Regional Members' Meeting 2023

03/03/2023

“The response from Members was absolutely brilliant,” reflected PGA Chief Executive Robert Maxfield following this year’s series of Regional Members’ Meetings. “They have made many helpful observations and given us plenty of positive things to think about.”

Maxfield was accompanied by three members of his Senior Leadership Team – Tristan Crew MBE, Dr Paul Wiseman, and Richard Barker - in undertaking a round trip of close on 2,000 miles and meeting Members from each of the PGA’s seven regions.

They heard presentations from each of the managerial quartet, with Maxfield reflecting on the past 12 months and looking ahead to 2023.

“More people are playing golf due to the pandemic,” he said, before adding a caveat. “That’s the good news but it’s essential we don’t rest on our laurels.

“Expensive energy bills and the cost-of-living crisis are making themselves felt, especially for our Members running their own businesses, and this year is going to be very challenging. We’ll be doing all we can to support Members.”

Crew, the PGA’s Executive Director, Member Services, highlighted the potential legacy of cost-of-living issues by reminding Members there was help at hand if they knew of anyone struggling with mental health.

“There’s a very good support structure available,” he said. “Joe Kelly’s team of Business Relationship Officers (BROs) and the regional managers have been trained as mental health first responders so you can go and see them.”

He also stressed the PGA Benevolent Fund was another key source of support for Members and revealed that 65 had received help last year.

“The PGA Benevolent Fund is paramount,” he added. “It’s a guiding principle of The PGA that we have a Benevolent Fund and if you know anyone with health issues leading to hardship, please refer them to David Wright.”

Crew’s reference to mental health issues and the Benevolent Fund come under the umbrella of his strategy for Member Support, an area that saw his team engage in 13,063 contacts with Members during 2022, an astonishing increase on the previous year’s figure of 4,000. Similarly, job opportunities for PGA pros, another area Crew is responsible for, showed a year-on-year increase, up 12 per cent from 692 to 777.

In respect of job opportunities, a pro’s chances of climbing the career ladder are likely to be enhanced by a similar negotiation of the PGA’s Excel process.

PGA Excel is another element of Crew’s member support portfolio and replaces the previous APAL system. Launched late last year, it is a much-improved pathway to progression through the Association’s membership framework that will reward PGA Members for their impact and achievements. PGA Excel enables Members to differentiate themselves from their peers through the designation of Advanced, Fellow, Advanced Fellow and Master in each of the three membership categories (Professional, Coach and Manager).

The entire application process is now fully digital, specialist markers and a new moderation process have been introduced, and there is a clear plan to promote and celebrate the awardees to ensure awareness and understanding of PGA Excel within the golf industry.

Crew is also responsible for the Association’s tournament strategy, an area he described as a “prime member benefit” and the “PGA’s window on the world”.

He revealed the total prize fund for regional and national tournaments had increased from £2.27m in 2022 to £2.49m this year but stressed the tournament schedule is not all about winning money.

“We want to ensure every PGA Member gets access to playing golf,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of work on this. There was an Open Series last year which allowed pros to play in other regions and was a help for those struggling for playing opportunities in the North and Midlands.

“We’ve also done a lot with the WPGA and, given the success of our two national tournaments for seniors, believe we can do more at a regional level. We’re also looking at our pro-am schedule with a view to try and reinvigorate it.”

Reinvigoration is an apposite word in respect of enlisting potential PGA pros on the Association’s training department under the guidance of Dr Wiseman, the PGA’s Executive Director of Education.

Dr Wiseman was celebrating five years, almost to the day, in the role and turning the clock back to 2018, he reflected: “When I arrived here, I had 30 years in education behind me but did not know what to expect.

“Since then, I’ve not stopped being impressed by what is taking place within PING House. There is no programme like this anywhere.”

That view appears to be shared by the increasing number signing up for the training programme that leads to PGA Membership.

The most recent intake of 339 was the best since 2014 when 294 joined the programme; even more impressive was the decrease in the number of drop-outs – 101 in 2014 compared with just 39 in 2021.

