Our Growing Industry
It continues to be an honor and labor of love to serve the PGA of America as your District Director. Please know how much I appreciate your service to the industry, and your commitment to representing our brand as leaders in the business and game of golf. Golf is thriving with more than 138M (up 28% since 2019) Americans participating in some fashion in 2024. This includes not only playing on a golf course or hitting balls at golf entertainment venues like Topgolf but also watching broadcasts of The Masters or streaming Netflix’s popular Full Swing series.
It is amazing to see how much the golf industry has grown in the past seven years, expanding from an $84B industry to a $102B juggernaut (American Golf Industry Coalition, 2024). This growth in revenue is unprecedented compared to similar time periods. This type of growth causes me to pause and reflect upon those responsible for attracting, nurturing, and retaining our vibrant consumer base. Thank you to our PGA Professionals who lead as ambassadors to our game and help so many people enjoy its benefits. The physical and mental health benefits of the game are more important than ever.
Further evidence of growing interest in our game were experienced during the 2025 PGA Show. Attendance across the board increased:
- PGA of America Golf Professionals -6,466 (up 9% from 2024)
- Media – 1107 (Up 16% from 2024)
- VIP Buyer – 1339 (Up 37% from 2024)
- Total Attendees – 33,212 (Up 7% from 2024)
Additionally, we experienced robust media coverage, marked by an overwhelming wave of positive, high-level coverage across multiple media platforms. With the help of many, we successfully amplified Association leaders, National Award Recipients, PGA HOPE Ambassadors and more key moments from the PGA Show, resulting in extensive earned media. The health of the recreational game reinforced by the latest NGF participation numbers and the impact and role of our PGA of America Golf Professionals were front and center.
Our North Stars
To leverage this bull market your Association’s leadership has played an active role in soliciting feedback from our Executives and Senior Directors, the Executive Director Committee, Member and Section Operations, and 8K Member surveys. This comprehensive feedback has guided your Association in formulating our FY25 North Stars, which were presented, discussed and approved by your Board of Directors. Our North Stars and supporting objectives will be shared with your Section Officers and Executive Director on March 6th, 2025, by myself and our Association’s Chief Financial Officer, John Connelly. The following summarizes our high-level goals and priorities for FY25:
- North Star: Maximize the value of PGA Membership
FY25 Point of Emphasis: Help PGA of America Members grow their careers and enrich their lives - North Star: Promote the value of the PGA of America and the Association’s stature in the game
FY25 Point of Emphasis: Grow participation and inclusion in the game and strengthen PGA of America Members as the leaders of the game
- North Star: Relentlessly perpetuate and protect the financial health of the Association, the Ryder Cup and the PGA Championship
FY25 Point of Emphasis: Develop incremental annual profit across the Association by start of FY27
- North Star: Create a united and performance-based culture rooted in our shared values
FY25 Point of Emphasis: Effectively manage PBG and NYC office transitions and PGA Leadership transition while maintaining service levels
Leading the Way
Our new Chief Executive Officer, Derek Sprague, is no stranger to the PGA of America. To have a leader at the helm who knows every detail of the Association and what it means to be a PGA of America Member will enable our Association to succeed far into the future. Derek will be focusing on bringing people together, continue to reinforce our strong culture at the PGA Homequarters, and seize opportunities for our Members and our Association as we pursue our mission of elevating the PGA of America Golf Professional and growing the game. Once again, we are grateful to Kerry Haigh for so capably leading us as interim CEO.
Further, PGA REACH is now under new leadership with our first REACH Executive Director in Jenny Lewis. Jenny comes from extensive Foundation experience, and is hard at work building an even stronger fundraising machine. We continue to be incredibly optimistic about the future for REACH, and we are committed to exercising financial discipline along the way.
PGA REACH
PGA REACH programming continues to be among the most important things we do at the PGA of America. As you are aware downward revisions to FY25 budget allocations were made to offer a sustainable path moving forward until revenue and expense pressures can be alleviated. As we developed our strategy for FY25 funding, several factors drove our decision making:
- The PGA of America is committed to supporting REACH by making financial contributions and by enabling PGA Staff to support all of PGA REACH activities
- We aimed to strike a balance between providing financial support to REACH without sacrificing other necessary financial commitments to our PGA Members and PGA programs
- While the PGA of America fiscal year starts on April 1, 2025, we understand that the vast majority of PGA Sections have a fiscal year that started on January 1, 2025. Given that, we moved as quickly as we could to provide sections with guidance on REACH funding before the end of 2024
We are experiencing growing pains with REACH. There is a tremendous positive outlook when considering the latent and current demand that exists with serving our Veterans, nurturing junior participation, and doing our part in diversifying golf’s consumer and workforce.
