Professional Golfers' Association of America

The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA of America) is an American organization of golf professionals. Founded in 1916 and headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, the PGA of America is made up of more than 28,000 men and women golf professional members. The PGA of America’s undertaking is to establish and elevate the standards of the profession and to grow interest and participation in the game of golf.

History

The origins of the PGA may be traced to Charles Campbell Worthington, a businessman and owner of the Worthington Pump and Machinery Corporation. He built the Buckwood Inn, an exclusive resort near Shawnee on Delaware, Pennsylvania, with an eighteen-hole golf course designed by A. W. Tillinghast and completed around 1910. In 1912 Worthington invited a group of professional golfers to compete on his course; the group was a forerunner of the Professional Golfers' Association of America.

In February 1916 the Professional Golfers' Association was established in New York City. One month earlier, the wealthy department store owner Rodman Wanamaker hosted a luncheon at the Wykagyl Country Club in New Rochelle. This gathering of Wanamaker and the leading golf professionals of the day prepared the agenda for the formal organization of the PGA in New York City a month later. The organization's first president was Robert White, one of Wykagyl's best known golf professionals of the time. Golf historians have dubbed Wykagyl "The Cradle of the PGA". White is also notable for designing the Ocean Forest Country Club at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. On April 10, 1916, The PGA of America was created via the 35 charter members signing the constitution and bylaws. The first PGA Championship was held October 1916 and won by Jim Barnes.