As the latest three-year Professional Development Requirements (PDR) cycle comes to an end next month, some PGA of America members might be looking at their records on PGA.org to discover they are a bit short of their PDR requirements. As PGA of America Golf Professionals, we are required to satisfy 54 total PDRs, with 30 being in education and player engagement and six being in meetings and national surveys.
The 30 required education/player engagement credits are mostly career-specific hours, and can also include topics such as youth safety, DEI and mental health. In addition, the following player engagement programs will render PDR credits for PGA Professional participation according to the PGA website:
The six credits for meetings can include national, section or chapter meetings, as well as board or committee meetings for professionals in positions of governance. One credit is issued for in-person attendance, and a half credit is issued for virtual participation. In addition, completing national surveys, such as the annual compensation survey, will earn you a maximum of two credits per survey per year and one credit for completion of your compensation profile.
There are several other options available to round out the PDR cycle, including serving the section, chapter or national PGA or its allied associations. In fact, did you know that participating in the advancement of the game with activities such as radio shows, TV shows, speeches, golf promotional non‐playing events, golf clinics and other volunteer activities, such as a non‐playing tournament official will also earn you one credit per hour with a maximum of eight credits per day.
You can gain PDRs for serving as a golf coach or assistant golf coach of a high school or college golf team if this is not your primary employment, with a maximum of six credits per PDR cycle year.
Here are some other interesting ways of gaining PDRs that you might not know about:
As you can see, none of us should be scrambling for credits at this late hour. There are many options throughout the three-year cycle that can be worked into each of our busy schedules, like online videos that can be viewed and a test taken to lessen the burden.
Another issue that all PGA of America members should understand is how and when to change their information when changes are warranted.
I recently spoke with Jennifer Borocz, the PGA Senior Director, Membership and Finance at the North Florida PGA Section in Winter Garden, Florida. She emphasized the importance of updating your employment and contact information with the PGA as you change jobs.
She says that the PGA constitution decrees we have ten days to make changes as they happen, even if between roles during this unattached period.
“The direction the PGA wants to promote is to log in to PGA.org to facilitate these changes,” she says. “With 33,000 PGA of America Members and Associates, updating information should be done online rather than calling HQ, as was done in the past.”
She says the paper change forms have been removed from PGA.org and the Association is in the process of launching a new members database that has already provided a better experience for members seeking this resource. Log in to PGA.org and click on My Official PGA Records. Current data will appear and you will have the opportunity to edit or add information as desired.
“It’s important to ensure your email, phone numbers and address are correct on your PGA directory page because that’s how national and the section get in touch with you,” Borocz adds. “There are a lot of members who still call their sections, but we are increasingly being told that we should not be making changes, as the technology is in place to expedite the process on the member’s end.”
Adhering to these trends will allow each of our 41 PGA of America Sections to conduct their important business every day with fewer interruptions that can and should be handled on the member’s end. Borocz says if there’s a scenario where the member is struggling with a task that should be done online, of course their section staff will be there to aid in getting the changes made.