In golf the distinction between amateurs and professionals is rigorously maintained. An amateur who plays for money even once usually loses his or her amateur status permanently and is banned from all amateur tournaments. A professional may not play in amateur tournaments. It is very difficult for a professional to regain his or her amateur status; simply agreeing not to take payment for a particular tournament isn't enough.
Professional Golfers are divided into two main groups, with a limited amount of overlap between them :
- The great majority of professional golfers (at least 95%) make their living from teaching the game, running golf clubs and courses, and dealing in golf equipment. In American English the term golf pro refers to individuals involved in the service of other golfers. Phonology North American English regional phonology In many ways compared to English English, North American English is conservative in its Phonology. The senior professional golfer at a golf club is usually referred to as the club professional, but at a large golf club or resort with several courses his job title is likely to be director of golf. If he or she has assistants who are registered professional golfers, they are known as assistant professionals. A golfer who concentrates wholly or nearly so on giving golf lessons is a teaching professional, golf instructor or golf coach. Most of these people will enter a few tournaments against their peers each year, and occasionally they may qualify to play in important tournaments with the other group of professional golfers mentioned below. Many club and teaching professionals working in the golf industry start as caddies or a general interest in the game, finding employment at golf courses and eventually moving on to certifications in their chosen profession as seen at this employment resource. These programs include independent institutions and universities, and those that eventually lead to a Class A golf professional certification.
- A much smaller but higher profile group of professional golfers earn a living from playing in golf tournaments, or aspire to do so. Their income comes from prize money and endorsements. These individuals are referred to as tournament pros, tour professionals, or in American English as pro golfers. See professional golf tours for further details. Top level professional Golf consists of a year round schedule of weekly tournaments played all around the world
Historically the distinction between amateur and professional golfers had much to do with social class. Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions (or stratification) between individuals or groups in Societies or Cultures. In 18th and 19th century Britain golf was played by the rich for pleasure. The early professionals were working class men who made a living from the game in a variety of ways: caddying, greenkeeping, clubmaking, and playing challenge matches. When golf arrived in America at the end of the 19th century it was an elite sport there too. Early American golf clubs imported their professionals from Britain. It wasn't possible to make a living solely from playing tournament golf until some way into the 20th century (Walter Hagen is sometimes considered to have been the first man to have done so). PGA Tour wins (45 1914 (1 US Open 1916 (3 Metropolitan Open, Shawnee Open Western Open 1918 (1
In the developed world, the class distinction is now almost entirely irrelevant. Golf is affordable to a large proportion of the population, and most golf professionals are from middle class backgrounds, often the same sort of backgrounds as the members of the clubs where they work or the people they teach the game, and educated to university level. Leading tournament golfers are very wealthy; upper class in the modern U. Is a concept in Sociology that refers to the group of people at the top of a Social hierarchy. S. usage of the term. However in some developing countries, there is still a class distinction. Often golf is restricted to a much smaller and more elite section of society than is the case in countries like the U. S. and the UK. Professional golfers from these countries are quite often from poor backgrounds and start their careers as caddies, for example, Angel Cabrera of Argentina, and Zhang Lian-Wei who is the first significant tournament professional from the People's Republic of China. Career Cabrera was born in Villa Allende Córdoba, Argentina. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. Professional wins (13 European Tour wins (1 2003 Caltex Masters presented by Carlsberg Asian Tour wins (4 Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES In various countries, Professional Golfers' Associations (PGAs) serve either or both of these categories of professionals. Professional Golfers' Association, (with or without the apostrophe is the usual term for a professional association in men's Golf. There are separate LPGAs (Ladies Professional Golf Associations) for women. The LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional Golfers The organization whose headquarters are
See also
- List of golfers - a list of professional (and amateur) golfers
External links
List of golfers may refer to List of golfers (A-R List of golfers (S-ZDapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic