Balancing family time a thorny issue for Justin Rose

Sacrificing quality time with his young family is one of the toughest demands of being a successful, globe-trotting professional golfer, according to Justin Rose.

The 30-year-old Briton has set his sights on becoming the best player possible over the next decade and he readily accepts that the loneliness of life on the road is a frequent but necessary part of the equation.

"It is tough," Rose, whose son Leo was born in 2009, told Reuters in an interview. "I had two weeks away from my family at the start of the (PGA Tour) season in Hawaii and you certainly miss a lot with a young kid.

"Leo is talking and I couldn't believe the difference in two weeks in his speech and the words he was picking up. It's really tough to miss things like that but it is one of the small sacrifices of a great job."

However, Rose felt that one week away from home was often a bonus for all concerned.

"One week is no problem," said the Florida-based Englishman who plays most of his golf on the US PGA Tour. "You get your head down and you work hard at your game because all of that is time-consuming too.

"When your family is out with you, there's certainly no point dragging them out on the road and then spending no time with them. So occasionally it is very good to get to have a week on your own. But being away for two weeks is tough."

Asked whether he ever adjusted his playing schedule to spend extra time with his family, Rose replied: "Not really. I schedule it where I am going to play best, how I think I can get the most out of a season.

"The family make sacrifices and I make sacrifices. You've got to get the most out of yourself in this game and you never quite know when your career could be up so it's a case of making the most of every single year."

Rose triumphed twice on the 2010 PGA Tour before ending a superb breakthrough season in the United States with earnings of $3,603,331 for a career-high ninth place in the money list.

Although delighted to claim his first victory on the US circuit after coming agonisingly close several times during the previous seven years, he said his self-belief in his own abilities had never wavered.

"I've always realised that I have a game that can contend at the highest level," said the tall Englishman, who took the golfing world by storm when tying for fourth as an amateur at the 1998 British Open.

"But those two wins here in the US have taken a little bit of the pressure off. It has certainly got the monkey off my back and it's freed me up a little bit this year.

"You don't have to face those annoying questions every time you are in and around the lead, which you deal with but they're not what you want to face every time you're in contention."

While Rose has repeatedly said he wants to make the very most of his abundant golfing talent before he retires from the game, he has not adjusted his goals for this year because of his 2010 success.

"I'm not very goal-orientated at the moment," the four-times European winner added. "I am very much just trying to stick with the process.

"I want to see my shots clearly and I want to execute them as freely as possible and play without being tight. If I can do that, good golf is going to come and tournaments (wins) are going to get in the way."

Rose, who clinched the European Tour order of merit for the first time in 2007 by winning the season-ending Volvo Masters, has challenged himself to make the most of his golfing potential over the next decade.

"I see the next 10 years as my prime, where I feel I'm going to have the enthusiasm and energy to devote everything I've got to being the best player I can be," he said.

"And then who knows after that? I have a great family life right now and I'm very happy off the golf course. I'm in a good place with everything really."