Golf Industry Enters New Era of Collaboration

Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, May 06, 2015 — The leaders of five major golf organizations in the United States shared a refocused, collaborative approach to grow, protect and perpetuate the health of the game during a press conference today at The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

The LPGA, Masters Tournament, PGA of America, PGA TOUR and the United States Golf Association, as well as the World Golf Foundation and their allied golf industry leaders, are working together on a number of initiatives aimed at bringing the game to young people and new golfers, as well as to tell the story of the positive impact of the sport.

In the spirit of collaboration, these organizations are working with each other to focus on four major areas of developing the game – bringing the game to young people; improving player development on an adult level; accessibility to the game and retaining golfers; and sustainability.

To help support a healthy game, the industry has committed to supporting the following initiatives:

• Sustainability is a commitment shared industry-wide to support the long-term health of the game by delivering solutions to address key barriers to participation. It is focused on four key factors; the costs associated with the game, the time it takes to play the game, the overall quality of the golfer experience, and resource management, particularly water.
• Drive, Chip and Putt is a joint initiative founded in 2013 by the Masters Tournament, United States Golf Association and the PGA of America. Drive, Chip and Putt is a free nationwide junior golf development competition aimed at growing the game by focusing on the three fundamental skills employed in golf. By tapping the creative and competitive spirit of girls and boys ages 7-15, Drive, Chip and Putt provides aspiring junior golfers an opportunity to play with their peers in qualifiers around the country. Participants who advance through local, sub-regional and regional qualifying in each age/gender category earn a place in the National Finals, which is conducted at Augusta National Golf Club the Sunday before the Masters Tournament and is broadcast live by Golf Channel.
• Get Golf Ready, which offers golfers five lessons for $99, had nearly 99,000 participants in 2014, a 15% increase over 2013. Over the six-year history of this program, Get Golf Ready has attracted 358,000 students through the more than 4,400 GGR certified facilities across the country. 62% of students attending the program in 2014 were female, triple golf’s overall female participation rate of 20%. In their first year following participation in GGR, students are being retained as players at a rate of 82%.
• LPGA-USGA Girls Golf, which introduces the game to girls up to 14 years old, has continued to get more girls involved in the game. LPGA-USGA Girls Golf has grown from 4,500 girls per year in 2010 to an estimated 50,000 girls per year in 2015.
• PGA Junior League Golf, for boys and girls ages 7-13 playing a 9-hole Scramble in three-hole segments, saw a 500% growth from 2012 (1,500 kids) to 2013 (9,000 kids). In 2014 the numbers nearly doubled (1,425 teams and 17,500 kids) compared to 2013 (740 teams and 9,000 kids). Estimates are that 100,000 girls and boys will participate by 2020.
• The First Tee, which introduces young people to the game and the values inherent to it, reached more than 4.1 million young people in 2014, the most since its inception in 1997. It also has doubled its participants in the past eight years compared to its first eight years of existence. Since the program’s inception in 1997 through 2014, more than 10.5 million young people have participated in The First Tee programs. Programs are delivered at golf courses, in elementary schools and at youth centers. In 2013, Scott Langley became the first participant of The First Tee to become a PGA TOUR member.

To share this message of collaboration, the golf industry worked together to create a PSA which will begin airing in this week’s Players Championship telecast. To view the PSA, please click on the following link: joingolftoday.com.

QUOTE FROM PETE BEVACQUA, CEO OF THE PGA OF AMERICA:
“From our perspective, our two-part mission is to grow the game and serve our members. We feel that the PGA professional truly is that tangible connection between the game and just about everybody that plays it in this country, whether you’re here at an unbelievable course like TPC Sawgrass or if you’re at a nine-hole public facility in Wichita, Kansas, we look for the PGA of America and the professionals to play its role in helping this collaborative initiative.”

QUOTE FROM MIKE DAVIS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE USGA:
“We have appreciated the opportunity to share our expertise with everyone in the industry, as we continue to provide leadership to foster a healthy game,” said Mike Davis, executive director of the USGA. “We are not content with only growing participation, but delivering solutions that drive long-term environmental and economic responsibility. In this way, we invite new golfers to a game that is welcoming, accessible, affordable and enjoyable – an in short, sustainable.”

QUOTE FROM TIM FINCHEM, COMMISSIONER OF THE PGA TOUR:
“Today is recognition of the work that’s been done over the last year and a half by the golf organizations coming together to collaborate on analyzing, first, where we are with the game, working with the National Golf Foundation in that regard, and the steps that we can take to continue to grow the game. There are three things that are key to today’s discussion. First, we see the game as stable and healthy in the United States. Secondly, we see a great deal of interest among individuals around the country, and importantly amongst young people, to pick up the game and get involved and thirdly, we have confidence that the programs referenced today can help us do that.”

QUOTE FROM MIKE WHAN, COMMISSIONER OF THE LPGA:
“When we think about the initiatives that we are all going to wrap our arms around to help build, we’re excited about what the future of the game can mean. We’re excited, not only about what we have built, but for the path we’re on for increasing the program. We are really excited about what it is meaning in terms of bringing young women into the game and for being a part of the initiatives that we are supporting together.”

STATEMENT FROM BILLY PAYNE, CHAIRMAN OF THE MASTERS TOURNAMENT:
In support of the industry-wide collaborative efforts, Billy Payne, Chairman of the Masters Tournament issued the following statement:

“We are proud to partner with these many organizations, which collectively have hundreds of years of experience supporting the game of golf. We are happy to lead or follow, where appropriate, because these institutions share our desire to nurture and develop this wonderful sport. Our commitment was established by our co-Founders, Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts, decades ago and remains central to our Tournament’s mission today.

“The Drive, Chip & Putt Championship, Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship and Latin America Amateur Championship are three recent examples of organizations with shared enthusiasm and significant resources collaborating successfully. Our hope is that these and other programs not yet realized will provide meaningful and long-term opportunities for the game’s further development.”

SOURCE: PGA