It is a big help to be able to devote your life to playing golf, but there are many who never achieve professional status but who are great golfers. A setting such as this meditation center, or a monastery can be a great help if you can survive such a life. It provides the space and setting and time for intensive practice. But the monastery or meditation center can be a horrible situation if it is not for you. It's not necessary.
Any situation can be the setting for intensive practice.
When I speak of intensive practice, I am not speaking of the amount of time that a person can devote to actual meditation. A mother of children cannot have the same quantity of time that a monastic has to give to meditative practice, but she can make great strides in meditation by getting whatever amount of time that she can spare out of her busy schedule. Indeed, many non-monastics make greater advancement than some monastics because the monastics can be lazy in practice despite the fact that their life is set up for meditation. The fact that you have come here today is a sign that you are drawn to meditation. You may also decide that this particular way of practice is not for you at this moment.