By Long Beach native Paul Goydos’ path to the PGA Tour was not an easy one, or a typical one.
Goydos is a 1988 graduate from Long Beach State with a degree in business finance, but he knew business was not his passion.
His degree was set aside after graduating, and he did something unconventional for professional golfers. He became a substitute teacher.
“A lot of guys will go to work at a golf course or give lessons or do something along those lines, and I wanted to separate my golf from how I made my living,” Goydos said. “I could focus on something else, and not focus on golf 24/7.”
Goydos grew up across the street from LBSU and his father was director of Support Services at the university. His father also worked for a short time, as did Goydos, at Recreation Park, where he learned to play golf. Goydos still cites his neighborhood golf course as one of his favorite places to play.
His golf career really began at Wilson High School, where he played under coach Marty Walker, former LBSU women’s golf coach and wife of the late Del Walker, LBSU’s former men’s coach who passed away late last month.
Goydos credits the Walkers as his biggest influences in his golf career.
“I had great parents, but my golf game parents were Del and Marty Walker,” Goydos said. “They were really the birthplace for anything I’ve done professionally.”
Goydos has remained very close with the Walkers since his years as a 49er.
“There is no way to put into words the value I got out of playing at Long Beach State from him,” Goydos said. “I was very nurtured under Del. The Walkers were very, very good, solid people. There are just no better people that have ever lived in the city.”
After graduating from LBSU and leaving the Walkers, Goydos decided he was going to see if he could make it as a professional golfer. He decided to turn pro and start playing on the Hogan Tour (one of several tours that now makes up the Nationwide Tour). Substitute teaching allowed him the flexibility to practice, and the income to enter tour events.
“I substituted in the Long Beach Unified School District. Generally, [I taught] high school students,” Goydos said. “I tried kindergarten once and that was way too tough. I actually tried a fifth grade class and I got tired of people throwing stuff at me.”
Goydos earned his tour card in 1992. Four years later, he won his first tournament. He retained his tour card for six years before losing it. Goydos didn’t quit, though, and went back to Q-School and tied for seventeenth to get back on tour.
After his first victory, it took Goydos 11 frustrating years to win another tournament. Goydos recently won the tour’s first event of 2007, the Sony Open in Honolulu.
“If you had asked me in the middle of last year if I was ever going to win on tour again, I would have said of course not,” Goydos said. “When I won [the media] asked ‘What are you thinking right now?’ and I said, ‘I’m stunned.’ A lot of times it seemed like a mountaintop where every time you thought you were at the top, you looked up and there was more up there.”
Goydos plays on tour with fellow 49er alumni Mark O’Meara, Mike Miles and rookie John Mallinger. The alums are off to a good start this season, with Goydos’ win and Mallinger’s third place finish last week in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
