Professional golfer

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A professional golfer , also known as a golf professional or pro for short , is a golfer who makes a living from practicing this sport or who pursues the game of golf or training for this professionally. The female professional golfers are also known as proettes (singular: proette, pronounced pro-ette).

In golf there is a strict distinction between professional players and amateurs . An amateur golfer who only accepts prize money once loses his amateur status as a rule and is subsequently no longer allowed to participate in amateur tournaments. Professional golfers are made up of two main groups that can occasionally overlap.

  • The golf instructor , also Club Professionals or in English-speaking Teaching Pros called, make up a good 95% of the profession. Every golf club employs at least one golf instructor for its members. Larger clubs have several, with a golf instructor called a Head Pro and a number of assistants called Assistant Pros . Other common names are golf instructor and golf coach , the latter being used primarily for the training and further education of tournament players. The golf teachers occasionally play tournaments among themselves, but also take part in larger events by invitation or through successful qualification, especially if these take place in their respective home clubs or countries.
  • The tournament players , also known as playing pros or tour professionals , are all those who earn their living exclusively through income from tournament operations (prize money, entry bonuses at show events) and possibly through advertising contracts. After completing their tournament career, some aspire to a career as a golf instructor, but many switch to the lucrative tournament series for seniors, such as the European Seniors Tour in Europe or the Champions Tour in the USA.

Sometimes managers, operators of golf shops, golf course architects, club makers, journalists, referees or organizers of golf tournaments are also counted among the professional golfers, provided they carry out this activity full-time. In some countries, training to become a "golf professional" includes specializing in one of these fields.

development

Historically, the distinction between amateurs and professionals can be justified by their different social positions. In Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries, only the rich played for their amusement. The early professional players came from the working class and had to earn their living as caddy , greenkeeper or by making and repairing golf clubs . In addition, they competed in competitions for money. When golf spread in the USA at the end of the 19th century, it was initially an elitist pastime there too, and golf clubs hired committed professionals from Great Britain. It was not until the late 1920s that Walter Hagen, after tireless pioneering work, was able to create a basis for a tournament area that gradually enabled professional golfers to make a living with the prize money they had earned.

Nowadays this exclusion is practically nowhere to be found. Golf has become affordable for many in the industrialized countries, and professional golfers no longer differ from the majority of amateur golfers in terms of their social background. The leading professional tournament players have also become very wealthy and are already in the upper class, especially in the USA. Only in the developing countries does the original class society still exist and professional golfers often come from poor backgrounds. Many golfers have served themselves up as caddies, such as the Argentine Ángel Cabrera and the German Bernhard Langer .

The professional golfers of both groups are grouped together in the different countries in associations, the so-called PGA (Professional Golfers 'Associations), the women in the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golfers' Associations). In addition, in the USA, for example, the USGTF and in Germany the GGTF see themselves as an organization for professional golfers who work as golf instructors and offer golf instructor training.

Training

Various institutions offer training in golf professions.

Teaching professional or certified golf instructor of the PGA (of Germany)

The PGA of Germany offers a 3-year training course to become a golf teacher.

In addition to the main discipline of golf lessons, the future golf professional is trained in a wide variety of areas, which, after successfully completing the final exam, also enable careers outside of golf lessons.

Senior golf manager

The IST University for Management offers the following training courses:

  • Golf secretary
  • Golf Operations Management
  • Sports and fitness business economist / junior golf manager
  • Senior Golf Management (FH)

Golf business economist

The German Golf Association (DGV) offers a series of seminars of 6 times 5 days, which train you to become a golf business economist (DGV) and impart business knowledge in the golf industry.

See also

swell

  1. ^ DGV: amateur status
  2. USGTF Vs. PGA Golfsmith
  3. http://www.pga.de/aus-und-fortbildung/traumberuf-pga-golfprofessional.html
  4. http://www.ist.de/golfsekretaer
  5. http://www.ist.de/golfbetriebsmanagement
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  7. Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 24, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ist.de