Hobday turned professional in 1969. He spent his regular career mainly on the Southern Africa Tour, where he won six times and the European Tour, where he won the 1976 German Open and the 1979 Madrid Open. As a senior, he played mainly in the United States on the Senior PGA Tour (now Champions Tour), where he claimed five titles between 1993 and 1995 including one senior major, the 1994 U.S. Senior Open.