Constitution
This self-study course is designed to introduce you to the PGA Constitution Bylaws and Regulations, an important document in the life of a PGA Golf Professional.

Topics covered in the course include the PGA's organizational structure; rights, responsibilities, and classifications of membership; requirements for professional development; and procedures for dealing with membership issues, such as violations of the PGA Code of Ethics.

Materials:

• PGA Constitution Manual
• PGA Constitution Bylaws and Regulations

Rules of Golf
The Rules of Golf self-study course will give you an appreciation of the history, development and importance of the rules. Using a combination of written materials, videotaped situations on the golf course, and interviews with rules experts, the course will also show you how to use the official USGA Rules of Golf to make rules decisions and teach rules and etiquette to others.

Materials:

• Rules of Golf Manual
• Rules of Golf video
• USGA Rules of Golf

Golf Car Fleet Management
In this self-study course you will learn how to develop, organize and implement a profitable golf car rental program, incorporating safe, clean and well-maintained golf cars that add to, rather than detract from, your customers' enjoyment of the game.

Specific aspects of golf car fleet management to be covered in the course include how to determine the size and type of your fleet, how to determine rental rates, and how to make the most of merchandising opportunities.

Materials:

• Golf Car Fleet Management Manual

Tournament Operations
The objective of the Tournament Operations self-study course is to give you the skills and knowledge required to successfully run a golf tournament, including PGA-sanctioned events. The course covers all aspects of a golf tournament, starting with planning, organizing your staff and promoting the event. You'll also learn about running an event and conducting a post-tournament evaluation. The course also will introduce you to state-of-the-art software that can make these tasks easier.

Materials:

• Tournament Operations Manual
• Tournament Operations video
• PGA Tournament Operations Manual
• USGA pamphlet, "How to Conduct a Competition"
• PGA pamphlet, "PGA Professional's Guide to Defining and Marking the Golf Course"
• Scorecast Tournament Management System Demo CD-ROM

Golfer Development Programs
This self-study course is designed to teach you how to develop tournaments, teaching clinics and other programs that meet the needs, interest and concerns of three special groups: juniors, women and seniors. In this course, you'll draw upon skills and knowledge you derive from other GPTP courses including Introduction to Teaching, Tournament Operations and Rules of Golf.

Materials:

• Golfer Development Programs Manual
• Junior Golf Operations Guide
• PGA First Swing Leaders Guide
• PGA Medalist Instructor's Manual and Testing Guide

Career Enhancement
The Career Enhancement self-study course will help you understand today's golf industry job market; clarify your professional objectives; and find and land a position that meets your interests, qualification and goals.

"A Golf Professional as Manager" section deals with legal issues involved in the hiring process, the history of wage and labor laws, and provisions of a variety of federal employment acts that apply to employees at a golf facility.

Materials:

• Career Enhancement Manual

Introduction to Teaching
This self-study course is the first of three courses in the GPTP Teaching Golf curriculum. The course is based on the PGA Teaching Manual and covers the fundamentals of the golf swing and teaching techniques. You will learn the laws, principles and preferences and be able to identify the relationships between them.

Materials:

• Introduction to Teaching Manual
• PGA Teaching Manual
• Best Practices for Teaching Golf video

Golf Club Design and Repair
The purpose of the Golf Club Design and Repair self-study course is to increase your knowledge of golf club design principles and give you "hands-on" practice in key club-repair procedures. During this course, you'll cover such fundamental repair tasks as reshafting irons and metalwoods, adjusting lie and loft, adjusting face angle and lie angle, regripping clubs, changing swingweight and assembling metalwoods. You'll learn about the impact of club fitting variables on ball flight and club performance.

The course will also deal with setting up, operating and promoting a profitable club repair business, as well as safety and legal issues involved in such an operation.

Materials:

• Golf Club Design and Repair Manual
• Golf Club Design, Fitting, Alteration and Repair Book
• Golf Club Design and Repair Video

Golf Club Design and Repair
The purpose of the Golf Club Design and Repair self-study course is to increase your knowledge of golf club design principles and give you "hands-on" practice in key club-repair procedures. During this course, you'll cover such fundamental repair tasks as reshafting irons and metalwoods, adjusting lie and loft, adjusting face angle and lie angle, regripping clubs, changing swingweight and assembling metalwoods. You'll learn about the impact of club fitting variables on ball flight and club performance.

