Golf Resource

Most professional golfers work at clubs as qualified teaching professionals and may sometimes compete in local tournaments, the most popular teaching professionals being David Leadbetter and Butch Harmon. There is a small group of elite professionals who are known as tournament pros and only compete in international tours.

Golf Tours

Each year, there are more than 20 tours that take place and most are run by the Professional Golf Association (PGA) or other independent tour organizations. The most recognize tour in the world is the PGA Tour which attracts the best golfers in the world to come and compete with one another to win prestigious trophies and mark their name in the golf world as being one of the best. A tour has members who are entitled to compete in all and sometimes invites established non-members to compete, membership is very exclusive and it is mightily difficult to gain one. It attracts a lot of golfers due to the fact that the first prize start starts at an astonishing $800,000. There is also a European Tour which attracts numerous golfers outside North America, it is also prestigious but relatively less than a PGA Tour. In golf, there are separate tours for older men who are aged over 50 years old and for women too.

Men’s Major Championships

There are four men’s major championships that are played in each year, in chronological order they are, The Masters, The U.S Open, The Open Championship (referred to in North America as The British Open) and the PGA Championship. The Masters is always played at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, the only championship to be played on the same course every year since 1934. The U.S Open and The PGA Championship is played on various courses around America and The Open Championship is played on various courses in the United Kingdom. The number of Championships won by a golfer ultimately elevates his status in the golf world, one of the most popular golfers of all time is Jack Nicklaus or the Golden Bear as he is referred to, won 18 professional championships in his time, the only current golfer who is likely to beat Nicklaus is current World Number One, Tiger Woods as he has won 13, all before hitting the age of 32. Winning all four in one season is known as a Grand Slam and the first golfer to win all four was the great Bobby Jones. Tiger Woods came very close to winning the Grand Slam when he won them across two consecutive seasons, the 2000 PGA Championship, The U.S Open and The Open Championship and the 2001 Masters, this is widely referred to as a Tiger Slam.

Women’s Major Championships

The most dominant tour for women’s golf is the LPGA Tour, like the men’s the LPGA Tour has four major championships, The Kraft Nabisco Championship, the LPGA Championship, the U.S Women’s Open and Women’s British Open, and there is also a Ladies European Tour. There are other women’s tour but it is not as prestigious as these four and is not as widely known, the main ones in this category are the Evian Masters and the second richest women’s tour is the LPGA of Japan Tour, does not recognize any of the U.S LPGA or European majors as it has its own three majors, these events are not very popular outside of Japan.

Senior Major Championships

This is for older men to fight it out between them and to show the younger pros and the rest of the world that they may be old in age, but they still have some magic left in their swing. There are five main major championships for senior golfers, the Senior PGA Championship, the U.S. Senior Open, the Senior British Open, The Tradition and the Senior Players Championship.