The sport Bradley de Beer’s father played on Wednesdays to avoid work on a South African military base led to de Beer landing a golf scholarship at Virginia Tech.

De Beer recently graduated from the Blackwood Program in Real Estate and soon will move from his hometown in the Western Cape of South Africa to Washington D.C. There, he will work as a lending and development associate with Congressional Capitol. 

He described how his love for the sport came from his father.

“Back in South Africa when my dad was young, he still had a mandatory two years of military service,” de Beer said, “On a Wednesday, in the army, you can either choose to go play golf —if you can play golf — or you gotta stay on base and do some work. My dad didn’t play golf, but he said he played golf because he didn’t want to work on the base. So, then he picked up golf that way, and I just picked it up from him. I played it competitive, and then I started thinking of studying in the U.S. That’s when I thought golf could help me get into a university with a scholarship, so I started playing even more seriously and ended up getting  into Virginia Tech with a golf scholarship .”

Although de Beer played competitively at Virginia Tech, he more so enjoyed the social aspect of the sport. Golf and real estate created the ideal combination for DeBeer, as he can still enjoy the sport socially with coworkers and friends, while also networking with real estate professionals. De Beer met most of his collegiate friends through the golf course and looks forward to meeting more through golf in the future.

“That whole thing is ‘A lot of business deals happen on the golf course,’ — it’s sometimes true because you meet so many people. For example, sometimes you meet someone big, and you play golf with them and then you keep playing golf with them, and you become friends and they like I have this job if you want it. You can network well with golf.”

De beer’s passion for real estate stems from being able to know the intricacies of developments and finances behind a building taking shape. His work negotiating and planning behind a desk is translated into something that can house people and businesses. Expanding on his aptitude for networking, de Beer advises his peers in undergrad to do the same. 

“Make friends in real estate. That’s one thing I missed out on: making friends in your major helps in your difficult classes,” de Beer said, ”You can get help from other people, and you don’t feel as bad when you ask them for their thoughts or to get different inputs. If someone goes into commercial and you’ve gone into residential and you’re thinking of switching to commercial, then they can help you.”

If a classmate is this helpful in the post graduate world, imagine having a professor in your corner. This is something de Beer emphasized.

“I think the real estate professors are really good. They’re super helpful. Getting to know them is worth it as well. They have good connections. A lot of them did their own thing, they were successful in real estate and now they want to come teach it. Knowing them well and making a good name for yourself with them will help a lot.”

With de Beer’s love for golf, networking, and real estate, he’s sure to score a hole in one in his future career.