Here they reveal the results of their investigation into British golfers and their playing habits, information which could be useful not only in Great Britain, but also further afield as markers of performance and evidence of trends throughout the sport…

Golf participation in GB finally stabilised in 2014, just above the 3.3 million mark, offering hope to the golf industry after a decade of decay. This succeeds news that 2014 saw an increase in the number of rounds played by 3.5% compared to 2013 (SMS INC. 2014 GB Rounds Played Monitor) following a warm and dry summer, without any major UK based major sporting events.  A local and victorious Ryder Cup in Scotland – with good weather around it – will have boosted interest and play frequency.

Further good news from additional SMS INC. intelligence confirms that equipment sales in GB have levelled across most categories in terms of volume and value, suggesting the ‘downturn’ is over.

Although golf participation remains at its lowest level for over a decade, SMS INC.’s study signposts clear progression and opportunities for the sport to grow. For the second consecutive year female participation has risen, as has the number of ‘avid’ golfers (who play at least once a week on average). It is this group of golfers (Avid) who define and guide the sport, so the industry should be buoyed by the additional 53,000 players whose play frequency brought them into this dedicated category in 2014.

As per the 2013 statistics, a cause for concern is the number of ‘infrequent’ golfers, who play less than 12 times a year, which is at its lowest on record in this millennium (1,786,000). Time is a major factor influencing player numbers, and may be the significant reason behind the decline in infrequent golfers.

Richard Payne, Senior Manager of Sports Accounts at SMS INC. commented, “Whilst the 2014 figures give the golf industry reason to be more positive, the continued decline of infrequent golfers remains a challenge that needs to be overcome.

SMS INC. has continuously stressed the importance of the ‘three F’s’ – Fun, Flexible, and Family’, a vision which the industry must fully adopt following these latest figures, to convert both first-time triallists and new golfers who may be using driving ranges into full-length course users, and secondly to prevent the loss of more infrequent players.”

SMS INC’s participation report also examines golfs position in comparison to other sports. As per recent years swimming, running and cycling are the top three sports in GB in terms of participation, and all exude the image – ‘Fun, Flexible and Family’.

The changes to the Conditions of Competition will take effect from 1st June 2015 for all Professional tournaments organised and sanctioned by The Confederation of Professional Golf.

By adopting the recommendations and introducing the Condition of Competition on its ‘Hard Card’ for 2015’, all events administered by the Confederation of Professional Golf from the 1st of June 2015 will require professionals to use clubs that conform to these rules.

Any Professional wishing to participate in any tournaments on the Confederation of Professional Golf event schedule must ensure that the equipment they use from 1st June 2015 onwards conforms to the Condition of Competition. To that end there are several key facts to keep in mind:

1 –

If you have clubs manufactured before 1 January 2010 you will be able to conduct an on-line search at:

http://www.randa.org/en/Equipment/Equipment-Search/Informational-Clubs.aspx

This should highlight whether the club has been tested for conformity by the R&A or USGA and give the results of that test under the “Meets 2010 Groove Specs” column:

Further guidance on how to interpret the database results can be found at:

http://www.randa.org/en/Equipment/Equipment-Search/Informational-Clubs/Groove-Rules-Explained.aspx

2 –

Manufacturers have been generally making new models of clubs which conform to these Rules since 2010. Therefore, new models of clubs manufactured after 1 January 2010 should conform but will not be listed on the database above since this is only for pre-2010 models.

3 –

All clubs, excluding the driver and putter, will be subject to the Condition of Competition.  This includes individual 1 or 2 irons and wedges, as well as hybrids and fairway woods.

4 –

The responsibility for having clubs which conform to the new specification lies with each competitor.  In keeping with the self governing spirit of golf, Confederation of Professional Golf Staff will not check your clubs unless this is requested but will investigate any questions raised about conformity, regardless of when such a question is raised.

5 –

The penalty for a breach of the Condition of Competition could be disqualification.  The same penalty applies in a situation where the conformity of a club used by a competitor is questioned during competition and the club subsequently fails a conformity test.

