Mount Maunganui golfer Hayden Beard's 2015 calendar has suddenly become positively congested after he turned professional – and he wouldn't have it any other way.

At last week's 2015 PGA Tour of Australasia Qualifying School, the Bay of Plenty 24-year-old achieved a two-year goal of making it on to the paid circuit by finishing in the top 50 at the Victoria Golf Club.

Hayden Beard has recently turned professional. Photo: Bruce Barnard.

Finishing fourth in the first stage of the qualifying school at Sandhurst Golf Club prior to Christmas, Beard went on card 76, 75, 71 and 70 in Victoria for a 44th placing and a category 14 rank for this year's tour.

The top 25 are given category 11 status meaning they secure the strongest chance of retaining their pro cards come 2016.

Despite missing out on the top ranks, Beard is now a fully-fledged professional just two years after focussing purely on golf after completing a Bachelor of Management Studies at the University of Waikato.

'It's my first chance to play for money as such,” he says. 'It's a huge learning and I'm pretty much starting again if you like, as I have I have played a lot of amateur stuff over the last couple of years.

'I'm at the bottom of the top and now I just have to practise hard and work my way up from the bottom again.”

First picking up a golf club at the age of 11, Beard admits the sport of cricket took a front seat while he was growing up with father Derek - a 105-game veteran for Bay of Plenty who also played extensively as an all-rounder for Northern in the 1980s and early 90s.

After making the shift to rolling greens and fairways, Beard has been in strong form in recent years, winning the 2013 Bay of Plenty Men's Open Championship and captaining this year's Bay side at the Toro Men's Interprovincial Tournament.

The 'big five” of the New Zealand Open, Australian Masters, Australian PGA, Australian Open and the Perth International are currently outside his status, but Beard hopes to stake his claim through pre-qualification.

'I won't get into those big events that have the likes of Adam Scott and Rory McIlroy,” he says, 'but I will try and pre-qualify into those so it will give me confidence knowing I'm not too far off that.

'It's daunting becoming a pro, but obviously I have practised hard for this and have played against a few of these guys [the likes of Ryan Fox and Josh Geary] before, so it's just about going there and getting it done.”

With pro card firmly in hand, Beard is lining up an appearance at this weekend's Volvik Whitford Park Pro Am in Auckland before testing his skills across the Tasman in the Victorian Open, the Victorian PGA and Queensland PGA in February.

And if things going to plan on-and-off the greens this year, Beard will ultimately retain his pro card, keeping him away from another appearance at the qualifying school.

'I don't want to go back to q school,” he says, 'and ideally this is the building block to further tours and ultimately the PGA tour sometime in the future.”