing the second stage in November.
The key is getting golfers to the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, or LPGA Tour so they can play in events with purses greater than $1.5 million. And most of the golfers in the cohort improved their status for the 2024 season.
In June — Carry distributed $255,000 to its cohort of ten golfers. And in August, they distributed another $30,000 to golfers, resulting in a total distribution of $285,000. Each golfer received between $25,000 and $32,000.
And after the crowdfund closes on Friday — Carry will make an additional distribution to golfers. The amount will be the difference between the total raised after Friday and $285,000 — as Carry Golf does not take a management fee.
Let’s look at a hypothetical example.
Carry raises $405,000 for its golfers, resulting in an 11.25% payout
Golfers earn an aggregate of $3 million in eligible payout events through March 31, 2027.
Golfers would pay $337,500 to the crowdfund investors
Investor earns a distribution based on how many shares they purchased
Carry Golf will distribute money to investors at the end of each calendar year based on the cohort's performance.
If you want to learn more about Carry Golf or look at their Form C document, click the button below.
Making it in professional golf is as much about how much money is in your bank account as the talent you have. Far too many golfers retire prematurely due to running out of money.
Carry Golf aims to provide access to money to early-stage professional golfers while allowing fans the ability to invest in those golfers and support their journey.
We’ve heard the stories before — Zach Johnson sold shares of himself worth $500. Now, he is a Ryder Cup Captain. Steve Flesch did the same thing — raising $50,000 from investors.
Professional golf is loaded with talent at all levels. Hopefully, platforms like Carry Golf will increase the talent pool even more, which will positively impact the game.
Have yourself a great Monday. Talk to you next week!
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Thanks again Jared for the coverage! We have big plans to do a lot more to help “early-stage” pro golfers, while allowing super fans of the game to be part of their journeys. First priority though is closing out the crowdfunding campaign for our 2023 Cohort strong. Love golf? Want to support young pros on their climb to the top and have some skin in the game? Then check us out for a unique “inside-the-ropes” experience.
To learn more: www.carry.golf