Completed your National Diploma in Club Professional Golfing, what next?

PGA of South Africa regulations pertaining to hours required by graduates of accredited providers

In order to become full members of the PGA of South Africa graduates of the PGA Diploma have to complete a minimum of 2000 hours of practical workplace based experience.

During study

A minimum of 240 hours and a maximum of 1000 hours can be completed while still studying and must be:

• Recorded in a detailed log book that will be handed in to the PGA education department on registering for an apprenticeship.
• Signed off by a PGA professional in good standing with the PGA
• Spread across the various aspects of the industry. Not more than 200 hours can be done in any one of the following:
  • Coaching
  • Retail
  • Event management
  • Administration/Golf directorship
  • On course activities
• Where it is not possible to work directly under a Full PGA member, for example assisting at Sunshine Tour event, approval would need to be obtained from the PGA Education and Training Department prior to the hours being worked.

Apprenticeship

Should a graduate wish to qualify as a PGA member he is required to join the PGA  with the standard apprenticeship criteria in place and complete the required 2000 hours.

However the 2000 hours rule applies to students who achieve an average grade of 65% in their final year. For students who do not achieve this for every percentage point below 65% an additional 50 hours will be added on to the hours that must be done.

This will affect all students who graduate from 2013 onwards.

PGA of South Africa Playing Ability Criteria

In accordance with the standards of the World PGA’s the PGA of South Africa has put forward the following Playing Ability criteria:

In order to start the programme an apprentice must have an official SAGA handicap of 5 for men and 8 for women.The apprentice must score 4 scores that equal or better 5 over par over the 3 year period of apprenticeship.

The following particulars apply:

• All rounds to be medal rounds
• The following tournaments will count: apprentice pro-am, regional pro-am, general pro-am, Sun International pro-ams, Sunshine Tour, Apprentice Championships or Big Easy Tour event (includes pre-qualifying round and Tour School), Apprentice Championships, regional qualifiers as per below.
• Each region will host a quarterly 36 hole qualifying event with dates to be identified in advance. The entry fee will be the applicable greenfee plus a R50 competition fee which will be paid out to the best placed finishers.
• A maximum of two scores may be obtained in a Pro-am, whether it be  apprentice pro-am, regional pro-am or Sun International pro-am. The other two scores must be achieved in a Tour, Apprentice Championships or quarterly qualifying event
• All apprentices need to complete a minimum of 4 medal PAT rounds in each educational year irrespective of whether they already have their qualifying scores.
• Post graduate apprentices who have graduated from a provider and are completing their hours must provide scores for amateur events played as a student. Two scores from bona fide amateur events recognized by the SAGA such as Golf Union or SA Amateur events will count and two medal scores from and official PGA event as detailed above will count. Post graduates will be allowed to compete in the Apprentice Championships.
• All four scores need to be obtained prior to graduating. An apprentice who fails to get all four scores within the 3 years of studying will be granted an additional 12 months to obtain the final scores. If the scores are not obtained within this period, it will be accepted that the PAT has been failed and membership will not be granted.

The applicable membership fees for the additional year will be 3 x the annual apprentice member fees.

• The course set up guidelines are:

Men:  5900 to 6100m at sea level and 6100 to 6300 inland

Women: 5015 to 5185m at sealevel and 5185 to 5355 inland.