One of Europe’s most popular golf and leisure destinations, Lumine Mediterránea Beach & Golf Community, is kicking off the new year in Spain by inviting PGA Professionals and amateur golfers from across Europe to celebrate the game of golf by hosting two exciting tournaments.

The Festival of Golf will see PGA Professionals celebrate the sport with amateur golfers of all abilities, through unique competitions that will be held over the award-winning golf courses from 7th – 14th February 2019.

The celebrations at Lumine will start with the Costa Daurada International Pro-Am, hosted from 7th – 10th February. The tournament calls for one PGA Professional and three amateur players to battle it out over the renowned Lakes and Hills courses and promises to be an excellent event with fun to be had by all on the courses.

For this event, players will be able to experience the full Lumine experience. Entrants will have 5 nights stay at the Sol Port Cambrils, a 4* hotel, as well as 4 rounds of golf at Lumine. On top of this, the players will have 3 lunches at Lumine, 4 dinners, full use of practice facilities and an invitation to the prize giving at the end. This package gives all players a chance to see what makes Lumine one of the best golfing destinations in Europe, all for €1,295.

Following on from this event, the Confederation of Professional Golf Fourball Championship Presented by Costa Daurada will feature at Lumine. The 2019 edition of the tournament will once again be hosted across Lumine’s Championship Lakes and Hills courses from 11th – 14th February 2019 and see up to 120 pairs competing in a 54-hole fourball better ball stroke play event over the Lakes course and Hills course.

Any classified male or female PGA members and trainees, within a Confederation of Professional Golf Member Country PGA, are invited to enter the latest edition of the Championship. A guaranteed prize fund of €30,000 (based on 50 pairs entering) has been set for the event, which will increase by €300 with each additional entry beyond 50 teams.

Both of these highly anticipated events feature rounds on European Tour Q School qualifying courses, the Greg Norman designed Lakes course and the Hills course.

The Lakes course proves to be the most technically difficult of the two courses, positioned on the lowest lying land on the property. The 6,300-metre, Par 71 course, navigates its way through areas of wetlands and natural vegetation, offering a Links design that is a genuine challenge for any golfer.

Meanwhile, Lumine Hills, a 6,334-metre, par-72, undoubtedly gives players the most spectacular views from the resort, rolling through leafy woods of white pine and extensive plantations of olive and carob trees. But do not be distracted by the views, this course will create great drama for those involved if they do not plan their routes carefully.

Calle Carlsson, General Manager at Lumine Mediterránea Beach & Golf Club, said: “There has been a great deal of anticipation for our Golf Festival in 2019, and we always look forward to welcoming back the Confederation of Professional Golf and their Fourball competitors.

“The International Pro-Am will be a spectacle to watch, especially as it allows a large audience of Professionals and amateurs to come and experience our fantastic golf courses, and renowned hospitality. We have a week of fun planned for everyone coming to Lumine this year and we are confident that everyone will want to come back year on year after witnessing what Lumine has to offer.”

To Enter The Costa Daurada International Pro-Am Visit http://eur.pe/2019CostaDaurada
To Enter The Fourball Championship Visit http://eur.pe/2019Fourball

For more information visit cpg.golf, follow @PGAsofEurope on Twitter, or like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.

With thanks to LUMINE Mediterránea Beach & Golf Club (www.lumine.com), Costa Daurada (www.costadaurada.info), Cambrils (http://www.Cambrils-Tourism.com), La Pineda Platja (www.lapinedaplatja.info), Salou (www.visitsalou.eu), and Sol Port Cambrils (https://eur.pe/2QVeAqT).

After 25 years at the helm of the Confederation of Professional Golf, Jones passes on the Chairmanship at an exciting time for the Association where he had agreed a new vision with the Board of Directors that includes greater collaboration and the exploration of digital opportunities with the membership, which was shared with delegates at the recent Annual Congress.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as Chairman of the Confederation of Professional Golf across the past few decades,” said Jones. “To have been there from the beginning, and then from 1994 to have been Chairman, and play my part in the success and growth of the Association has been a wonderful privilege.

“Being present as the Confederation of Professional Golf has become an established and influential body within world golf really has been an honour and is testament to all of the efforts of everyone involved with PGAs across the Association’s membership.  I look forward to watching the Confederation of Professional Golf and its Member Country PGAs grow and grow, and wish all of my PGA organisation colleagues the very best for the future.”

