Sometimes, professional golfers drop off the radar. And, sometimes, it’s only when one reappears that we wonder whatever happened to Colin Nel.
When the 40-year-old who won once on the Sunshine Tour back in 2014, and was perhaps even better known for breaking 60 three times – once in a professional tournament – turned up at the tour’s Qualifying School-Final Stage at Heron Banks in Sasolburg in April, it was clearly time to find out.
“Score one for the oldies, score one for experience,” laughed Nel as he won his playing rights on the Sunshine Tour back with a share of 12th at six-under-par – together with another veteran, Brandon Pieters.
“I turned pro in 2010, so it’s been a way of life I’ve known for 15 years,” he says. “And when I had twins in 2018, that took a lot out of me. You’re away for two to three weeks at a time, you’re going home, it’s difficult to practice because you want to obviously be at home and help with the kids.
“And then you try and go to a tournament and you don’t perform. Then you put yourself under pressure. But it’s my greatest thing, having kids. So I bought a business in 2018 to try and cover the shortfall that happened as I committed to parenting.
“But you can’t play golf and run a business, especially when it’s new. It’s now six years I’ve had the business, it’s doing nicely.
“While that was happening, I lost the love of the game, putting too much pressure on myself to make the cut, to make money, to pay for bills. It’s a snowball effect. You look up, and you’re away at golf and you’re trying to phone the business and keep in touch with all the details.
“I tried to play a few events before lockdown, but it just didn’t work out. I think when you’re trying to force it too much on the golf course it doesn’t produce results Then the business took off. It’s done well in last year, so I’ve focused on that.”
But life changes all the time, and his partner of 10 years and he have separated.
“That was hard on me, hard on the kids,” he says. “It still is because we have alternate weeks to see them. But the kids are now six years old, they are great and my greatest blessing.
“I’ve always been a guy that tries to please other people, and make other people feel happy, and do stuff for other people and now I’ve spoken to family members and mates and they say now it’s time to make me happy, do what I want to do. Golf has always been part of me since I was three when I started playing. I went to America for a golf scholarship, so I know golf, I know what to expect, I know what to do.
“And the kids know I play golf, they know Saturdays and Wednesdays I play golf, they watch it on TV with me and they always ask, ‘Dad, when are you going to get a winners cup?’ So if in the near future, if I can have a winners cup for them and have them watch me win a trophy again, that will just put the cherry on top.
“When I’m away from them, they know dad’s going to play golf. So, coming back to the game, it’s not just for me, it’s for them too. I know I can make it work to support them and that’s all I’m really concerned about now. But I need to do golf for myself and for them. But yeah, I just feel that the time’s right.”
And that’s what took him back to qualifying school.
“I haven’t been playing on the tour for the last four years or five years, just the odd tournament here or there. But I said to myself, give it a shot. When I play the odd one here or there, I make the cut. I’m top 20 against guys that are playing full time. So it just showed me I’ve still got something to offer.
“I did hear a saying a few months ago and it’s stuck with me for a while. ‘Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t get hard work.’ So I know I can do it. I’ve got the talent, but I need to put in the effort and put the work in to get that talent to come through, to shine.
“And the other thing on my side is the experience. Being on tour 15 years, you kind of know it’s not a sprint to get to the finish line. You just got to float along and if you make 18 pars, you make 18 pars. You just know something’s going to click and you’re going to make a few birdies and get something going.
“I just lost the love for the game and when I knew I lost my card, 2019 I think it was, I didn’t touch a club for three months. Just didn’t do it at all. And then I was like, you know, let me try and go play on a Wednesday or a Saturday with the members. Golf’s part of me.
“And then I was like, okay, maybe try and get your amateur status back. Play provincial golf, play inter-prov. You can play your local, you should play competitive golf again. But it’s difficult to go back to an amateur after being on tour for 15 years. So, I thought, well, let’s come and give q-school a shot.
In that pressurised environment – knowing that a very poor round could mean he was just going through the motions rather than having a realistic shot at gaining a card – he looked to the manor born.
“Well, that’s it,” he says. “I’m comfortable on the golf course. And when things are going hard at work and in life, I’ll go and play nine holes because it just eases me. Yes, I still think about what’s happening off the course, but I just feel at home. It just feels the right place to be.”
It’s even that way for him when it’s a working life that’s on the line. “You know, coming into this week, I was in a positive mind frame,” he says. “I practiced hard for the last month or so, knowing that I was going to come here. So I said, put the work in, put the effort in, and then just come and enjoy the week.
“And then, you know, I’ve been to tour school before, after my first year on tour. When you’re going to tour school as a tour player, you’re in a negative mind frame. You’re like, shit, I’ve just lost my card. I’m not playing great. What does he do for the next year? No, unless he’s got a job already. So it’s a tense week. If you’re playing a normal week, you have a bad week, next week you’ve got another chance. This week there’s no another chance. Another chance is 12 months down the line. So that puts added pressure on you. But it is golf.”
Does he feel that added pressure?
“A little bit. I would say not as much as before. If it doesn’t work out to me, on Monday morning, I’m back at work. I’m actually doing work this week before I tee off, phoning my staff, checking on them. But it’s eased my nerves a bit, knowing that I’ve got something already. Golf would be a bonus. Where before it was, golf’s all I’ve got, what are the bonuses I’m going to have?
“Where I’ve got it the other way around. But there is some nerves and is some anxiety, but knowing that if you get your card, you’ve got something extra to do for the year, and there’s a potential to make decent money.
“I know it’s not all about the money. I know when I first turned pro, Neil Schietekat said to me, if you can forget about the money and just play golf, you’ll be fine. But when you dangle that carrot at the end of the line there, that adds extra pressure. So that’s what I’m trying to tell myself, you have to play golf.”
And what does he see for himself now that he’s got his card again?
“I’m just looking forward to being in my comfort zone,” he says. “I miss the travel, and that’s hard to say but I do miss travelling to Fancourt, to Cape Town, to Sun City, and doing a job that I love and I am happy to do.
“But then again, doing that, you don’t see your family, you don’t see your kids. And that’s the hard part. When you’re a week or two weeks away, it’s difficult to handle that. So it’s a fine line between doing what you love and enjoying it, but also being with the family.
“I’ve got the business, I’ve still got to keep the business going, so I might not be able to play every single event, but you can plan which events you can go to better. Last year being an affiliate member, you only play with five invites. The tournament starts on Thursday, they only give you the invite on the Monday. So to try and plan your week, it’s too late. If I know, right, we’re going to Cape Town in three weeks’ time, you can sort out family life, you can sort out work, you can put the practice in, you can get your ducks in a row before you go off.”
In golfing terms, that is different from when he was on tour five or six years ago. “Back then, golf was all I had.”
Now, he’s making Colin Nel happy, and that helps him make people who rely on him and love him happy too.
