A colleague and my boss are having a good-natured but heated discussion about this. My boss obsessively plays golf. My colleague insists that golf is a game for rich guys and that my boss should pursue more middle-class pursuits such as bowling or horseshoes.
Which brings me to the question: Is there any golfer on the PGA tour who grew up in (or near) poverty? How about any who grew up lower middle-class?
Some googling turned up this guy, Carlos Franco of Paraguay.
Lee Trevino. Not currently on the tour (though I think he still competes in the Senior tour), but he was a very successful golfer in the 70s and 80s, with wins in three of the four majors. His career was hampered when he was struck by lightning, but it put him in the golf Hall of Fame.
Trevino grew up very poor (and fatherless) in Dallas. He lived near a golf course, though, and got involved, first by selling lost balls, then by caddying.
So did Craig Stadler IIRC. There are a number of golfers that grew up in the middle class, most of them say the same thing too, they used to sneak onto the course near nightfall and play a couple of holes. Off the top of my head though I can not think of their names.
David Berganio Jr. grew up an orphan in a poor neighborhood in LA. He learned golf after being given a set of clubs by a priest. He lost in a playoff a year or two ago, his best finish in a tour event.