6 –

Confederation of Professional Golf staff will not have the ability to conduct a test for conformity at events, although they are available to help with database searches if required and to facilitate communication with R&A staff.

7 –

It is strongly recommended that any doubts about the conformity of clubs be raised well in advance as it can take several days to perform tests.

8 –

Please be aware that the Confederation of Professional Golf reserves the right to have any club tested at any time, even if this involves the club being sent to the R&A at St. Andrews.  When conducting an on-line equipment search, PGA Members who compete in a Confederation of Professional Golf competition must be sure the club being investigated matches the club referred to in the test data.  Additional information to help identification can be found under most entries in the database by clicking ‘Identification Markings’ under the club name.

Please note that the above addition to the Confederation of Professional Golf’s Conditions of Competition does not apply to amateurs participating in Confederation of Professional Golf sanctioned Pro-Am tournaments.

I was lucky to be invited to South Africa earlier this month to spend time with the Chief Executive of the PGA of South Africa, Ivano Ficalbi, and his team. It was great to work with them on some details of their operation and to see first hand their work in the country.

A whistle-stop tour of the country took me to three cities in four days along with a stop at the World Club Pro-Am that was defended again by the PGA of Greece’s Henrik Engdahl. It’s been a pleasure to see the event grow in its two years and we’re looking forward to working closely with them on the 2016 edition next year.

Meanwhile this month our eyes have been drawn to the announcement of not one, but two Ryder Cup Captains in the form of Davis Love III for the USA Team and Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke as the European Captain.

We have had the pleasure of Darren competing in the Beko Classic on several occasions and having left his mark on the Ryder Cup, including his fantastic efforts in 2006 at The K Club, we wish him every success in this latest chapter.

We should also take time to acknowledge the outstanding achievements of New Zealander Lydia Ko. To see an ascension from someone so young is incredible.

Back-to-back wins including her second home-win at the New Zealand Open are exemplary of what could easily become full-scale dominance of the ladies game. Lydia plans to retire when she reaches 30 – who knows what she’ll have achieved by then!

This month’s issue of IGPN focuses on marketing and PR and the ways in which PGA Professionals and golf facilities promote themselves and their products and engage with their clients.

Pretty much all of the things I have mentioned above involve marketing and PR – when you stop to think about it then marketing touches more elements of life than you would assume. The success of events, our Organisation’s work, and much more is dependent on the ability to provide value to sponsors, partners, and ultimately the end-user.

The communications side of the Confederation of Professional Golf’s operations continues to be hugely important to the success of our endeavours and with an increasingly digital world, along with more and more discerning customers, marketing yourself and your business properly has never been more important.

This article originally featured in International Golf Pro News. Visit the IGPN Page to find out more and subscribe for free.

First on the agenda, starting tomorrow, will be a visit to Germany with trips to Spain and Italy carded for next week, while a trip to Austria is scheduled for the last week of this month. At present there is no date confirmed for the visit to Portugal.

Last week, Ryder Cup Europe officials received confirmation from Turkey that they have withdrawn from the bidding process.

Ahmet Agaoglu, President of the Turkish Golf Federation, said: “We have greatly enjoyed working on this project and assessing whether we would be in a position to launch a viable bid to host The 2022 Ryder Cup.

“Although we believe that Turkey is now an established golfing destination, with a collection of world class courses, it has not proven possible to secure the necessary logistical arrangements in order to proceed and so we have reluctantly decided to withdraw from the process at this time. We have enjoyed working with Ryder Cup Europe and firmly believe that the information gained during this period will one day allow us to revisit this incredible opportunity.”

Ryder Cup Director Richard Hills, said: “On behalf of everyone at Ryder Cup Europe, I want to place on record my thanks and appreciation of the hard work put in by all the representatives of the Turkish bid, and we wish them well for the future.

