Every professional sportsman has to make the decision of what to do when their playing careers end. Sam Little thought he’d found a good alternative when he accepted a role with a sports management group, but it proved to be an ill-fated venture after 16 months. So the former European Tour player is now utilising his experience of competing at the top level to benefit others by coaching and also building up his own business.

The 40-year-old spent ten seasons on the European Tour, but the realities of being a married father-of-four with a mortgage, coupled with being away from home for so much of the time, ultimately led to him deciding a change of direction was needed.

“It is very hard to push and push and at the end of 2014 I got offered a new role at a management group which I jumped straight into,” Little said.

“I thought this would be something I would really enjoy, but unfortunately the company struggled financially and it didn’t do as well as it should.”

Redundancy was the result earlier this year so the Croxley Green resident decided to draw upon what he knows best.

“I have started my own business where I do some teaching and I have been in Portugal organising a golf trip,” he explained when he spoke to the Watford Observer a fortnight ago.

“I have been doing some consulting for a management company and I will do some trips away and continue to build.

“I’ve gone from one client to 12 clients in the space of eight weeks or so and I will try and get my lessons out there and use my experience in golf to help other people.”

While Little can offer extensive professional experience to those who use his services, rather than formal qualifications, he has not found it easy to start getting established.

He explained: “You do not need qualifications to be a golf coach but I have been speaking to a lot of local clubs regarding using their facilities.

“But because I am not PGA-qualified – which is pointless really and I never went down that route of training because I was always in tournaments – the PGA pros do not want you teaching at their clubs which I cannot understand. But at the moment I am at two clubs who give me free rein so I can do what I want.”

Little continued: “I feel I have a lot more in me than a PGA professional as I know as good back swing from a bad back swing.

“I am actually enjoying it, I enjoy helping others and one of my clients text me over the weekend as he won a little competition. He was absolutely chuffed and to get that sort of feedback is great and the more you get people like that the better.

“The main thing is word of mouth but I just want to let everyone know what I am doing really. I teach anyone from an old pro to a new beginner, you adapt your teaching into what they have got.”

And the former European Tour player’s primary aim is to ensure playing the sport is fun.

He said: “You have got to be careful when you teach people because if you give them too much technical information, they can get lost in that.

“If you confuse them too much they won’t want to come back for more so you need to make sure they enjoy it.

“If someone can enjoy golf then that’s fine as that is half the battle.

“But I have the experience with certain shots and where you want to hit it on the golf course. I show my clients how to do it and how to make them better; trying to teach them how to course manage and make golf more fun for them.

“Golf is not fun when you are playing badly but it is fun when you are playing well, so that is what I want to bring. I want to make it more fun for them.”

Watford Observer:

Sam Little was the runner-up at the 2007 Mallorca Classic

Golf can bring enormous rewards for the very best. But for every Rory McIlroy or Jordan Spieth, there are countless players around the world struggling to make a living on their respective tours.

Although Little only competed in one Major championship – the 2006 Open at Royal Liverpool – he enjoyed his best three years between 2007 and 2009 when he achieved six top-ten European Tour finishes and won more than €900,000.

After losing his card in 2010 following six straight seasons on the European Tour, three quick-fire Challenge Tour victories the following year enabled him to return in 2012.

But one top-10 finish apart in 2013, that year and the next 12 months were difficult and Little admitted he fell out of love with the game he’s played since childhood.

“It does become a slog, you have got to be consistent and you have got to finish in the top 100 to make a real good living out of golf,” he explained.

“The year I did lose my card I played the Challenge Tour and I won three times and finished second and it was a successful season.

“But my last year [2014] I had to play the Challenge Tour and I finished 80th. I had a sponsor fortunately otherwise I would probably have lost money. It’s a loss-making business. If you are not on the [European] tour you are not making money.”

Asked what it costs to compete for a year, Little responded: “In the European Tour in one year it would roughly cost you anywhere between £65,000 and £80,000 – it’s a big number. You have hotels, caddies, you are flying all over the world and it is hard work.

“If you play half decent, you will probably have a sponsor and that will cover most of your expenses. But it is a tough industry and they were saying on the PGA Tour, if you took all the pros together, the average pro standing on the tour was 1.6 years.

“So 10 years on the European Tour is quite good but it is a very, very tough industry.”

It was a reality that Little had to learn to accept, having started out with his dreams and ambitions like every other sportsman.

“At the bottom end there is a lot of too-ing and fro-ing but I am not ashamed to say when I started playing it was about enjoying it and playing a dream I had,” the 2007 Mallorca Classic runner-up admitted. “The dream was to win on the European Tour and be a part of the Ryder Cup team which is what I wanted to do.

“But after maybe three or four years I realised it is just another business. It is about making money and if you enjoy it along the way, fantastic.

“But the dream side of it changes. Once you have children you have to see it as a business and you have to make sure you look after your children.”

Making good money has become even harder because Little acknowledged professional golf at the top level is now far more competitive than when he first started out on the European Tour.

“When I first came onto the tour, probably only five or six or seven per cent of the field could win.

“Now I would say 50 per cent could win each week or maybe more, that is a big difference,” he said.

“Things change very quickly. Tiger Woods put golf back on the map and it would be tough if he doesn’t come back [following his injury problems], but I think if he does come back it will be stronger again.

“We should be thankful for him as he put the prize funds up. We will keep it at that,” he added with a wry smile.

Sam Little can be contacted on 07798 624195 or email samlittle75@hotmail.com.