FORMATIVE YEARS AS CLUB PRO AT LEIGHTON BUZZARD

IAN POULTER'S 
CLIMB TO TOP FROM 
HUMBLE PGA BEGINNING


FROM GOLFWEEK
By ALEX MICELI
What’s not to love when talking about Ian Poulter?
The sheer definition of an over-achiever, Poulter is also the ultimate entrepreneur with his clothing line IJP Design and now, an autobiography called “No Limits: My Autobiography."
He is a professional that spent most of his formative years as a club pro, last holding down a job at Leighton Buzzard, a course in England. 
After three and a half years of folding clothes, selling candy bars and giving lessons, Poulter came out of the club professional ranks and made a name for himself inside the ropes, building a career that includes 13 wins, two of those coming in World Golf Championships, the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in 2010 and the WGC-HSBC Champions in 2012.
At 38, Poulter sees his career a little differently than when he first arrived on the European and PGA tours. He recently changed equipment after looking at about four or five companies. 
He admittedly left money on the table to sign with Titleist so that he could get his game back on track.
“It's irrelevant, isn't it, really,” Poulter said about not getting the most compensation possible for his contract. “A shot a day, a shot a week? Twenty-five tournaments a year? It's insignificant, really, at my age. I just needed to be 100 percent happy. ... So money aside, that wasn't the factor. I can honestly tell you that.”
Pouter recorded one of his best finishes of the year last week, a T-6 at the WGC-HSBC Champions.
One could credit the strong performance to Poulter's equipment change, but one should also note that for the first time in 2014, Poulter is healthy.
“I've had three injuries this year, and I'm angry. I'm angry that I put myself in a situation to injure myself, not once, but twice,” Pouter said. “I'm annoyed. It happened. I'm annoyed that I wasn't able to probably take the time off with having two schedules, not being able to say, right, I need two months off. I can't do that myself in the situation I am now, but a good equipment change, the body is fine, the body is fit and healthy, and I'm fresh in the mind.”
Poulter’s predicament of playing on two tours has evolved over time with the predominance of money on the PGA Tour and most of those duel-tour players living in the U.S. instead of Europe.
At the same time Poulter has benefited tremendously from playing on both tours, earning just less than $40 million in his career.
Starting the year 12th in the Official World Golf Ranking, Poulter fell to 44th. But after a solid week in China, he moved up four sports to 40th. The finish in China was also his best finish since a T-5 at the Volvo China Open in April on the European Tour and a T-6 at the FedEx St. Jude Classic in June on the PGA Tour.
“I need to be in a situation where I put myself back to where I was, if not higher than what I was,” Poulter said. “I've been up to (No.) 5, and I don't even want to look where I'm at now. I know it's mid to high 40s. That's what I know for a fact.”
Poulter is entering his third week with the new equipment and if he continues to progress as he did from the first week to the second week, this week at the Turkish Airlines Open could be special for the Englishman, who is looking for his first win in two years.
“I'm happy and excited with some of the golf I've played in the last two weeks,” Poulter said. 
“Last week (at the BMW Masters) was a shock, or had a shocker. Missing seven greens and was 9-over for those seven greens I missed at the weekend. 
"I actually played some really good golf in there, even though the scoring didn't say so. I walked away from last week very happy. That was the first week the clubs have gone in the bag, and I hit a lot of really good golf shots.”