For Some Pro Golfers, Life on Tour Doesn’t Quite Add Up to Anything

Glamour?

Touring golf pro. Goes from city to city. Pampered. Luxury life.

Everybody waiting to give you money, food, a good time.

Allen Miller’s got it made? Right?

Not according to Allen Miller.

“My savings account has probably got less in it than 95% of the people in Canada. And that’s no slur on the people of Canada,” Miller said while playing in the Canadian Open.

“This is definitely my last year,” said Miller, who turns 37 on Aug. 10. Oops, here comes the if “ . . . Unless things improve fast.”

Miller, a native of San Diego who now lives in Pensacola, Fla., when he’s not living out of a suitcase, has “been 95th on the money winning list so many years it’s a joke.”

But last year Miller figures he cleared “$8,000 when it’s all over and done. It cost me $55,000 for 30 tournaments.”

Winnings of $58,840 (putting him 95th on the list) plus supplemental earnings are what gave Miller that $8,000 profit figure.

And since he doesn’t putt that well, anyway, and doesn’t shoot the dynamite numbers today’s better players do, Miller figures it’s just about time to get Momma and the two kids out of a suitcase and into a home.

Miller was married in 1982, now has two kids and notes “you can’t send them to college 15 years from now on that (making a profit of $8,000 a year.)

“You’ve got to look at it like it’s a business,” said Miller, who has one tour victory to show for his working seasons since 1971. “If you’re not making money, it’s time to try something else.”

That something else for Miller might be teaching. With the golf course his schoolroom.

“I’m known as a teacher on the tour,” he said. “I’m looking at teaching as a possibility. It’s not here yet. But I’m putting out the word.”

The 5-foot-10, 160-pound golfer says he learned to shoot for pars when he was a kid. Today’s youngsters are learning to shoot for birdies.

“If was teaching a 15-year-old today, I’d definitely teach him to shoot for birdies,” Miller said.

Which is exactly what he might be doing a year from now. Sounds luxurious, doesn’t it?