NZPGA president excited about professionalamateur collaboration
ANDREW Whiley has never been so excited about the state of New Zealand professional golf.
He enters his 15th year with the Professional Golfers’ Association of New Zealand, he is the new(ish) president and the sport is booming in a postCovid(ish) world.
Whiley is also buoyant following a major deal between the two organisations running golf in this country.
This is the first month under a new ‘‘service level agreement’’ between the NZPGA and Golf New
Zealand.
Essentially, it means the two bodies — one existing to serve the professional game, and the other to foster the amateur game — are combining some of their resources with the aim of driving increased participation in the sport.
Golf NZ has assumed the operational functions of the NZPGA and will provide services including financial management, marketing and communications, while the NZPGA workforce will effectively become embedded into the Golf NZ team.
The NZPGA board, of which Whiley has been president since June, will remain a separate entity to keep the brand alive.
‘‘It’s about bringing the game together,’’ he said yesterday.
‘‘Globally, PGAs are seeing a lot more connection between the amateur and the professional game, and you look at the growth of golf and how we adapt to that and how we set that up vocationally for the rest of the market.
‘‘The benefits for the game are going to be huge.’’
Whiley, the former longserving director of golf at the Chisholm Park club, highlighted a programme like She Loves Golf, designed to get more women and girls into the sport.
That was a successful initiative from Golf NZ but a lot of it was delivered through the PGA’s professionals.
‘‘Junior golf, disability golf, Maori golf — all of that goes hand in hand. It’s about both organisations working together.’’
It would mean more opportunities for PGA members, Whiley said.
People who wanted careers in golf — as players, coaches, club professionals or greenkeepers — would see even more doors opening thanks to the ‘‘synergies’’ with Golf NZ.
There had been something of a divide between the two organisations in the past.
But relations had improved drastically as both the professionals and the amateurs realised they could be stronger by sitting at the same table.
The NZPGA — the thirdoldest PGA in the world — and Golf NZ had amalgamation talks a few years ago but that was not on the table for now, Whiley said.
‘‘It failed, and in hindsight that was a good thing, because that would have seen the PGA being folded into Golf NZ.
‘‘We’re still strong, and we’ve still got our own voice.
‘‘So I don’t see that coming back up again for five or 10 years, if ever.’’
Whiley recently attended the Golf Industry Matters conference in Christchurch.
There were delegates from all corners of the sport, talking about everything from water usage on courses to the rise of the LIV Golf series shaking up the world order.
‘‘We all realise that we need each other for a better industry.’’
Covid has had a negative impact on many sports but Whiley thinks golf is positioned nicely to capitalise on a boom in interest.
‘‘The golf industry, globally, has come out of Covid going, wow, one of the challenges we face is that we don’t have enough golf pros, because golf has just boomed.
‘‘People have seen golf as a pathway to social, health and other positive outcomes. You’ve got over40s reaching out to golf but I also see 2025 year olds taking up the game.
‘‘I think numbers are as strong as they’ve ever been in New Zealand golf.
‘‘So it’s all about: how do we keep these people in the game? How do we have programmes to grow that?’’