“Our attention now turns to the nations still in the running and we are very much looking forward to the fact-finding missions and seeing precisely the vision that each country has for the hosting of The 2022 Ryder Cup.”

Following the inspection visits, the prospective host nations for what will be the 44th staging of the biennial contest between Europe and the United States, will make their formal submission of Official Bids on or before the closing date of Thursday April 30, 2015.

Following that, a period of detailed analysis of each bid by a management team working on behalf of Ryder Cup Europe – together with the assistance of an independent panel of experts – will be undertaken, with the announcement of the successful host country and venue for The 2022 Ryder Cup expected this autumn.

The unprecedented report has been produced by the National Golf Foundation (NGF), a golf market research organisation based in the USA, and sets out the extent of golf’s development worldwide.

The report reveals that, by the end of 2014, there were 34,011 golf facilities in 206 countries around the world. It shows that 79% of these facilities are located in ten countries: the USA, Japan, Canada, England, Australia, Germany, France, Scotland, South Africa and Sweden.

Although the USA is home to 45% of the world’s golf facilities and Europe to 22%, the report also states that there are 50 countries with only one golf facility compared to 30 with more than 100 and eight (outside the USA) with more than 500.

The report tracks the development of golf worldwide and finds that 696 golf courses are under construction or in advance planning. While 80% of these new projects are in Asia, Europe and North America, there are clear signs the sport is spreading with countries such as Belarus, Azerbaijan and Georgia opening their first golf courses in the last two years and initial courses under construction in countries as diverse as Macedonia and Sao Tome and Principe.

Peter Dawson, Chief Executive of The R&A said, “The new report provides a fascinating insight in to the development of golf around the world and gives us a precise measure of the number of facilities for the first time. It will provide a benchmark for future monitoring and enable us to identify areas of potential growth. The NGF has done an excellent job in conducting this research which we believe will be extremely useful for the golf industry at large.”

The R&A has provided funding for the creation of the definitive worldwide database and report which provides a benchmark for measuring the extent of golf’s global footprint. The NGF team spent four years and 25,000 working hours surveying golf facilities around the world using global information sources, satellite/mapping imagery and on-the-ground contacts.

The report will be produced biennially and will allow monitoring of the sport’s development in future years.

Click here to download the The Golf around the world report

First-class resorts

Gloria Hotels & Resorts inspire with their Five-Star Resorts in the sun-blessed and whole year destination Belek at the Turkish Riviera, which is only 30 kilometers away from Antalya airport. “Unforgettable diversity, elegance and geniality” is the motto of the modern Turkish hotel group, comprising the facilities Gloria Golf Resort, Gloria Serenity Resort, Gloria Verde Resort, Gloria Villas and Gloria Golf Club. All sites are connected via a wonderful trail full of beautiful plants and trees with the beach. Gloria continuously takes credit for its proven holiday concept with international awards (e.g. TUI Holly or the “Green Star” from the Turkish Tourism Ministry).

At one with nature

Gloria Hotels & Resorts are definitely at one with nature. Corporate social responsibility is of utmost priority for the hotel group. Thus, the company´s philosophy is to protect the environment and all that comes with it for a better future and a healthy and safe playground for the next generation. Gloria is convinced that with plenty of little steps huge paths can be taken. One of the successful projects is the “Forest of the Future”, where together with TUI TRAVELStar around 500 trees were planted.

Just now the hotel group has also started a campaign named “Gloria´s Habitat – For Our Future”. The goal is to make guests aware of the habitat they spend their holidays in and boost their knowledge about the diverse natural elements. The support of national and international environmental projects is being intensified. Whether the use of recycling material, optimized energy use via control systems, the utilization of solar energy and natural gasoline, ozone-based cleaning supplies or proper waste separation and disposal – numerous measures are already implemented or newly defined.

