Outside of the criminally underrated EA Sports Tiger Woods PGA Tour franchise, the crossover between golf and video games is often little to none. Especially at the highest competitive levels, the two circles of this theoretical Venn diagram may as well be on opposite sides of the room.
One man, however, is looking to create an overlap.
Once one of the best professionals in the world Counter Strikea tactical first-person shooter video game in the professional Esports arena, Timothy Ta has hung up his headphones for a career creating content in the golf social media scene.
Under the pretext of “quitting his job to play golf”, he has retired from Esports and is dedicated to honing his golf skills full-time.
As the owner of recently created timtagolfs Instagram page (24,000 followers), Ta has illustrated to his audience how to create a golf game – trying to go from a 25 handicap to the scratch – through short, vlog-style reels.
By publicly documenting his journey to improvement, Ta spares no expense in lessons, equipment, and effort, all to make a powerful point about dedication: if he can improve, maybe you can, too.
A fire to compete
Raised in San Diego, Ta was born with the kind of competitive personality that made talent discovery seem inevitable. In everything he did, he wanted to excel. From skateboarding as a child to playing basketball in high school, the desire to improve and compete at a higher level took root in all of his endeavors.
“I think it only made sense that when I started playing games, I wanted to be a professional,” Ta said MyGolfSpy.
His first exposure to the game that would become his career came at the age of nine. It brought back vivid memories of the game Counter Strike at his cousin’s house, trades curves in his computer setup. As with any other Ta activity, the need to be elite soon emerged.
For those who are not familiar, Counter Strike is one of the most enduring Esports titles. The game has been played competitively almost continuously since its humble beginnings in 1999.
An asymmetric tactical shooter, CS (as it’s often affectionately called) pits teams of five against each other in a round-based competition of mechanical mastery, mental warfare, and gutsy, old-fashioned decision-making and glory.
Like golf, the game’s finer details have changed over time, but its core elements have remained relatively constant throughout its lifespan. Counter Strike it’s chess, tug-of-war, and Sun Tzu’s “Art of War” rolled into one polygonal package.
As fascinated as Ta was CSfor most of his early life there was very little opportunity to make a living. It wasn’t until he was a freshman in college that Esports pros were paid even a partially affordable salary for the first time.
“It wasn’t anything crazy at the time, just a couple thousand a month,” Ta recalls. “But that was kind of when I took the leap of faith and tried to make it my job.”
After a short stint as a digital master, Ta signed a deal with the second tier organization TSM in 2016. Then, playing on what he equated to golf’s Korn Ferry Tour, he led his team to a victory over a top-tier team Cloud 9who immediately contacted Ta and hunted him down for their list.
He soon became part of one of them Counter Strike’s the most iconic moments.
A great discovery
Although a worldwide Esport, not all CSs the regions were created equally.
In a sort of reversal of the Ryder Cup’s early history, European teams had long been the game’s dominant competitive force. Going into 2018, no North American team had ever claimed one CS major tournament title.
That and Cloud 9 were on a mission to change that.
Fueled by an underdog mentality and carrying the hopes of a continent, Ta and his team made a legendary Cinderella run at the 2018 ELEAGUE Major in Boston. They knocked off favorite FaZe Clan in overtime of a barn-burner championship match, becoming the first North American. CS team to engrave their name in great glory.
“It didn’t really sink in, what we had just done,” Ta recalls. “But it didn’t really change the way I looked at the future, because the goal is always to win.”
He continued his career to several successes for years after this great triumph. However, a mix of roster moves, travel demands and blossoming outside interests prompted him to consider his future within the game.
“I was in a mental breakdown and I never really understood,” Ta reflected. “A lot of things made me think, ‘You know, do I really want to keep doing this?’
Shifting gears (and games)
It was in this transitory phase that golf appeared on Ta’s radar.
His Cloud 9 teammate Jordan’nothing Gilbert was a longtime recreational golfer and had been encouraging Ta to give it a shot for years. However, it took a fateful Uber ride between Ta, Gilbert and a golf-crazed driver to make his friend’s recommendation.