For example, HOPE funding requests far exceeded what we can afford in FY25. As a result, funding was allocated based on a set of objective criteria in order to maximize impact. While we understand there are PGA Members and Executive Directors who have questions and perhaps even disappointment regarding the funding process, please know we are steadfast in learning how we can best serve our Sections in delivering the best Member and Veteran experience through HOPE programming. Further, we aim to take the same approach to support efforts with PGA Junior League, PGA REACH Opportunity Leagues, and PGA REACH Fellowships.
Last year, PGA HOPE served an astonishing 16,797 Veterans, this year we expect to serve 13,485 Veterans with REACH’s national funds. We are hopeful additional veterans can be served through section-level funding. Last year, PGA REACH granted 4,980 PGA Junior League scholarships, this year, we expect to provide 1,627 scholarships. The PGA Junior League Scholarship program waives Gamechanger fees and provides financial assistance to children from military families or those facing financial hardship or extenuating circumstances. Last year, PGA REACH supported 3 PGA REACH Opportunity Leagues, this year, we expect to support 10 PGA REACH Opportunity Leagues. PGA REACH Opportunity Leagues provide wrap-around support to families by covering all expenses related to participation, including equipment, shoes, food & beverage, transportation, and coaching fees. REACH funding will continue to support Section Fellowships. Sections are permitted to shorten the length of a REACH Fellowships and PGA National will share in the costs of supporting 27 National Fellowships.
Also, with an extremely generous donation from the Kohler family, this year’s Works Collegiate Championship in Kohler, Wisconsin, is expected to break even.
PGA Coach positioned to enhance Player Development
PGA Coach is evolving to support the novice and seasoned coach. PGA Coach has been successful and impactful in its early stages, however there is a need to stabilize the business and invest in long-term growth. We used feedback from PGA Coaches and PGA Committees to guide the adoption of features and offerings. The Starter package continues to provide features that Coaches have grown to love including: a profile on PGA.com; limited offering types and leads, payments, student management, messaging, and note taking. A new PGA Coach Plus paid tier will be introduced offering unlimited offering types and leads, personalized customer success, dedicated concierge support, first access to new features, additional promotion opportunities, access to special partner opportunities, and access to exclusive content. Additionally, PGA Coach will now invite select non-PGA groups to the platform to foster a more inclusive coaching community. This expansion includes individuals who actively support PGA Professionals at their facilities, with an overall goal to enrich the experience for all users and create a collaborative environment within PGA Coach. For compliance reasons, the pricing options must be equal for members and non-members.
PGA Professionals that shape the future of the sport through coaching, are core to the PGA of America’s mission. As part of our ongoing efforts, our initiatives in the Coaching space are continually evolving, aligning with our overarching objective of delivering world class training and resources to coaches while diligently managing our financial resources for the future.
Our commitment to PGA Professionals and coaches is exemplified through the continual evolution of PGA Coach’s offerings, encompassing Professional Development and cutting-edge Modern Business Tools, all promoted by the incredible brand power of the PGA of America.
Our core aim is to grow the game by equipping coaches with the essential tools needed to thrive in today’s dynamic ecosystem, coupled with world-class education. Everything you require to embark on your journey as a PGA Coach is readily accessible by visiting PGA.Coach. In 2024, an average of 3,940 coaches are using PGA Coach on a monthly basis.
Career Services
The PGA of America continues to strengthen its PGA Career Services Department to enhance the lives of PGA Members. Our team of 25 Career Consultants is located regionally across the U.S. Close to 14,000 members, 70% of our active PGA Professionals interact with their Career Consultant each year. Since last year’s annual meeting over $12M in compensation increases for PGA Professionals has been recorded.
Your retirement plan through PGA Deferred Compensation
As we all know, there are tax rules that prevent the Association from directly giving money to members. But the basic principle is that we can reasonably compensate a member for performing services that advance our exempt purpose; specifically for growing the game of golf. Therefore, we created a plan whereby members that participate in programs that meet specified performance objectives can earn a contribution towards a deferred compensation fund.
PGA Members can potentially earn up to $1,500 a year in deferred compensation. The aim is that over the years these investments will grow and provide a supplemental income for the member upon reaching the age of 65. This is now a very real and accessible vehicle to accumulate wealth towards a more comfortable retirement. We further hope that this can serve as a truly significant lure and recruiting tool to attract new talent to our great and growing industry. We finished our first plan year with $2.3M in deferred compensation payouts, with 1,529 members earning over 200 points (eligible to receive funds), and 2,712 members with approved points.
PGA TOUR Open Qualifying
We are disappointed to learn that beginning in 2026, some PGA TOUR stops will no longer include open qualifying tournaments that were hosted by our PGA of America Sections. These open qualifying events, which our PGA Sections conduct with the utmost care and in a truly professional manner included an opportunity for some PGA of America Golf Professionals to qualify to compete in PGA TOUR events. Qualifier reductions for 2026 have a planned impact of revenue loss for seven of our Association’s Sections. In response, Sections will likely make cost-cutting decisions, including reducing programs, staff, and seeking alternative funding sources to sustain operations. The revenue loss will directly affect services provided by Sections and reduce opportunities for players to qualify for events that are being eliminated. This shift presents a major challenge for the Sections, and a strategic approach will be necessary to mitigate the financial and operational consequences.