Active at the Mediterranean – whole-year round

The mild Mediterranean climate of the turquoise coast and the distinctive natural landscape with a view onto the Taurus are just made for active travelers. Next to the largest golf course of Turkey with 45-holes on three grounds, Gloria Hotels & Resorts offer a multitude of further sporty challenges: Thus, more than 50 sports can be trained at the Gloria Sports Arena, which was opened beginning of January 2015. As largest sports arena of Turkey it ist he ideal platform for athletes, teams and unions of diverse disciplines – but also for amateurs, who appreciate sports at holidays. A new hotel at the arena, a sports health center with specific treatments and a healthy nutritional concept are also in the offer. Well-known soccer clubs such as 1.FC St. Pauli or 1. FC Nürnberg and international volleyball teams were recently hosted here. Within the scope of the FIT Gloria offers, guests also have a wide range of activities in the hotels, such as Yoga, Pilates, Zumba, Tennis, Bosu or Hiit-Training.

Health and Delights at Gloria

Together with the sports offers, health and wellness services also play an important part at Gloria Hotels & Resorts. With the new VITA by Gloria Cure & Care concept guests enjoy a wide variety of programs – from purification via healthy sleep to right nutrition. All activities and programs support a healthy lifestyle. The focus lies on prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of diseases. Moreover the particular spa areas of all three hotels shine with unique therapies, natural beauty treatments, healing effects, relaxing rest areas and splendid scents.

Highest treats are also of utmost priority in the classy and authentic designed restaurants of Gloria: Guests enjoy selected meat and fish dishes, the newest trends of modern cookery and authentic dishes in the restaurants with French, Italian, Far Eastern and Aegean cuisine.

Events 2015

Gloria World Open in March

This top event takes place in Belek for the first time. International ballroom dancers of different age groups compete here at the first GLORIA WORLD OPEN in the categories Standard and Latin. Juveniles, juniors, adults and seniors are invited to show their skills in dancing, with an impressive view onto the Taurus. Bookings and information via: www.gloriaworldopen.com.

European Challenge Tour in May

The European Challenge Tour, second league of the PGA European Tour, is one of the most important yearly professional golf series of men in Europe. The European Challenge tour will travel to some 30 countries during 2015. After the success of The Turkish Airlines Challenge 2014 it is with great pleasure that Gloria Hotels and Resorts will be the host for 2015. This year’s event will be held – from 3rd to 10th May on the Gloria Old Course. There will be a field of 146 professional golfers from more than 30 countries competing for the Turkish Airlines prize fund amounting to 175.000 Euro and the advancement to the PGA European Tour. While the first three days serve for practicing, there will be a Pro Am-Challenge on 6th May and the official tournament will occur from 7th to 10th May. All Gloria Guests are allowed entry to watch the stars of the future.

Solheim Cup in September

The promotion of golf for all ages, females and males is an important matter for the owners of Gloria Hotels & Resorts.Next to numerous renowned events on the hotel´s own golf course, which is the largest of Turkey, Gloria Hotels & Resorts are en route at worldwide popular golf tournaments all over Germany. Now also as a new partner of the largest golf cup for ladies, the Solheim Cup 2015, that will inspire the international golfing world in the Golf Club St. Leon-Rot from 18th to 20th September 2015. The Solheim Cup as a major sporting event, being a counterpart of the Ryder Cup, proves clearly, that golf is equally favoured by both genders and that even the best twelve female golfers from Europe and the USA can create excitement in the battle for the popular trophy. Further info: www.solheimcup.de

Gloria Ironman 70.3. in October

With „Gloria Ironman 70.3“ Turkey“ the most challenging triathlon of the world will take place on Turkish grounds for the first time on 25th October 2015 in Antalya and Belek. The final round will be at the Gloria Sports Arena. More than 2.500 participants from over 50 nations are expected. Under the motto “Be a part of history“ the Ironman triathlon will happen on a challenging track: While the wonderful and calm Mediterranean Sea of the Turkish Riviera is just made for swimmers, the following cycling route leads through the scenic countryside with its beautiful canyons, parallel to the Mediterranean and the Aspendos, which is one of the best maintained amphitheatres of roman times. The running track passes the picturesque landscape of the 45-hole golf course of the Gloria Hotels & Resorts, ending at the finishing line in the new stadium of the Gloria Sports Arena with a cheering crowd. Registrations and hotel bookings via www.ironman.com.

