Reflecting the international commitment that the Confederation of Professional Golf have to advancing golf, the PGA of Botswana and PGA of Nigeria have joined the Association’s growing membership as Affiliate International Member Country PGAs.
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.
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