One of the best known golf associations is the United States Golf Association. The U.S.G.A.is the governing body of golf in the United States. The U.S.G.A. is responsible for the rules of golf which is published in the official U.S.G.A. Rule Book. When there is a rule dispute of any kind the U.S.G.A is responsible for making the final ruling.
The Professional Golf Association governs play in the United States. It also oversees the PGA Tour which is a seperate entity. The PGA is responsible for all professional golfing activity and has over 28,000 members. In order for a player to compete in tour events he/she has to belong to two golf associations, the PGA and the PGA Tour. The PGA Tour governs all sanctioned tour events. First a player has to become a member of the Professional Golf Association. Once a member they have to go to the PGA qualifying school which is a 5 day tournament competition. There are 150 competitors of which 25 golfers with the lowest scores will receive their PGA Tour Card. The Tour Card gives a golfer the right to enter most PGA sanctioned tour events.
The Ladies Professional Golf Association is the counterpart to the PGA and is the governing body of women’s golf. It is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida and is primarily responsible for running the LPGA Tour which had a total prize money of $54,285,000.00 for 2007. As with the PGA, the LPGA is also an organization for female club professionals and teachers. The LPGA was founded in 1950 by a group of 13 women, including the world known golf professional Babe Didrikson Zaharias. Carolyn Bivens presides over the LPGA one of the oldest of all golf associations. In 2001, the LPGA established the Women’s Senior Golf Tour. The Legends Tour, as it is called, is for women aged 45 and above.
Of all the various golf associations the American Junior Golf Association is one of the only nonprofit entities. The AJGA is dedicated to the development of juniors between the ages of 12 and 18 years of age. Players with little means may qualify for the AJGA’s ACE Grant program which is a government program that provides support for players that cannot afford to play in junior golf competition.