Gloria Hotels & Resorts and Gloria Sports Arena are bookable via all renowned tour operators.

For more information visit www.gloria.com.tr/en

The Coaches Circle brings together national coaches, coaches of elite players (on a level 1,2 or 3 tour), and coaches involved in national junior programmes, to attend theory and practical sessions.

The focus of this years Coaches Circle will be Junior Golf and the issues around development, retention, and working with talented young players.

The European Golf Association’s (EGA) European Team Shield Championship follows immediately after the Coaches Circle at Pravets so will be a good opportunity to see young players from emerging golfing nations practicing on the 29th and then competing from the 30th onwards.

Speakers, further subject matter information, and package details will be released in the coming months.

Click here to find out more about the 2015 Coaches Circle

PGA SWEDEN NATIONAL, SWEDEN – 16-17 APRIL 2015

The PGA of Sweden invite any PGA Professional Member of a recognised PGA to join them for a unique seminar with two of the game’s greatest teachers, Mike Adams and EA Tischler.

The seminar will look at BioSwingDynamics, the combination of the sciences of Biomechanics and Dynamics and how they apply to a golfer’s swing.

BioSwingDynamics bridges the gap between teaching, coaching and science. It allows us to take the guesswork out of determining how a golfer should swing optimally. It allows us to bring efficiency of motion in an injury free environment to the students’ golf swing.

Dates: April 16-17, 2015

Venue: PGA Sweden National, Sweden

Price:

• PGA of Sweden Member: 6225 SEK (approx. €674.00) plus VAT
• Fully qualified or QT member
• International PGA members: 6995 SEK (approx. €757.00) plus VAT

Click here to find out more and register your place

Download BioSwingDynamics Workshop PDF

Since 2006 the international Pro-Am event has attracted players from across the globe to compete on some of the best golf courses the region has to offer.

This year is no exception as the event returns to Costa Navarino’s Dunes and Bay Courses in Messinia, Greece, the venue for the previous two editions of the popular tournament.

“The Confederation of Professional Golf are very proud to once again be sanctioning the Aegean Airlines Pro-Am,” explained Confederation of Professional Golf Chief Executive, Ian Randell.

“For the event to have reached such a milestone is a huge feat and is a product of a vast amount of effort from Mr Vassilakis and his Aegean Airlines team.  Their dedication to the sport has proven itself across the past decade and we are looking forward to celebrating this in June.”

The 2014 Pro-Am Individual Professional prize was won by the PGA of Italy’s Nicolo Gaggero, his 3rd Aegean Airlines Pro-Am victory, whilst he and his team of amateurs, Emanuel Georgoudis, Orlando Grondona and Marco Villa, also took the team honours.

Competitors are sure to have an excellent time both on and off the course, as the event’s popularity continues to grow as one of the foremost Pro-Ams in Europe.

Pro-Am package information can be found at www.aegeanproam.com or by downloading the registration form here: http://eur.pe/1MV5TqD.

Visit the Tournament Hub Page to Find Out More: http://eur.pe/2015Aegean

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For more information visit the Tournament Hub Page follow @PGAsofEurope on Twitter and search the hashtag ‘#AegeanProAm’ or like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.

Find out more about the Aegean Airlines Pro-Am and Aegean Airlines by visiting www.aegeanproam.com.

This is something Tribal Media‘s Mel Kirk faces on a daily basis as her business goes through rapid expansion, and being a self-confessed geek, Mel understands how technology can help people in any business, so we asked her to share some of her favourite digital tools that she uses on a daily basis to ensure she stays ahead of the game…

Google Drive

This allows me to collaborate on documents with my team, which is great as it’s updated in real-time and because it’s saved on the cloud can be accessed on any device in any location, which really speeds up the process when multiple people are working on one document.