“(Gilbert and the driver) were talking about how complex it is, how difficult it is, basically all the reasons why you would love golf,” Ta said. “I was like, ‘OK, I have to try this.’
At first, Ta was strictly a stretch rat, lured by the opiate of flushed contact. However, when he migrated to the course, he was surprised by the oceanic depth of the sport. It was this intricate marriage of mechanics and strategy that really tied Tan in for the long haul.
“That level of nuance is really interesting to me,” Ta said. “It was something I liked Counter Strike.”
Ta’s blossoming interest in the game ran deeper than a surface-level endeavor. Eventually, he realized that the game was the perfect canvas to prove a belief he had held since he first entered the profession. CS.
“I truly believed that if anyone worked as hard as I did, they could make it Counter Strike“, Ta elaborated. “And because I’ve always believed that, I felt like maybe I could try that in golf.”
With this goal in mind, Ta decided to make the leap. He officially retired from competitive Esports and took up golf as his full-time passion.
The birth of timtagolfs This past April soon followed, and he’s been documenting his journey ever since.
Commitment to improvement
The appeal of Ta’s site lies in the simplicity of its central question: What does it take to improve?
And what does improvement actually look like on a micro, day-to-day scale? If you were to start from scratch with few obstacles, lots of time and fanatical dedication, how well could you get?
For them, that answer is still a moving target. However, his initial intentions are clear.
“The goal for me is to become a scratch golfer,” Ta said. “This is the first step.”
To achieve this, Ta has used the same unwavering commitment that saw him rise to the top of the Esports scene. He practices literally every day, having created a regimen that includes mechanical improvement, transfer practice, time spent on the range and even golf-focused fitness.
“Every day I can have a focus. But I’ll try to touch everything and make sure everything stays maintained.”
Even just over half a year into his journey, this schedule has produced tangible results. Ta’s handicap has dropped to 11 from his starting point of 25, with this rapid descent showing no sign of stopping.
The finer points of Ta’s game may be familiar ground to friends with disabilities. Driver is often his greatest strength, providing distance and accuracy when hit well.
“I can hit it pretty far for my handicap and I hit it relatively straight,” Ta said.
Ta has also built himself a great short game, which helps bail him out when his game gets close at times. However, by his own admission, things are a little shaky in the greens.
“My putting is terrible, especially my speed,” laughed Ta.
To help with this, Ta has enlisted guru Joey Farrow to help him with the flatstick. He is the latest in a stable of trainers that includes Ta’s full-time “therapist” Josh Park and Matt Hwu, the same physical therapist he saw in Cloud 9.
He seeks expertise wherever he can get it, often outside of his dedicated team. He has always been a sponge for knowledge and his move to golf has only exacerbated his desire to learn.
“I ask everyone I play with a bunch of questions. I just try to see whose advice works for me.”
Looking to the future
While still firmly entrenched in everyday life, Ta has no shortage of long-term goals. The first item on that list is tournament play.
Ta’s fire to compete has lost none of its luster since his days in life CS and he is committed to testing his game in a high-pressure environment once he considers himself ready.
Ta believes competition is the area where his developed skills in pressure management, sharp analytical thinking and ability to remain calm under the gun will give him a leg up on his peers.
“Eventually the advantage I have from playing a game at a really high level will come into play. But for now, it’s mostly about making sure my technique is improving.”
While his mechanics continue to be on trend, Ta is also committed to understanding the mental component of the game. Managing its course is definitely a work in progress.
However, just like his time in Esports, it’s the details that separate the good from the great.
“In Counter Strikeit is very similar. Everyone at the top level has good mechanics, but what sets some players apart is their in-game IQ.”
In addition to providing a new spark to his career, golf has had a deeply personal impact on Ta. Through his single-minded commitment to improvement, Ta has forcefully reclaimed a quality that has carried him through a lifetime of competition: a comfortable sense of who he is and who he can strive to be.
“In golf, it’s just you out there … you dictate everything about your game. That’s what I think golf has brought back to me — that sense of confidence in yourself.”
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