Rising through the ranks of the amateur golfing scene, Sam Jones had rose-tinted goals of moving into the professional scene and chasing the dream overseas.

But the reality of life as a professional golfer was one he might not have felt completely prepared for. Now, the Taranaki golfer is making the point to show budding young golfers the realities of just how expensive a career choice it can be.

Last year, Jones began to lift the lid on his life on tour, spent mostly on the HotelPlanner Tour, which is a feeder competition to the DP World Tour, formerly known as the European Tour. It provided unique insights into tour life, especially for an athlete travelling from New Zealand playing on a lower-level tour where they are not playing for the inflated prize pools you see on the sport’s big tours.

“All of the income stuff is all very accessible to anyone to go out and see. Obviously, you can see how much the golfers are making. But I kind of wanted to just show the other side of it, especially travelling from New Zealand, the costs that go into that and all the tax and all that,” Jones told the Herald.

“You can kind of see all these big numbers at some point, the guy’s making a lot of money, but there’s also a lot of money going out. It’s something that I would have liked to see growing up, see what goes on behind the scenes with expenses and all that kind of stuff.

“I’ve put a few videos out now and got some pretty good traction with it and people say they enjoy watching them. I’m happy to continue doing it and hopefully put a bit more green and a bit bigger numbers up there in the future.”

On top of expenses for flights and accommodation, Jones factors in such costs as caddy payments, entry fees, rental cars, food and other miscellaneous costs to show just how much money goes into launching a professional campaign.

For the HotelPlanner Tour alone in 2025, Jones incurred $130,000 in expenses while earning $160,000 before tax. With after-tax earnings of $122,000, Jones ended his season down $8000.

That did not, however, factor in his performances in tournaments such as the New Zealand Open, where he had a solid event in 2025.

Jones, who spent a year on the DP World Tour in 2024 but was not able to retain his card for 2025, said people have been surprised to see the sorts of numbers he has been delivering.

“That’s probably the main thing that people tell me. My first year out on DP, I think that was almost like 250 grand or something for the year in expenses. So to have those kinds of numbers coming out for expenses, it’s a surprise for a lot of people,” he said.

“Especially for guys that want to try and give it a go, you do need to have some kind of financial backing before you go out there and give it a crack. That’s definitely a side of it that you don’t really think about as an amateur.

“You obviously realise that you do need money behind you, but it’s a lot more than you think. So, it’s really important to build relationships with guys that you play with throughout the years that own businesses or stuff like that. You can kind of work out and try and get some sponsorship to help you out when you’re first starting out, for sure.”

Asked about whether basing himself offshore would be more beneficial financially, given the tour sees him travelling all over the world, Jones said it was simply another variable that had to be weighed up.

“It probably would be easier to be maybe in Europe, but then obviously you get a place and then you’re spending rent. You’ve got rent every week that you have to pay. I’m only paying rent when I’m home in New Zealand. So that’s a lot of a cost that I don’t have to incur. It’s a big juggling act and something that I actually have been thinking about: moving elsewhere to try and be closer to tournaments,” he said.

“It’s not quite as easy as just jumping up and moving and it almost could be worse financially. Being home and having the time off in between events is a good mental break so I can go into tournaments more fresh and be able to score more and hopefully make more money that way.”

After a stint on home soil, including a tied-14th finish at the New Zealand Open, Jones had been slated to play in events in India over the past couple of weeks. However, due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, the HotelPlanner Tour withdrew its sanctioning of last week’s tournament, as many had to travel to the event via the Middle East.

The tour has also rescheduled tournaments in the United Arab Emirates that were planned to be contested next month.

Kiwi golfer Sam Jones gives his ball to a young fan during the New Zealand Open. Photo / Photosport

Not going to India has given Jones more time at home, and he will be among the line-up for this week’s New Zealand Super 6s at the Manawatū Golf Club as the Charles Tour gets underway for the season.

For years, the Charles Tour has provided a testing ground for New Zealand’s golfers – particularly those, like Jones, who have hopes of pursuing tour life abroad. While this weekend’s tournament is a short-format event, Jones said the chance for rising players to test themselves against some of the best in the country has helped to develop the talent pool.

“When I was coming up through the ranks there, like 2021, 2022, I started having some good finishes in the Charles Tour events and got to tee it up a lot with guys that have kind of been there and done that. The likes of Josh Geary, Mike Hendry, I played with them a lot when I was coming up through the ranks there and you just get a feel for how good you have to be, especially when you get to play with those kinds of guys over 72 holes,” he said.

“You can kind of compare, if these guys have been playing on tour for this long, this is basically the base level that I have to get to. So it’s cool for all the amateurs to have the opportunity to play with the pros. Golf New Zealand, they do a good job with pairing up the amateurs with the professionals in the first two rounds of the tournament so they get to see how their games fare over the course of 72 holes in a tournament.”

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.