PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – At some point in their lives, the golfers you are watching in the PGA Championship needed to learn the game. Most turned at a young age to a group of dedicated professionals and volunteers who are part of groups like the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association.
“We are working in this together,” WPGA executive director Terry Teasdale told 93.7 The Fan. “We are all working to better the game. Everybody who is on that Tour more than likely had a PGA Professional at a club or a teaching center they went to, to help them get to where they are.”
The WPGA has four essential missions-creating competitions, setting and maintaining handicaps, governance of the game and member service. Teasdale said they create these competitions to allow players to be good enough to one day play in major competitions.
A long-time local golf leader, Teasdale said they set up their competitions the exact same way as the PGA Championship, admittedly without stands and on a far smaller scale. However, the nuts and bolts are the same to make the local golfers feel like they are part of something special.
Several alums of the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association have gone on to win national and international golf championships. Teasdale said 15 have won national championships, mostly amateur. The most famous, is one of the names synonymous with golf, Arnie.
Committed to golf in our area, Arnold Palmer would play in WPGA events while still on the PGA Tour. ‘The King’ won the 1956 West Penn Open as he took a week off from PGA Tour competition to play back home. He would routinely support WPGA scholarship events and other initiatives pushing local golf forward.
Central Catholic HS graduate Neal Shipley won the Silver Cup at the Masters in April playing the final round with Tiger Woods. Shipley came up through the WPGA programs starting in junior golf and continuing to play in events.
While COVID was a negative for most of us, it was a boon for golf and for the WPGA in particular. Teasdale said membership grew from 27,500 pre-COVID to over 38,000 members. All with dreams from recreational to pride to stardom and helped by a group with similar passion for the sport.
“The game of golf has never been better than it is right now,” Teasdale told 93.7 The Fan. “There have been a number of programs that have been initiated by the USGA and by us, that have helped get the word out.”
So as you watch, and if you find yourself getting the itch for competition, check out the WPGA, its member courses and membership. They’ve enhanced golfers enjoyment of the sport for 125 years.
