September 11, 2014 – The Real Federación Española de Golf (RFEG), the Federation of Madrid and the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) of Spain have met together in Madrid’s National Centre in order to talk about the future of golf qualifications and their fight against professional intrusion. The agreements mean that in licensed golf courses the instructors will have to hold qualifications recognized by the Federation and the Spanish or European PGAs.

This was expressed by Enrique Martín, Director of Training at RFEG, at the informative day for professionals held on 9th of September and attended by David Pastor as President of the PGA of Spain, who explained the current process of golf qualifications and how the bridge will be made to the official qualifications.

The model on which they are working will be recognized by the European PGAs through the PGA of Spain. The new qualifications will have a training focus that includes both the requirements of the Spanish Sport Law and the PGA European qualifications. Enrique Martin commented that this will be possible thanks to the great similarity between both. Not surprisingly, the Spanish educational project is based on the concept of the professional golfer in the principal PGAs such as the American and European, where instructors, in addition to teaching, cover a wide range of functions within the golf industry.

David Pastor explained that through the PGA of Spain, professionals will achieve European recognition of their qualifications, as well as in many other countries that take into consideration the quality of training of the PGA technical professionals. This recognition will provide a high degree of mobility to the Spanish PGA professional.

A PGA professional in Europe is obliged to perform continuous training throughout his career, which is commonly called a credit system. The PGA of Spain will soon officially run the credit system in Spain, to meet the standards of European PGAs.

The issue of professional intrusion, of great concern amongst professionals, was also worked on during the meeting. Enrique Marin explained that the current workload doesn’t allow time to follow up professional intrusion sufficiently, and he encouraged the group to report cases of intrusion. He also assured that the Federation will act forcefully in cases of intrusion, and noted that even if a club has outsourced teaching, it is equally responsible.

According to David Pastor it is essential to get rid of professional intrusion, and he offered the possibility that the PGA of Spain would act, and keep safe the identity of the informers from possible reprisals. Agreements between the RFEG and PGA in Spain require that, in licensed golf courses, instructors must be recognized by the Federation and the Spanish or European PGAs.

 

Por REDACCIÓN