Your Association is working closely with the PGA TOUR as our President maintains an invited seat on the PGA TOUR Policy Board. Discussions as to how to best mitigate these impacts for our Sections and membership are ongoing.
Golf ball rollback
We appreciate that the USGA and R&A ran a collaborative and patient process over the past several years. We are particularly gratified that they heard our concerns regarding the significant operational challenges bifurcation would have presented and are no longer considering a local rule regarding the ball for elite players. While we are also pleased that the proposed change to the ball has been delayed until 2028 for elite players, we do not think having a two-year gap between the implementation for the elite player and the recreational player makes sense for either group. Given the important role our more than 30,000 PGA of America Golf Professionals play in the recreational game, this potential two-year gap will continue to make it difficult for PGA of America members to implement and manage for many reasons.
We remain opposed to any change that may potentially lessen the enjoyment of the game for recreational golfers or diminish the unprecedented momentum the game is enjoying. It appears recreational golfers will see a greater reduction in distance than we would advise. While this decrease has been lessened, we continue to recommend being more moderate on the swing speed change for the golf ball conformance test.
At this time, we continue to have concerns about the new rule and look forward to continuing this important conversation and finding resolution with all of our golf industry partners. We value our relationship with the USGA and R&A and respect their role as administrators of the Rules of Golf and the equipment standards of the game. In the coming years, we will continue to share our feedback on this, and any topic that affects our PGA of America Golf Professionals and the countless number of golfers they coach and welcome into the game each year.
Keeping up with your PDR Requirements
As you are already aware, our Professional Development Requirement (PDR) cycle ends June 15, 2025. If you are still in need to earn credits please do so before this deadline. Here is how you can stay on track:
- Check Your PDR Requirements: Log in to your PGA.org dashboard to see which categories you need to complete.
- Explore Online PDR Opportunities: Visit Online PDR Opportunities or click on “Earn Credits” within your pga.org dashboard to earn credits online.
- Attend your Spring Section and/or Chapter Meetings: This is a way to earn PDR credits and network with your fellow PGA of America Golf Professionals! Check with your Section office for upcoming meeting dates.
- Understand the Professional Development Program: Read through the Earn and Report PDRs to learn what activities qualify for each category.
- Complete the Member Offering Survey. (Will be sent via email in mid-March)
- Contact Us for Assistance: Email [email protected] or call PGA Membership Services at 1-800-474-2776 for credit submissions or guidance.
We hope that this reminder helps you in planning your schedule of activities between now and June 15, 2025. By completing your PDRs, you’ll not only keep your membership in good standing but also benefit from valuable professional development and networking opportunities.
2025 Masters Tournament Pre-Registration
As a courtesy extended by Augusta National Golf Club; Class A PGA Members, Life Members and Master Professional Members only may receive complimentary daily access to the 2025 Masters Tournament. In order to make the entrance process more seamless, there will be a pre-registration process with a pre-registration deadline of April 3, 2025 11:59pm ET. By completing pre-registration, you will receive your Access Pass. A link to pre-register can be found by clicking here.
2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black
The players and captains, past and present, are responsible for the Ryder Cup becoming the most special competition in golf and one of the most in-demand events on the international sports scene. While no players asked to be compensated, the PGA of America Board of Directors has voted to increase the allocation to the members of the U.S. Ryder Cup team from $200,000 to be directed to charities – a figure unchanged since 1999 – to $500,000, with $300,000 of that to be directed to the charity or charities of the players’ choice. The balance is a stipend.
Golf is a long-established vehicle for good and it’s exciting to imagine the impact the members of the 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup team will deliver for worthy causes and communities across the country, including the many initiatives that support the growth of the game. In addition, efforts around the Ryder Cup will help fund the PGA of America REACH Foundation’s veteran program, PGA HOPE (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere) in which PGA of America Golf Professionals, who are trained in adaptive golf and military culture competency, provide free coaching and a transformative golf experience that has proven to change and save lives.
We are grateful to the many players and captains through the years who have so passionately represented our country and look forward to a memorable 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
To Conclude
I look forward to visiting with your Section leadership during your upcoming March board meeting, and visiting with a number of you that may be attending new member orientation and your coveted Awards Celebration. The Pacific Northwest Section PGA is truly one of the best Sections in our Association. Your Section Officers, Executive Director and myself maintain open lines of communication through numerous District calls which include our Southwest Section PGA leadership. Together we are able to share ideas, wins, challenges and help each other pursue our shared mission of serving you and growing our game’s influence.
Please know you may reach out to me anytime to talk about your Association’s governance, our profession, or just to catch up. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Chris Cain, PGA