Professional Golfers' Association, (with or without the apostrophe), is the usual term for a professional association in men's golf. It is often abbreviated to PGA. There are several PGAs around the world, including:
- Professional Golfers' Association (Great Britain & Ireland)
- Professional Golfers' Association of America
The women's equivalent is Ladies Professional Golf Association, commonly abbreviated to LPGA. The United States association is called the LPGA. Other women's bodies have territorial designations in their names, like LPGA of Japan or LPGA of Korea.
The organisations which run the world's two leading professional golf tours have the initials PGA in their names, but they are now independent of the Professional Golfers' Associations which established them:
- PGA Tour (which runs the PGA Tour, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour)
- PGA European Tour (which runs the European Tour, Challenge Tour and European Seniors Tour)
Originally, PGAs were the central bodies for all forms of professional golf in their territories, but now some of them, including those of the United States, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Ireland, are focused on the needs of the majority of professional golfers who work as club or teaching professionals, as opposed to being tournament professionals.
Famous quotes containing the words professional and/or association:
“The belief that there are final and immutable answers, and that the professional expert has them, is one that mothers and professionals tend to reinforce in each other. They both have a need to believe it. They both seem to agree, too, that if the professional’s prescription doesn’t work it is probably because of the mother’s inadequacy.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)
“It is not merely the likeness which is precious ... but the association and the sense of nearness involved in the thing ... the fact of the very shadow of the person lying there fixed forever! It is the very sanctification of portraits I think—and it is not at all monstrous in me to say ... that I would rather have such a memorial of one I dearly loved, than the noblest Artist’s work ever produced.”
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)