Take a quick watch of this 20-second video recounting a moment in the high-stakes world of competitive skill gaming:

That right there was a multi-thousand dollar fairway shot….on a video game.

Now, we all know there are many ways to make a living. Some more risky than others. And some more unconventional than others. Take skill gaming, for instance. Whether or not you consider poker to be a game of skill, the bottom line is that many folks make a decent living playing poker on the internet. Granted, there are far more hopeful’s who fall short, but isn’t that how it goes in any competitive industry?

The term “skill game” actually represents a wide range of games – some more skill-based than others. On the internet, skill games can range from cards and dice to puzzles and fantasy sports. On skill gaming websites geared toward real-money wagering, such as the skill gaming section of popular UK betting shop, Will Hill, the main offering of skill games amounts to card, dice and table games. This usually includes traditional casino games like real money blackjack (Head’s Up) and Roulette, as well as the card game Backgammon and the dice game, Gin Rummy.

What you won’t typically find classified as skill games at internet betting sites are games referred to as “arcade style” games. These usually fall under their own category within an online casino games portfolio. At Will Hill, for example, a “Virtual” section of the site offers a host of realistic, arcade-style games namely focused on competitive sports. If it’s a sport played in the Summer Olympics, you can bet it will be available.

One of the more popular virtual sports these days is golf. But it’s not just the online casinos that are offering bets on virtual golf. See where we’re going with this?

Introducing the real deal of virtual, arcade competition golf games: Golden Tee (which you had a taste of in the video above). Although Golden Tee has been around since the late eighties, it wasn’t until the year 2000 that the company introduced cash prizes. A testament to the demand for real money skill games, Golden Tee consoles jumped from 4,000 to 30,000 in two years, and now amount to 60,000 consoles in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Not too surprisingly, the highest concentration of Golden Tee consoles is in the Midwestern United States, where entertainment and recreation options are generally limited to bars and farms.

And it’s at pubs and bars where you will commonly find Golden Tee consoles, not to mention the half-dozen or so regional tournaments held throughout the year. And it’s at these regional tournaments where you will find a small handful of folks, like Graig Kinzler and Mark Stenmark (recently featured in a Wall Street Journal piece), who make a decent living ($50K or more a year) playing Golden Tee on a competitive level. But when I say competitive, I mean competitive. These guys are very serious and really good at what they do.

The way it works is that a game costs $5 – $4 of which pays for the game and $1 of which goes to a betting pool. Tournaments, which are tracked online, are capped at 50 players. It takes roughly eight minutes to complete a full round of 18 holes. The winner walks away with $10, first runner up nabs $8, second runner up get $6 so on down the line. Regional tournaments can pay as much as $15,000 to first place finishers. As you may surmise, to make a living at playing Golden Tee competitively, you would need to win the vast majority of the games – and at a minimum – finish in the top 4 in all games.

So, yes…you can make a living playing skill-based games. But remember, it doesn’t matter if it’s the world of Golden Tee or the World Series of Poker – the competition is stiff. It takes serious dedication to make a living at skill gaming. If you find that you don’t have it in you, remember to take things in stride and have fun. If you can earn a little extra income on the side while doing so, then consider yourself one of the skillful ones.