Google.com/Drive

Feedly

A great tool for consuming content from your favorite news sites and blogs, particularly with the recent death of Google Reader. With the ability to read articles offline, this is really handy for catching up on news during the morning commute.

Feedly.com/Drive

Tweetdeck

Handy for managing multiple social media presences from one location, scheduling future updates, but also keeping on top of mentions of brands/organisations that you manage.

Tweetdeck.com

Pocket

A beautifully designed bookmarking service that allows you to save articles offline to go back to read at a later date.

GetPocket.com

Salesforce

We use this to manage all of our contacts, as it can be accessed by any member of the team, is automatically updated and allows us to save every piece of correspondence that we have with our contacts. In turn this means that any one of the team can pick up a conversation with a contact should someone be out of the office sick, for example. What’s great is that it’s also stored in the cloud and therefore accessible from any location.

Salesforce.com

Storify

The best tool out there for collating tweets, blog posts, Instagram pictures, YouTube videos etc. into one simple story. We use this to showcase our work and the coverage that we’ve gained for our clients/campaigns all in one place, and then we can access and share it to anyone at any time.

Storify.com

Pinterest

We use this less conventionally than most. We use this as a way of visualising campaign ideas, especially creating mood boards for events. This makes it much easier for our clients to imagine what could be produced and takes less time and effort than a traditional mood board.

Pinterest.com

Evernote

This has a few uses – you can save articles or links for viewing on any device at any time a bit like Pocket, but it also lets you save notes, images, and almost anything else to different notebooks based on personal or business use, or for different projects or subject matter. I know the Confederation of Professional Golf team use this one a lot in their day-to-day work.

Evernote.com

EasilyDo

Great little iPhone app for putting all of your “handy stuff” together. It will proactively check traffic before you drive somewhere, warn you of bad weather, organise contacts, merge duplicates, file receipts, remind you of conference calls with all of the details – It’s like my digital PA!

EasilyDo.com

The PGA of Great Britain & Ireland Professional began the final round at Kiawah Island’s Turtle Point Course in third position but his bogey-free final round allowed him to leapfrog to the winner’s position.

“I Played great today,” said Edwards.  “I found something on the range this morning after two poor days of golf.  But windy conditions like this suit me – I grew up playing in conditions like this, but yeah I played good today.”

Edwards’ win came as the event had a last minute change in venue due to heavy snow from Pinehurst in North Carolina, USA, to Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina (statement: http://eur.pe/1zLDKsV).

“We travelled over to Pinehurst early when the weather went South over there,” said Edwards.  “So for Golfbreaks.com and the Confederation of Professional Golf to organise coming down to Kiawah was phenomenal.”

The eventual winner mastered the windy conditions of the Turtle Point Course with four single birdies for his 68 and a tournament total of 220 (+4).

Round 2 second place, Peter Dahlberg (PGA of Sweden), finished in the same position having made a solid final 18-hole assault.

Two bogeys at eight and nine were cancelled out by birdies at 12 and 13, however a bogey four at the 16th hole took him to one over for the round (73) and an overall total of 224 (+8).

Overnight leader Martin Woodbridge (PGA of GB&I) was not able to capitalise on his lead and four single bogeys gave him a 76 for a three-round total of 225 (+9).

The Team Pro-Am event was won by PGA of America Professional, Darren McNeal, and his amateurs Tony Baker, Ben Segler, and Doug Vickers.  Their final round 80 points (-8) combined with their previous totals of 73 and 78 points gave a 231 point total (-15).

Four points behind with 227 points (-11) was Woodbridge and his team of amateurs, Dave Holden, Kevin Jones, and Steve Wilkes.

For full final results visit http://eur.pe/2015Pinehurst

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For more information visit the Tournament Hub Page follow @PGAsofEurope on Twitter and search the hashtag ‘#GolfbreaksPinehurstProAm’ or like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.

To find out more about Golfbreaks.com visit http://www.golfbreaks.com/pga-pro.