Ten years ago PLGA had 185 member clubs and more than 22,000 members. Today it has 187 member clubs, but total membership in those clubs hovers around 17,500 persons – a pretty dramatic decline.

 

However, statistics don’t tell the whole story.

 

Ten years ago Tiger was just starting his prowl, and golf was hitting what we only later recognized was its peak. The game hit that peak in 1999 and has steadily declined every year since. From 1946 to 2004 more golf courses existed at the beginning of the next year in America than existed the previous year. Beginning in 2005 the 50-year pattern reversed. More courses closed during each previous year than opened, a trend that held as we entered 2008. Similarly, the largest singly held system in our Association, the County of Los Angeles, once routinely hosted 1.85 million rounds per year but now is lucky to top 1.55 million each year.

 

So, our Association and its clubs are hardly alone. However, as those of you who follow our Association’s affairs know, PLGA is not content to ride downward just because we have a lot of company. We are taking a number of steps to reverse that slide, some of which are beginning to show results.

 

But those steps are technical, long-term, and related to things that can entice those who have never been a part of the USGA organized golf world to join PLGA. 

 

The things that attract the base are unchanging – competition, camaraderie, recreation, and just plain fun if you will. Those are the things that hold our golf clubs together. And that’s why in addition to all of our existing recreational tournaments and the new “LA County / PLGA Partners Cup” the Association is going to introduce another category of competitive opportunity in 2008, one targeted to appeal to each specific type of golf club in our Association – affiliate, short course, executive, regulation 9-hole, regulation 18-hole, etc. The format will be parallel to the “Partners Cup” format in that each of the categories’ specific competitions will yield winners in various flights who will then compete in a playoff at something whose working title is “The PLGA of Southern California Masters.” The “Masters” will crown “PLGA Masters Champions” in each flight / category, and the “Champions” will be given appropriate perpetual trophies to commemorate their accomplishments.

 

The “Masters” site will be selected in 2008 and every year thereafter on one and only one basis – QUALITY. Only the best Association golf courses will be used. Only the highest scoring and best performing Rules Officials will officiate. Only the best performing Tournament Committee members will work the event, and only the most professional of course setups and hole-locations will be employed.

 

In every aspect QUALITY will be the hallmark of this new tournament – and for every other activity of the PLGA for that matter.