Confederation of Professional Golf Chief Executive, Ian Randell, said. “On behalf of all the Member Countries of the Confederation of Professional Golf we wish to thank Sandy for all his time and effort in working with the Confederation of Professional Golf – it really has been a pleasure working with him.

“No individual has had a bigger influence on the Association than Sandy, and his dedication to the success of the Confederation of Professional Golf has been invaluable to us all.”

The Chairmanship of the Association has been passed to existing Confederation of Professional Golf Board Director, and Chief Executive of the PGA of Holland, Frank Kirsten:

“I am very honoured to be following in the footsteps of two fantastic and inspiring leaders in the form of Sandy and Christer Lindberg,” said Kirsten.  “The Association continues to advance forward and our work in uniting our Member Country PGAs more than ever is certainly better for having had these two gentleman as Chairmen.  I hope I can mirror their passion, efforts, and vigour with the future direction of the Association.”

Kirstenhas been a Confederation of Professional Golf Director since 2005, having initially held the position of Chairman of the PGA of Holland from 1999 to 2010, and the role of Chief Executive of the PGA of Holland since 2010, and is a PGA of Holland Member Professional himself.

Jones stepped into the role as Chairman after the passing of the first Chairman of the Association, Christer Lindberg, in 1994:

 “It was an honour to have been asked to take over from Christer and he has always been missed since his passing,” Jones added. “I had no idea at the time that I would be in this esteemed role for so long, but seeing the development of the Association and its Member Country PGAs over a number of years has been continually eye-opening and has fundamentally impacted my work with various organisations.”

Jones became Chief Executive of the PGA of Great Britain & Ireland in December 1991 and played a significant role in the development of the Association, with initiatives that saw the creation of what is now The PGA National Training Academy, and the continued evolution of the Professional Education programmes and qualifications that PGA Professionals can now undertake in Great Britain and Ireland.

Through his role with the Confederation of Professional Golf his work has spread around the world with initiatives that have had a significant impact on golf across the globe.

He has also played an incredibly significant role in the Ryder Cup, being instrumental in bringing the Confederation of Professional Golf into structure of Ryder Cup Europe, but also developing the matches themselves to become one of the largest sporting events in the world, and helping to secure Ryder Cups at the Confederation of Professional Golf’s home, The Belfry, and at Gleneagles in Scotland.

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For more information on the Confederation of Professional Golf visit the cpg.golf, follow @PGAsofEurope on Twitter and like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.

As the second part of the 2019 Costa Daurada Golf Festival, the Confederation of Professional Golf Fourball Championship Presented by Costa Daurada will see up to 120 pairs of PGA Professionals battle it out across the club’s Hills and Lakes courses for a minimum prize fund of €30,000.

The Spanish dominated the 2018 Fourball Championship Presented by costa Daurada with PGA of Spain Professionals, Xavier Puig Giner & Adria Arnaus Antunex, producing a wire-to-wire finish to win the Championship with an outstanding -28 total (186) to take home the €6,000 first prize.

Ahead of the Championship, the renowned Spanish club also hosts the Costa Daurada International Pro-Am from 07 – 10 February, with teams of one Professional and three amateurs competing over three rounds, together with a guaranteed prize fund of €20,000 for Professionals.

To Enter The Fourball Championship Visit http://eur.pe/2019Fourball

For more information visit cpg.golf, follow @PGAsofEurope on Twitter, or like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.

With thanks to LUMINE Mediterránea Beach & Golf Club (www.lumine.com), Costa Daurada (www.costadaurada.info), Cambrils (http://www.Cambrils-Tourism.com), La Pineda Platja (www.lapinedaplatja.info), Salou (www.visitsalou.eu), and Sol Port Cambrils (https://eur.pe/2QVeAqT).

At the global forefront of psychometric assessment innovation for over 35 years, and with a with a presence in over 60 countries, Thomas are passionate about empowering organisations throughout business, sport and education to make confident people decisions.

Their psychometric assessments are straightforward to understand, quick to use, but more importantly have scientific validity at their core and are provided in 56 languages.

Derek Redmond, Group Performance Director at Thomas International commented, “Thomas International are pleased to announce their official partnership with the Confederation of Professional Golf, to become the Official Supplier of Psychometric Assessments, where we will work closely with the Association to help support the development of their people and teams and ultimately, contribute to the continued success of the organisation.”

