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Lawrence Thornton, General Secretary, The PGA of Europe, to speak at the 2003 European GOLF Investment and Real Estate Conference
November 11, 2003 -- Lawrence Thornton, General Secretary, The Professional Golfers' Associations of Europe (PGA of Europe), will deliver a speech to a distinguished audience at the 2003 European GOLF Investment and Real Estate Conference & Exhibition in Athens on November 29th, 2003. He will also sit on the '' panel on Saturday, November 29th. He will also sit on the 'Effective Golf Course Management: Creating the Most Value for Owners and Investors in Europe' panel on Saturday. Career summary At the inaugural meeting of the PGAE at Wentworth in 1989, Lawrie was named as Secretary, a post in which he has served ever since. For six years previously he had occupied several roles within the PGA of Great Britain and Ireland (PGA of GB&I), including Secretary of the Midland Region and later as Assistant to the Executive Director. Before moving into golf as a career, he operated in sales and marketing for three major companies and has thus accumulated wide-ranging experiences in sport and business on an international perspective. A keen cricketer and golfer he represented county and country at badminton. About the PGA of Europe (PGAE) PGAE: THE EUROPEAN BODY WITH A GROWING GLOBAL COMMITMENT When the PGA of Europe was launched, at Wentworth in 1989, to meet the emerging need for European unification of all professions, it was given the perfectly accurate title that it still carries today. And
yet… Not quite The Global PGA. But sometimes it could feel like it! Who would have thought, for instance, that its golfing 'family' would include, as Associate Members, such countries as South Africa and New Zealand? Or that others from similar distances around the world would apply for, and be similarly considered? Back then it would have been a remote, far-off dream that, with the support of the R&A, PGAE-recommended coaches would go forth and spread the gospel of golf in such far-flung destinations as Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Iran, Estonia, Bulgaria, India, Sri Lanka the Ivory Coast, and elsewhere. No doubt the manner in which the PGA of Europe has provided important services both to its members and to non-members, is a powerful reasons for it being 'embraced' into the new Ryder Cup partnership structure. Such
is the desire among national PGAs to exchange information and ideas, while
discussing all the common difficulties that can, and do, confront the PGA
Professional, that the concept of belonging to the same Association
becomes ever more attractive to them. Those household names that roll off the tongue and operate in the shop window of golf are the stars who entertain the sporting public and who attract newcomers to golf every day, are not there in the Pro Shop on Monday morning. Famous though they are, they're not the club stalwarts providing lessons, selling tee pegs, organising monthly medals, liaising with the greens staff or giving advice on a thousand and one daily queries. So while the PGA European Tour is a closely-related body, the PGA of Europe is actually in existence to cater for all of the huge mass of other Golf Professionals, some 12,000 individuals in all, who provide the services to golf and golfers in the widest terms. On the Website, www.pgae.com the claim is correctly made that its members serve the entire golf community. So they do…the young, the not-so-young, the middle-aged, the elderly. The men and women, the boys and girls, club members, non-club members, elite amateurs and, when required, other Golf Professionals. It's an open-ended brief, indeed. Some of these Golf Professionals naturally work on the Costa del Sol. Many others, along with PGA officials, golf administrators and members of the golf industry, regularly visit the area for the conferences and tournaments which the PGAE present at the Atalaya Park and Don Miguel Hotels as a result of the long-standing and highly-valued business links we have, not only with Niza Cars, but with Selected Hotels and the Costa del Sol Tourist Board. The Association's Mission Statement (as follows), formulated in 1989, provides the outline answer to the question: What do the PGA of Europe actually do? In a nutshell its function is to:
…for the benefit of its members and the enhancement of the game Of all these services there is none more important than education and this has been an ever-improving success story. The Education Committee, formerly the Training Standards Committee, has upgraded teaching and coaching throughout its membership and beyond in a manner too detailed to fully describe here. Should
there be any doubt of the truth of this statement then a glance back to
the make-up of the European Tour in 1989, compared to now, provides some
evidence. The PGAE lays no claim to being solely responsible for this proliferation. But no one will deny it has played an important part. THAT's what the PGAE does. Further information For further information, contact Peter Michel Heilmann, Founder & Director, INVgolf.
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