Dr Wiseman also emphasised that a PGA pro’s education does not have to stop once the training programme has been completed.

PGA Learn, the Association’s initiative for continuous career development (CPD), launched in December 2020, has been enhanced by the updates introduced last September. These included a PGA Learn app that, available from Apple or Google Play, has been downloaded more than 1,600 times and provided 10,000-plus sessions.

Dr Wiseman revealed that 50 per cent of the PGA membership (4,193) had accessed PGA Learn with 835 (an increase of 25 per cent) doing so in the past 12 months.

Despite these encouraging figures, Dr Wiseman and his team are always looking to improve their educational offerings – both online and in the classroom.

“We welcome views on the Training Programme, CPD, if there are any gaps in our provision, and opinions on the introduction of a specialist Coach, Manager or Professional route to our Training Programme.”

Just as online learning is a key factor in a PGA pro’s training and career progression, likewise the internet’s role in promoting PGA Members and the services they offer.

PGA Play is a case in point. Launched last July, PGA Play is the dedicated online platform that connects golfers looking for lessons or to take up the game with a PGA Professional.

“If someone wanting to get into golf or learn how to play the game did a search on Google there was no single platform out there,” explained Barker, PGA Executive Director – Business Development.

“When we did our research at the start of this project, we found there were 100,000 searches on Google per month made by people looking for golf lessons. So, we didn’t have to create a market – the demand was already there, we just had to try and capture it through paid search.”

In terms of reach, Barker revealed PGA Play has attracted more than 44,000 profile views since its launch, generated 1,700 enquiries and 2,100-plus booking engine clicks and 5,700 clicks to Members’ website. Almost 90% of those who enquired went on to make a lesson booking - with an average lesson price of £50, that’s around £75,000 of lesson generated, which clearly demonstrates that PGA Play works. The most successful Member has received almost 50 bookings to date so Members are encouraged to ensure they create a profile and take advantage.

The platform will also continue to evolve, with a forthcoming expansion including a specialist search functionality for custom fitting – helping educate the three million nomadic golfers on the benefits of custom fitting and enabling them to find PGA Members who specialise in fitting.

As part of a comprehensive marketing and promotion plan, Barker also shared a forthcoming video collaboration with the DP World Tour, which features the likes of Shane Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrell Hatton, Danny Willett and Luke Donald promoting the expertise of PGA Professionals.

In addition to a significant investment in ensuring PGA Play ranks highly on Google, promotion of PGA Play is being supported by a partnership with the members of the British Golf Industry Association (BGIA).

“All the major golf manufacturers – PING, Titleist, Callaway, TaylorMade - are BGIA members,” Barker said. “As an Association, they have a collective responsibility to get behind growing the game and we have their support in working with us to promote PGA Play on all their channels.

“That represents a huge reach. If we’re successful with this, which we will be, the exposure will be phenomenal and help accelerate our platform.”

In addition to their membership of the BGIA, PING and Titleist are also members of the 32-strong stable of PGA Partners that are key players in the Association’s commercial strategy.

Explaining the role his Commercial team plays, Barker said: “Its aim is to grow revenue which fuels the corporate mission of improving our Members’ personal and professional lives.

“We also create partnerships that provide tangible value back to PGA Members through the provision of a product or service. With the support of PGA Members, our partners will also see value and ROI, which enables us to charge them more and generate more funds for investment back into the Association.”

Barker also oversees the PGA’s communications department which is responsible for the Association’s website www.pga.info, social media output, external and internal communications, and the Member’s magazine, PGA Monthly.

That was relaunched 12 months ago and Barker said: “It’s produced by a specialist editorial team working with our media department and includes increased Member content to celebrate their work.

“There has been a reduction in advertising and commercial content, better regional coverage, and more relevant, useful and entertaining content.”

All of which tallies with the vision Maxfield and his team have with regard to supporting PGA Members.

“We have a mission to improve the personal and professional lives of Members,” Maxfield said. “That’s what guides all the PGA staff. We also have a vision to be the best members’ association in sport.

“It’s a difficult thing to measure and there’s not an award for it but I think we do a lot more for our Members than other member associations.”