As this month brings an end to the men’s major championship season for 2025 with the Open Championship, anticipation is starting to build for the 2026 PGA Championship set for May at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia Inquirer recently ran a story on preparations at the facility, which last hosted the PGA Championship in 1962, when Gary Player (pictured above) claimed the Wanamaker Trophy. Jeff Kiddie, PGA, Aronimink’s Head Golf Professional and the 2023 PGA of America Golf Professional of the Year, is quoted in the story, and discusses how he and the club’s superintendent and chef all attended this year’s PGA Championship at North Carolina’s Quail Hollow Club to take lots of notes for next May. The story also reports that advance ticket sales are brisk, and all volunteer positions are already filled in anticipation.
link: https://bit.ly/43W2cyF
Another recent story touching on major championships was a look at PGA of America Golf Professional Jeff Gove and his experience at the 2025 Senior PGA Championship at Maryland’s Congressional Country Club. The Spokes man-Review newspaper of Spokane, Washington, gave an overview of Gove’s week at Congressional, which included playing the first two rounds with eventual Senior PGA Champion Angel Cabrera and making the cut. Gove, the PGA of America Director of Instruction at the Idaho Club, also had his son, Jacob, caddying for him at the Championship. “I had an amazing week,” Gove told the newspaper. “It was fun to give everybody at home something to talk about. I got a lot of texts that first night.”
link: https://bit.ly/44kZG5l
The great work PGA HOPE does for Veterans is pointed out in a recent story posted by Methodist University, with an interesting twist. The story follows Julian Mitchell’s experience in the U.S. Army, including the severe injuries he received in his last deployment. During his rehab, he started playing golf and ended up in a Veteran-centric golf group run by PGA of America Golf Professional Brock White, Director of the PGA Golf Management University Program at Methodist. White eventually started a PGA HOPE program that included Mitchell, and the Veteran was so inspired that he enrolled at Methodist and the PGM University Program. Read the whole story to learn Mitchell’s plans for his career as a PGA of America Golf Professional when he graduates next year.
link: https://bit.ly/4mWDwyA
Dallas’ D Magazine recently ran a story featuring PGA of America Chief People Officer Sandy Cross addressing the biggest trends in the game of golf. The most prominent trend, Cross points out, is the ongoing surge of popularity the sport is experiencing and the diversity of the women and juniors who are fueling the boom. “We have a vision that the game of golf – who plays it and who works in it – reflects the demographics of America,” Cross told the magazine. The other main trend Cross discusses in the piece is the growth of off-course golf at facilities like Topgolf, all helping golf build on its economic impact of $102 billion each year supporting nearly two million jobs around the country.
link: https://bit.ly/4kDTI6v