The course will also deal with setting up, operating and promoting a profitable club repair business, as well as safety and legal issues involved in such an operation.

Materials:

• Golf Club Design and Repair Manual
• Golf Club Design, Fitting, Alteration and Repair Book
• Golf Club Design and Repair Video

Business Communications
The Business Communications self-study course will give you the information, models, practical concepts and step-by-step techniques you need for writing effectively. Some of the topics you'll cover in the course include: writing requests, thank-you's and letters of sympathy; promoting your own facility and the PGA through professional-quality writing.

Materials:

• Business Communications Manual
• Business Communications Reference Guide

Turfgrass Management
The Turfgrass Management self-study course is designed to increase your awareness of the primary roles and responsibilities of the golf course superintendent and golf course operations, such as aeration, watering, mowing, etc. A working knowledge and understanding of the superintendent's function will enhance communication and coordination, as well as improve your ability to explain the necessity of course maintenance to your golfing customers.

Materials:

• Turfgrass Management Manual
• Links with Nature video

Analysis of the Swing
In the Analysis of the Swing seminar you will apply what you have learned in Introduction to Teaching. This seminar has been broken into four areas including helping you, as an instructor, to better understand and communicate with your students: learning how to evaluate and analyze a student's swing; learning the key club-fitting factors; and observing how a top teacher conducts a lesson with a student. The final activity of this seminar is to discuss how to establish a successful business in teaching.

Materials:

• Analysis of the Swing Pre-seminar Manual
• Analysis of the Swing Manual
• Professional Golf Club Fitting Plan

Business Planning & Operations
You will be introduced to this seminar through a pre-seminar manual which presents a case study of a fictional golf facility. You will learn how to develop a business plan and create a budget to support that plan using financial forecasting and spreadsheet analysis which will lead to developing an Open-To-Buy (OTB) Plan in Level 3. The golf management model will introduce you to the importance of a facility mission statement in addition to the duties and responsibilities of a golf professional and policies and procedures.

Materials:

• Business Planning and Operations Pre-seminar Manual
• Accounting Basics Reference Guide
• Business Planning and Operations Manual

Customer Relations
In a pre-seminar manual you will be introduced to seven interpersonal skills and four strategies for effectively employing those skills in your interactions with supervisors, employees, customers, vendors and others you deal with as a golf professional.

You will also be introduced to the GEODE Model. This model teaches proper customer service techniques and how to effectively use your interpersonal skills.

The seminar takes the skills and concepts and applies them to the challenge of working effectively with customers using a customer-centered approach to problem-solving.

Materials:

• Customer Relations Pre-seminar Manual
• Customer Relations Manual

Food & Beverage Control
This self-study course develops the skills and knowledge you'll need to contribute to a successful food and beverage operation. Using a variety of print materials and work experience activities, you will learn: how the food and beverage operation contributes to the profitability and success of the golf facility; the major types of food and beverage operations; and the critical elements of food costing, purchasing, inventory control, menu planning, security, and staffing. In addition, the course also covers the major legal issues affecting food and beverage operations.

Materials:

• Food and Beverage Manual
• Food and Beverage Control Textbook

Supervising & Delegating
This seminar will introduce you to some of the key principles and practices of management. You will complete a pre-seminar manual that familiarizes you with the Performance System. In the seminar you will review and expand your understanding of effective supervision, delegation and problem-solving techniques.

Materials:

• Supervising and Delegating Pre-seminar Manual
• Supervising and Delegating Manual

Swing Concepts of Teaching
In the Swing Concepts of Teaching seminar, apprentices will build on the first two courses in the GPTP teaching track. The seminar is broken into 4 areas: developing a teaching philosophy and approach to teaching; analyzing short game swing flaws of a student; reviewing and learning how to teach drills for difficult and unusual shots; and utilizing video equipment and analysis software to analyze a student's swing. The last activity of the seminar will allow you to discuss various aspects of teaching and coaching previously not covered in other parts of the program.

