Alexander ‘Sandy’ Jones was at the forefront of the development of the CPG, formerly PGAs of Europe, and is recognised and remembered for his unique and significant impact on global golf across three decades of leadership and guidance.

Following the passing of the Association’s first Chairman, Christer Lindberg, in 1994, he took up the reins and oversaw the rise of the Association to the globally influential organisation of 43 Member Countries that exists today.

During his 25-year long tenure, Sandy led the continued evolution of the organisation through a wide range and number of initiatives, programmes and activity, in particular ensuring that the organisation was spear-heading the development of professional education across the sport globally.

Through this work, Sandy has impacted upon the development of almost every PGA Professional in the world both directly through the PGA of Great Britain & Ireland and the CPG, and on a global basis via his collaborative work and friendships with the world’s various PGA organisations, as well as across the sport in general.

He was a hugely respected figure across the golf industry, spending 25 years as the Chief Executive of the PGA of GB&I, holding a number of different positions across golf, and famously playing a fundamental role in the development of the Ryder Cup in to one of the world’s largest sporting events.

Furthermore, its long-term legacy was enhanced when, together with past European Tour Chief Executive and current CPG Board Director, Ken Schofield, the agreement between the CPG, European Tour Group and the PGA of GB&I was established to create Ryder Cup Europe and the Ryder Cup European Development Trust [RCEDT]. He then Chaired the RCEDT for over a decade, helping to distribute millions of pounds from the European matches across numerous countries and projects for the betterment and growth of golf.

“The world of professional golf is indebted to the vision and dedication of Sandy, who was so instrumental in raising the influence of not only the PGA of GB&I but also PGAs around the world,” said CPG Chief Executive, Ian Randell.

“His contribution and legacy to the development of PGAs, the Ryder Cup, and the game internationally are testament to the leadership that he provided to our Association. He will be sorely missed by his many colleagues and friends at the CPG and our Member Country PGAs.”

His golf career began by playing from an early age under the guidance of his avid-golfer mother, and after working for IBM in computer programming for a time, the moved in to golf where he started his PGA journey as Scottish Regional Secretary for the PGA of GB&I in 1980.

In 1991 he became Chief Executive of the PGA of GB&I, after which he led 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.

He went on to help secure the future and growth of the Ryder Cup that included the playing of multiple matches at The Belfry in England where he was based for much of his time with the PGA of GB&I and CPG, as well as in his native Scotland with the Gleneagles matches in 2014.

In late 2018, Sandy retired from his position with the CPG and not long after was awarded one of the organisation’s highest honours in the Christer Lindberg Bowl, recognising his outstanding accomplishments and unrivalled effect on the sport.

Sandy’s legacy in golf, and impact on the profession, is likely to be unmatched and will live on throughout the sport through much of his work that continues to this day.

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Sandy’s funeral takes place on Wednesday 14th December at 14:00 at St Peter’s Church, Little Aston, England. Following the funeral, there will be a celebration of Sandy’s life at Little Aston Golf Club.

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#IGPN 68 is live and delves deeper in to the value of PGAs to Members and all of golf, the role of the PGA Pro as golf’s ultimate influencer, what the #EDUGOLF Project means for PGAs, and features from @PINGTourEurope, @GolphinForKids, @PitchfixUSA, @golfgenius_emea & much more!

— Confederation of Professional Golf [CPG] (@cpg_golf) November 22, 2022

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On the 3rd and 4th of November 2022 the partners in the EDUGOLF project met for their fourth meeting in Warsaw, Poland, hosted by the Polish Golf Union. The EDUGOLF project runs from January 2021 – December 2023 and is jointly led by the Confederation of Professional Golf (CPG) and the European Observatoire of Sport and Employment (EOSE). EDUGOLF is co-funded by the EU’s Erasmus+ Sport programme.

RESEARCH

The research phase of EDUGOLF is exploring topics such as the economic and social value of golf, successful initiatives for growing the game, trends which will impact on the golf market, traditional and emerging occupations, and key competences for the golf workforce.

The partners reviewed and discussed the first draft of a full Research Report including findings from a desk research, successful survey of national golf organisations, interviews with effective golf employers as well as a focus group of young people’s perceptions of golf. Most importantly, the report presents implications for the next outputs of the project. The project’s research working group will now incorporate all project partners’ feedback on the draft, consult on the draft with the wider industry and publish the report in 2023.