“We have already had the pleasure of working with Thomas International in the past couple of years as we continue to develop our own business and services,” said Confederation of Professional Golf Chief Executive, Ian Randell.

“The formalisation of our relationship with Official Supplier status will allow the great team at Thomas to take their work with not only our Association, but also our 38 PGAs, to the next level. These tools and services are going to provide the insight into what makes people successful, measuring areas such as behaviours, personality, high potential and engagement that will empower the PGAs and help them to advance their organisations and Members.”

Since its inception in 1981, Thomas has paved the way to achieving excellence with its clients to transform organisational, team and individual performance. Years of research drive powerful results to help organisations recruit, retain, develop and lead their most important assets –people.

The announcement coincides with Thomas International’s Development Consultant and Gold Medal-winning Paralympian, Naomi Riches MBE, and Global Account Manager, Jonathan Smith, hosting a workshop at the 2018 Confederation of Professional Golf Annual Congress at Costa Navarino in Greece.

The workshops saw representatives from across the 38 Member Country PGAs, along with other partners and suppliers, and various Federation and golfing organisation representatives, hear about the role that psychometric profiling played in Riches’ rowing career, helping her to understand more about herself, before delving deeper into the ways delegates can learn from this and assess its use in their own roles and organisations as a whole. .

For more information visit www.ThomasInternational.net

The PGA of Botswana has been in existence since 2005 and currently has 13 Member Professionals operating across its five grass and three sand-based courses, and the earlier-formed PGA of Nigeria began in 1969 and has a membership of 173 Professionals working in around 70 facilities.

Since their formation, the PGA of Botswana have steadily grown to be recognised as the lead professional and developmental body in their country, and have developed training and education links with Confederation of Professional Golf International Member Country, the PGA of South Africa, and with The R&A.

“Our PGA has been finding its feet over the years, but has achieved most of its initial objective of getting its members appropriately qualified,” said Steve Smith, Chairman of the PGA of Botswana.

“We have particularly focused on developing and implementing a strategic plan, with a key priority being to engage the Botswana Golf Union on becoming the implementing partners of the Union’s Junior Development programme. Our vision is to lead golf’s future in Botswana through more people engaging more often with the game by having highly skilled and knowledgeable members engaging with golf clubs in the country.”

Further north on the continent of Africa, the PGA of Nigeria membership has increased from four at its very beginning to become a well-established body that operates closely with the Nigeria Golf Federation (NGF), as well as further afield with almost 10% of its members working internationally in Ghana, Cameroon, Togo and Senegal.

Various local state governments have begun to provide golf lessons in schools as a vehicle for youth empowerment, alleviating poverty, generating employment and helping the environment, and the PGA of Nigeria continues to work with the Federation to increase this involvement.

Secretary of the PGA of Nigeria, Jide Bolaji, added, “The Nigerian PGA aims to promote and develop golf, seek career development and capacity building opportunities and update its members in the profession, and we have a clear strategic plan to achieve this.

“The future of golf in our country is bright and there are many opportunities to for us to develop, and now with the support of the Confederation of Professional Golf, our future can be even brighter.”

“We are delighted that the PGA of Botswana and the PGA of Nigeria have taken the steps required to fulfil our membership requirements and standards for Affiliate Membership, which has taken our European and International membership to 38 countries,” said Confederation of Professional Golf Chief Executive, Ian Randell.

“In conjunction with the PGA of South Africa, we have worked with them for many years and now look forward to visiting each country and assisting their further development so that they may progress from Affiliate to Full International Member countries in the very near future. For more than two decades, we have conducted golf development activity not just in our own Member Countries, but also all over the world, particularly in the delivery of golf development expertise for The R&A in its “Working for Golf” programme, and it is fantastic to welcome these two nations formally into our membership.”

In becoming Members, the PGA of Botswana and PGA of Nigeria gain access to the services and benefits of being a part of an international community of national PGAs and PGA Professionals, sharing good practice in areas such as membership, education, business, and the development of the game.

For More Information on the Confederation of Professional Golf’s Member Countries Visit CPG.com/members

Following extensive analysis and assessment, these National PGA organisations have had their programmes levelled within the EELS system, with all six achieving the highest level – the ‘PGA Professional Level’.