• Swing Concepts of Teaching Pre-seminar Manual
• Swing Concepts of Teaching Manual

Merchandising & Inventory Management
In this seminar you will further utilize the budget planning from Business Planning and Operations. You will develop an Open-To-Buy Plan to gain a full understanding of how it helps to manage a shop's inventory. Then, having determined your OTB Plan, you will learn the criteria for merchandise selection, ordering and receiving merchandise, and pricing. In addition, you will discuss floor plans, merchandise displays and promotional vehicles for staging an event.

Materials:

• Merchandising & Inventory Management Pre-seminar Manual
• Merchandising and Inventory Management Manual
• PGA Merchandising Manual
• All About Golf
• Best Retailing Practices

Apprentices are also required to complete two elective courses, one of which must be a PGA elective. These elective courses can be completed in either Level 2 or Level 3.

Golf Course Design
This self-study elective course will increase your awareness of the many different aspects of golf course design. With a working knowledge and understanding of the course design process, you will be better prepared to contribute to projects involving course design, course maintenance, and course renovation.

Materials:

• Golf Course Design Manual
• "Green Sanctuaries" Video

Golf Facility Design
This self-study elective course is an introduction to the fundamental actions and considerations of designing a golf facility. In addition to learning about the golf facility design process in detail (what it is, how it works and who should be involved), you will also learn how to gather and analyze data to determine the facility's functional and aesthetic needs, and how to make informed decisions and work effectively with contracted professionals.

Materials:

• Golf Facility Design Manual
• Golf Facility Design Video

Golf Range Management
This is a self-study elective course designed to show you what it takes to make a golf range a success. The course covers such topics as the state of the U.S. freestanding golf range marketplace, the factors common to most successful ranges and the process involved in planning a freestanding range.

The course offers apprentices a close look at the operations of free-standing ranges, provides input and guidance on those operations, presents techniques and guidance for planning and building ranges, and enables apprentices to tailor their study to their own particular situations.

Materials:

• Golf Range Management Manual

Caddie Management
This self-study elective course is designed to develop the skills and knowledge you'll need to build and manage a successful caddie program, beginning with recruitment and hiring. You'll also learn how to train both new and experienced caddies, schedule work hours, motivate and provide incentives for quality performance, and manage the payroll. Finally, you'll be given tips on how to promote the caddie program among guests, and how to perform ongoing evaluations of the program.

Materials:

• Caddie Program Management Manual
• WGA Caddie Operations Manual
• WGA Caddie Manual
• WGA Caddie Exam

Of the two elective courses PGA apprentices are required to complete, one must be a PGA elective. The second may also be a PGA elective course, or it can be one of the two outside elective courses. The outside elective must be completed and on record at PGA headquarters before registering for the Level 3 checkpoint.

CPR/First Aid
As a golf professional, you'll be expected to handle a variety of tricky situations, from course maintenance issues to dissatisfied customers. There may come times, however, when you're called upon to respond to a situation far more critical that a broken ball washer or a rules decision. In a crisis, such as a player or employee suffering serious injury or medical emergency such as a heart attack, how you respond to the situation is not merely a reflection on your abilities; it might well be a matter of life and death.

Taught by the American Red Cross, First Aid and CPR is designed to provide you with the knowledge and skills necessary to respond quickly and effectively when faced with a medical emergency.

Public Speaking
While other courses in the program address the importance of the golf professional's ability to communicate clearly, Public Speaking deals specifically with the role of direct, verbal communication between the golf professional and an audience. Whether you're speaking before five people as a lunch date or one hundred people at a dinner banquet, your ability to speak clearly will serve you well in your capacity as ambassador to the world beyond your facility.

Note: A passing grade in a class in public speaking from an accredited college or junior college is acceptable to satisfy the requirements of this elective provided that the course includes the following objectives:

• Fundamentals of Effective Speaking
• Preparing for the Speaking Presentation
• Delivering your Speech or Presentation

Courses previously completed are valid only for five years prior to or after your registration into the Apprentice Program. Public speaking courses offered by other institutions or organizations are subject to approval by The PGA.

Rev. 8/10/00