The private jets, the sold-out galleries, the multi-million dollar purses—professional golf looks pretty glamorous from the outside. But Bud Cauley just pulled back the curtain on a reality that fans rarely see. And it’s a lot lonelier than anyone imagines. The 35-year-old opened up on The Golfer’s Journal podcast about the hidden struggles of life on the Tour. He didn’t sugarcoat anything.

“When things aren’t going well, how kind of lonely it can be out there,” Cauley revealed to host Tom Coyne at The Bear’s Club. “You miss a few cuts in a row and things aren’t going well.”

That isolation hits differently now. Cauley has two young sons at home. Cooper arrived in November 2022, and Miles joined the family in January 2025. The contrast between his pre-injury dating days and fatherhood couldn’t be sharper.

“Before I was injured and was out, my wife and I were just dating at the time. It was kind of this fun thing to go do, travel around and play golf,” he explained. Everything changed after becoming a father. Those Monday morning departures transformed into emotional battles.

“To get up those Monday mornings and go to the airport and leave is pretty difficult,” Cauley admitted. The worst part? Cooper now understands what’s happening. “Our oldest is getting old enough where he knows when I’m leaving, and asks me not to go,” he said. “Those things are difficult.” Any dad will attest to that wrenching feeling in the heart.

He acknowledged that family separation isn’t unique to golf. “Everyone has jobs and has to be away from their family,” Cauley noted. But the emotional weight has intensified. “These past couple of years have weighed on me. It’s kind of this new thing I’ve had to learn to deal with.”

How the PGA Tour’s relentless schedule compounds the loneliness

The Tour structure makes family life particularly challenging. Players compete in 25-30 tournaments yearly, spending roughly the same number of weeks away from home. That’s half the year on the road. Monday means travel day. Wednesday brings mandatory Pro-Ams. Thursday through Sunday deliver tournament rounds. Then the cycle repeats immediately. There’s barely time to settle in before packing up again.

For players struggling with form, the isolation compounds dramatically. Miss a few cuts consecutively, and the loneliness becomes suffocating. Victor Dubuisson even cited loneliness as his primary reason for retirement from professional golf. Cauley’s perspective carries extra weight given his journey back. The 2018 car accident left him with six broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and a fractured left leg. Surgical complications kept him away for over three years. His wife, Kristi, stood by him through everything.

Now their family provides a new purpose, but creates new pain. Walking away from Cooper and Miles every week tears at him. The motivation to compete conflicts with the desire to stay home. “In the past I just hadn’t experienced that before,” he reflected. The Tour has introduced mental health resources. They provide 24/7 crisis hotlines and Mental Fitness Zones at tournaments. Yet the fundamental structure remains unchanged—constant travel, regular family separation, and the emotional toll of both.

Cauley has earned over $3.2 million this season with four top-10 finishes. He qualified for the FedExCup Playoffs for the first time in years. Success tastes different now, though. Tournament results matter less when you’re missing bedtime stories and watching your sons grow up through FaceTime calls.