“We are very pleased to have officially recognised six of our Member Countries within EELS,” said Director of Education & Membership for the Confederation of Professional Golf, Tony Bennett. “This marks a milestone within each of the organisations to show that their education is internationally recognised in-line with the other countries and the Confederation of Professional Golf’s framework of education standards, all whilst ensuring it is locally relevant to their Professionals and the market they will be working in.

“Importantly each of the PGAs have demonstrated their commitment to ensuring that professionals who come through their education programmes are well prepared to serve the market. Through the Association’s guidance, Tutor Training and Mentoring programmes, and direct delivery of the IPE programme, we are able to foster this development across our entire membership.”

In 2013, EELS replaced the European recognition model that had been in place since the early nineties, and seeks to recognise Member Countries’ education programmes for their curriculums (breadth and depth), delivery (quality of education materials / workshops by Tutors or Trainers), the learning environment and methods of assessment (type and robustness).

Focusing on the three domains of teaching and coaching, the game and the industry, the system allows programmes to be mapped against 72 agreed Learning Outcomes (LOs). The number and areas in which these LOs are currently met determines what level of recognition their programme achieves, with the ‘PGA Professional Level’ meeting all 72 LOs, the ‘PGA Coach Level’ meeting 38 specific LOs, and the ‘IPE Level’ meeting all 13 IPE-specific LOs.

Representatives from the PGAs were presented with certificates during the 2018 Annual Congress at Costa Navarino in Greece, and were able to share some of their thoughts around the recognition and what it means to their PGA.

“We have been through a lot of work, building a complete new PGA-education system the last seven to eight years,” said Head of Training for the PGA of Norway & Norwegian Golf Federation, Anders Thelberg. “EELS gave us some extra focus on learning outcomes and standards of the Confederation of Professional Golf as we built this system. It also made us more aware of how education must be delivered to maximise learning, and allowed us to map and to match the learning outcomes of the PGA education with other organisations that we cooperate with such as universities and the confederation.”

“This recognition is one of the most important things that has happened to our PGA and to Spanish golf…it is historic,” said PGA of Spain Head of Training, José Vicente Pérez. “This recognition has been possible thanks to the work of Enrique Martín Durán and his team at the education department of the Real Federacion Española de Golf (RFEG), and it is the fruit of our collaboration. We are extremely happy for the bright future that our professionals will have.”

Enrique Martín Durán, Real Federacion Española de Golf Director de Formación, added: “This work has not only helped to establish and consolidate an Official Certificate endorsed by the Ministry, but has achieved a program aligned with the standards of content and quality demanded by Confederation of Professional Golf at their highest level. We want to thank the support and trust that the PGA of Spain has placed in us, and especially its president, David Pastor and its director of education, José Vicente Pérez, who have closely followed the project”.

For more information visit http://eur.pe/EuropeanEducationLevelSystem

From 07 to 10 February, the renowned Spanish club will host the Costa Daurada International Pro-Am with teams of one Professional and three amateurs competing over three rounds, together with a guaranteed prize fund of €20,000 for Professionals.

The Pro-Am forms the first half of the 2019 Costa Daurada Golf Festival, celebrating the ongoing successful partnership that Lumine, the Confederation of Professional Golf and the local tourism agencies of the Costa Daurada have forged.

The PGA of Spain’s Emilio Cuartero captured his first Professional Win at the 2018 edition of the Costa Daurada International Pro-Am on what is his home course, with a consistent play in tough conditions allowing him to finish two shots ahead of the rest of the field.

Directly after, from 11 to 14 February, the Confederation of Professional Golf Fourball Championship Presented by Costa Daurada will see up to 120 pairs of PGA Professionals battle it out across the club’s Hills and Lakes courses in what has become one of the largest Professional tournaments in the world for a minimum prize fund of €30,000.

To Enter The Costa Daurada International Pro-Am Visit http://eur.pe/2019CostaDaurada

For more information visit cpg.golf, follow @PGAsofEurope on Twitter, or like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.

With thanks to LUMINE Mediterránea Beach & Golf Club (www.lumine.com), Costa Daurada (www.costadaurada.info), Cambrils (http://www.Cambrils-Tourism.com), La Pineda Platja (www.lapinedaplatja.info), Salou (www.visitsalou.eu), and Sol Port Cambrils (https://eur.pe/2QVeAqT).