It all began with a late-night joke over a few beers. Luke Brown, a 44-year-old Sunshine Coast father of three, quipped to mates at the pub one evening, “Hey, what if I tried to go pro in golf?”
The remark hung in the air longer than expected. By dawn the next day, it had hatched into a plan.
Once a confessed social drinker and youth netball coach juggling multiple businesses, Brown was about to dump his old life for a year of golf, with the cameras rolling. That wild idea has culminated in the first season of Going Pro, an eight-episode docuseries premiering on YouTube on November 26, and it has turned Brown’s suburban routine upside down.
The series follows Brown through every grind and high. From early-morning gym sessions to tension-filled practice rounds. Its philosophy is simple, to pull back the curtain on what it really takes for an everyday bloke to chase a pro dream. In crisp, observant footage from the lens of the Local Films team, the show captures Brown’s first year of transformation – mentally, physically, emotionally. Viewers see him shed nearly 18kg, trade schooners for protein shakes, and retool a swing that used to capitulate under pressure.
Lonely morning range sessions and long nights balancing work and being a father, the dual demands of family, business and golf collide.
The first year was a rollercoaster. Brown came out of the gate swinging – literally. He’d lost weight, gained flexibility, and was eager to test himself. But reality bit back hard; his plate was already full – especially recently. When the netball teams he coaches hit a slump, that frustration bled into his golf. “I remember coming home after a loss and parents asking what’s going on,” he recalls to Golf Australia magazine.
The negativity crept into his swing. Suddenly, he was “protecting” his handicap in fear that he was going to miss out on events. He drilled balls yet couldn’t break free of the worry, and every missed shot felt magnified.
The series doesn’t shy away from those lows. It shows Brown confessing doubts, even wondering if he was “kidding himself.” Months of self-imposed pressure climaxed at a Queensland stroke-play tournament. On the final morning, after he missed the cut, something unexpected happened. Brown woke up the next day, looked at his wife, and felt “a sense of relief” wash over him. All the stress, he says, “I didn’t realise I was under it.”
The following week, on a mate’s trip, he shot five under on one day – without even trying. It was the turning point he needed.
Part of that breakthrough was Brown reconnecting with why he started this challenge in the first place. This has never been a publicity stunt for him; it was entirely personal. He learned to lean on the discipline he’d built. Quitting alcohol, for instance, became a foundation. “Every day I didn’t drink, I’d wake up, and I’d already dealt with yesterday,” he explains.
Skipping the nightcap meant waking clear-headed, ready for a new day on the range or at home. The change rippled through his life: he’s calmer on the road, his cortisol levels are down, and even family dinners look different now. His teenage daughters notice the difference. Brown is proud of that. As a father, he wants to lead by example, showing them what grit and sacrifice look like.
As the season progresses, improvements accumulate. His golf swing, once described by Brown as “pretty ugly,” began to smooth out. Coaches tweaked a stuck hip, and drills replaced old nervous habits. He began practising golf in different ways. With his eyes closed was one method, putting, chipping, even full swings – he’d visualise the shot with eyes shut, then open and execute. Those repetitions gradually built confidence in the basics. He’s playing looser, more free, much like he did that day when everything clicked.
Going Pro has led him to plenty of media attention almost overnight.
Featuring on Fox News, breakfast TV, radio stations and in several publications across the country.
Code Sports has had fun with the joke nickname “Australia’s Happy Gilmore,” which has stuck. But Brown sees it as fuel.
What does Year Two look like? Brown’s schedule is already changing. Gone are any illusions that he can burn the candle at both ends. Over the next 12 months, he’s eyeing six to ten amateur events across Australia “to put me under pressure.” The biggest goal, he says, is mental; building “headspace” so that the same doubts and swing-slamming anxiety don’t creep in again. He talks about staring down a tree on the range, eyes closed, committing to the shot without fear of missing. “The result is not what I’m going to focus on,” he says firmly. “It’s sticking to my routine, repetition.”
The boyishly grinning father on the driving range now is worlds away from the sedentary businessman who stumbled into a pub one evening.
He’s no tour pro yet – he’d be the first to say he’s only just started learning. But ask him about his message to anyone watching Going Pro, and he lays it out in plain terms. “Less talk, more action,” he says. “Pick something. Set the bar higher than you naturally would. And just let the good times roll.” It’s a simple mantra for a man chasing something big – a reminder that the hardest step is the one from conversation to commitment.
Going Pro premieres on YouTube on November 26. Subscribe to the journey here: LukeBrownGoingPro
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