Ladies European Tour winner Amy Boulden has detailed her complicated journey towards retirement but admitted the door could still be slightly ajar in terms of making more pro starts further down the line.
The Welsh talent announced she was walking away from pro golf earlier this week, having made her 150th and final LET appearance at the Amundi German Masters back in May.
Off the back of a sublime amateur career - which included wins at the Welsh Ladies Amateur, the Scottish Open Amateur, and both the English and Welsh Open Amateur Stroke Play, plus a call-up to represent GB&I at the 2012 Curtis Cup - Boulden went on to earn LET Rookie of the Year honors in 2014.
In the same year, she triumphed on the LET Access Series before later landing the LET's VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open in 2020 for her only victory on the top European circuit.
However, that promising start to pro life made way for a frustrating few years on course for Boulden, with the former amateur star admitting she possibly tried to change too much too quickly after her step up to the paid ranks.
Speaking to Golf Monthly, she said: "I don't think I found it difficult at first, especially not in the first couple of years. When I first turned pro, I then won rookie of the year and I didn't have full status starting that year. But I ended up just finishing top-10 week after week which was getting me in the following event.
"So, looking back, I don't think I found the transition actually that difficult. It was more after the first couple of years when you then start thinking 'I should be doing things a bit differently. I should get myself a full-time caddy. I should get, x y and z' and start doing things 'more professionally,' as they say.
"Whereas, maybe what I was doing as an amateur was pretty good and that was working for me. I think maybe it was after the first couple of years on tour, I then started to change things that I necessarily didn't need to. My swing being one."
Although Boulden found her way back to form via that victory in Switzerland, she struggled with consistency and injury in the years afterwards, ultimately helping to fuel a growing urge that it might be time to step away from pro golf.
But despite an awareness that it might be time to hand her LET card back, the 31-year-old admitted she initially found it hard to accept.
Boulden said: "I probably started thinking about [retirement] last season, but every time I would think about it or I'd have them conversations, I would get a little bit upset and I felt like I wasn't really ready to not compete or play anymore.
"Towards the end of last season, I struggled on the golf course. Mentally, my game wasn't great. At the end of the season, I was trying to decide whether to go back to Q school or not. I was like, 'No, I'm going to go back. I'm not ready to end career-wise yet.'
"But I went to Q-School and I just knew I shouldn't have gone. It was one of them things where I was like, 'Do you know what? You made a wrong decision here.' But, I mean, you learn, don't you?"
A few more pro starts in early 2024 failed to reignite Boulden's love for competing on tour, with the Welshwoman withdrawing after round one of her most recent appearance in May because "my head just wasn't in it."
Having given herself a little bit of a break to mentally and physically reset - off the back of a wrist issue - Boulden went on to complete some radio work at the AIG Women's Open at St Andrews.
It was there, while covering arguably the pinnacle for women's golf in Europe, that Boulden had an epiphany.
She said: "I was watching the girls out there and I was like, 'normally, I would be really dying to play and I wasn't.' I think that said it all then. I was like 'this is one of the biggest events in women's golf and I'm not dying to be out there competing against these girls. So I think that just showed that I was kind of ready to move on."
Now living in Dubai but regularly practicing and playing either side of a handful of pro-am invites, Boulden admits she does miss competing but not the overall stress of being a touring pro.
With that said, the 2008 BBC Wales Young Sportswoman of the Year has told friends and family that they should not be surprised if she occasionally tees it up on the Ladies European Tour again.
Boulden explained: "I've said to people, I'm not saying it's forever, but definitely for the moment I'm not going to play in any tour events.
"I wouldn't mind playing the odd pro-am and things like that. Just, I always think it's good to keep an eye in on the game.
"If I want to stay in the game working wise, I think it's always good to keep playing some level of competitive golf - whether it's club competitions or pro-ams or anything like that."
