Croudis, though, has put it all behind him. The 25-year-old right hander will line up at No3 for the Otago team at the national interprovincial tournament starting in Whangarei today.
He was in the Otago side which made the final in Invercargill two years ago before losing to Waikato.
Shortly afterwards, Croudis journeyed to Noosa to play in the qualifying school for the Australasian tour and declared himself a professional.
"You can go to qualifying school and if you do not get through you can remain an amateur if you sign a form. I didn't sign it,'' he said.
"In hindsight, it was a mistake. But at the time I had had enough of being an amateur. I wanted to give the game a real go.''
He hit a 66 in the first round of qualifying at Noosa and things were looking pretty.
But the wheels fell off and he ended up missing qualifying by two shots.
He was then a professional but had no automatic right of entry into professional tournaments in Australasia.
"I ended up playing a wee bit. Getting a few starts on Charles Tour events. But it's really tough to get starts. I just wasn't playing enough. And if you don't get the starts then you can't get the money and the results to keep you going.''
So in October last year, Croudis made the decision to seek a return to the amateur ranks.
He played no professional tournaments in the following year but kept his hand in by playing with friends.
Taking the year away from competitive golf was rewarded with a return to the amateur ranks in October, having had the necessary year stand-down.
Now he is really looking forward to getting out and playing well for Otago this week.
"I'm pretty excited after being away for two years. I just love the matchplay format. Just the two of you going out to play, one against the other, yet you are part of a team.
"Otago has always had a great team environment and that is the great thing about the Toro environment.''
Croudis, whose younger brother Gregor has played for the Otago cricket side as an opening batsman, said he felt like his short game was working well while his driving was improving.
"There is a little bit of mind games when you are out there. But at the end of the day it is about having less shots than him.
"In strokeplay you are competing against yourself but if you have one bad hole that can ruin your round. In matchplay, that is not the case. You can be a bit more aggressive. You see a lot more birdies.''