STANDARDS

A core output from EDUGOLF will be a new set of occupational standards for the golf industry made up of competences required of the golf workforce.

At the meeting, the partners reviewed a draft of the industry’s functional map and over 100 individual standards in the areas of golf management, coaching, game development and events. The standards include key competences, good practice indicators, skills and knowledge required to fulfil the key functions in golf organisations.

Similar to the research report, the standards working group will now implement the partners’ feedback on the draft, re-write the standards to an agreed format, and run a round of external consultation with the industry to ensure that the standards are comprehensive, clear and represent best practice in golf in order to become a useful resource for golf employers, training providers and individuals working in the industry.

EDUCATION

EDUGOLF will produce a Training Handbook for the golf industry as well as new e-learning modules for professionals in golf. At the meeting, the partners initially agreed on the content and key areas to be included in the EDUGOLF Training Handbook, including updated role descriptors for key occupations, a range of example module outlines, example qualifications structures, as well as guidance on development and delivery of effective golf education and training. Partners also started to identify potential topics that could be developed into e-learning modules for the industry, based on the findings of the research phase of the project as well as the updated occupational standards. A working group will continue working on the handbook and start developing e-learning modules with the aim of discussing the outputs at the next partner meeting hosted by the PGA of Sweden in March/April 2023.

After the meeting, Wojciech Waśniewski, Executive Director – Knowledge Development of the Confederation of Professional Golf (CPG) said “As a Pole, I hope the attending representatives enjoyed their time in Warsaw both in and outside of the main meetings. During the workshops we have received valuable feedback from all project partners, allowing us to continue the development of outputs for the benefit of the golf industry”.

Geoff Carroll, EOSE’s Director for Skills Development commented “This was a really positive and dynamic meeting which showed the fantastic progress the partners have made in developing these important products for the future of the game and the education of its workforce. Everyone present was highly motivated and made valuable contributions to the discussions. I feel confident we are heading for even greater achievements in 2023. Watch this space!”

Visit the project web page at edugolf.eu to learn more about the project. You can contact the EDUGOLF project and ask to be kept informed about developments by contacting info@edugolf.eu or subscribe to project updates on the website.

Full list of partners – European Observatoire of Sport and Employment (EOSE); Confederation of Professional Golf (CPG); PGA of Sweden; Polish Golf Union (PGU); French Golf Federation (ffgolf); Real Federacion Espanola de Golf (RFEG); PGA of Belgium; EDGA; University of Applied Sciences for Sport and Management Potsdam (ESAB); National University of Ukraine on Physical Education and Sport (NUPPES).

With functions to manage special orders, club repairs, demo and rental sets, staff scheduling and customer profiling, the Golf Shop product combines numerous features that enable golf retailers to deliver greater customer value, save time and create more revenue.

Saving time, creating more revenue and delivering exceptional value comes from all four corners of the golf operation.

For the retail side of your facility, we’ve just launched the solution to transform your business: Golf Shop. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/iMa6mHZwFR

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“We recognise that golf professionals and specialist retailers are always looking for a concise and efficient service to run their shop operations, so we came up with a solution,” commented Craig Higgs, Managing Director for Golf Genius International.

“We pride ourselves on listening to our customer’s needs and Golf Shop is a bi-product of this approach; it’s there to help manage the workload of staff, streamline retail communications and provide PGA Professionals with useful information about their customers.”

Thanks to Golf Shop’s member surveys and profiling features, PGA Professionals and staff can build data-led insights into the shopping behaviours of members and customers, allowing them to tailor the products and services they market to golfers.

Each function is hosted on the Golf Shop app, which provides staff with a more versatile form of tracking retail activity in a user-friendly manner, regardless of their location.

Golf Shop has proven hugely successful since breaking into the US retail market, with many facilities praising the value it offers their operations, including Valhalla Golf Club: “Golf Shop has helped us differentiate our operation and stay successful by helping us provide excellent, personalised customer service,” said Kyle Cramer, Valhalla Golf Club’s Head PGA Professional.

“The product enables our staff to better serve the Valhalla membership. We especially like the automated notifications feature because it keeps members informed and they appreciate getting updates.”

To find out more about Golf Shop and how it can benefit your business, you can book a free product demonstration with Golf Genius here

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