Association joins Philly Section in promotion of PGA Junior League

  The Golf Association of Philadelphia and Philadelphia Section PGA, with the support of the Philadelphia Golf Alliance, will promote PGA Junior League Golf participation throughout the Delaware Valley in 2016.

  PGA Junior League Golf is a key youth initiative of the PGA REACH Foundation, the charitable arm of the PGA of America. The program focuses on teamwork, good health, sportsmanship and fun. With a concentration on the game’s recreational aspect, it offers an alternative, team golf format. This approach highlights team play versus individual competition and serves as a feeder system for developing youth golfers.

  “The Association constantly looks for ways to engage Junior golfers, and promoting PGA Junior League Golf is another step in that outreach,” GAP Executive Director Mark Peterson said. “The future of this wonderful game begins with today’s youth. Finding a way to make golf fun and social is paramount to kids’ engagement with the game, which is why PGA Junior League Golf plans to be successful.”

  Like other recreational youth sports, players wear numbered jerseys and play on teams with their friends. With more than 2,500 teams and 30,000 participants in 2015, PGA Junior League Golf has experienced widespread success across the country.

  Each team is run by a PGA or LPGA Professional, who serves as the team captain.

  “There is a marked effort to shape and gather momentum behind the PGA Junior League Golf, which had grown in our Section from 24 teams in 2013 to 105 teams in 2015 — a 400 percent growth,” Philadelphia Section PGA Executive Director Geoffrey Surrette said. “Teams are made up of kids ages 13 & under with an emphasis on growth and development in the game.”

  For more information about PGA Junior League Golf, contact Leila Mackie, the Philadelphia Section PGA’s Player Development Director, at 215-886-7742 or via e-mail at lmackie@pgahq.com.

Golf Association of Philadelphia
Founded in 1897, the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) is the oldest regional golf association in the United States and serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. Its 153 Full Member Clubs and 57,000 individual members are spread across parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. As Philadelphia’s Most Trusted Source of Golf Information, the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.