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Shanks & 3–Putts

Happy 100th Birthday PGA!

Mike Ahrnsbrak — Golf Guide Senior Writer
PGA Professional, Blue Ridge Shadows Golf Club

On April 10, 1916 in New York City the PGA of America was founded with 35
charter members. I am honored to be a PGA Member and part of the world’s
largest sports organization. Enjoy just a few interesting snippets from the PGA of
America’s history.
1926 – Membership in The PGA reaches 1,548. USGA legalizes steel shafts.
1927 – Samuel A. Ryder presents the Ryder Cup as a prize for the competition between
American and British professional golfers. The US defeats Great Britain 9 ½ to 2 ½.
1933 – PGA creates an Unemployment Relief Committee as the depression worsens.
1937 – “Lighthorse” Cooper wins the first Vardon Trophy.
1939 – The PGA cancels The Ryder Cup Matches due to WW II.
1942-43 – The PGA buys two ambulances for the Red Cross, distributes clubs and balls at
military bases, and raises more than $25,000 for USO, Red Cross, Navy, and Army Relief.
The PGA Championship is cancelled due to WW II. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby play six
weeks of exhibition matches with pros and amateurs to help sell war bonds.
1949 – USGA asks the Tournament Bureau to do something about slow play.
1951 – The R&A and USGA abolish the Stymie. The inaugural PGA Merchandise Show
takes place in a parking lot in Dunedin, FL.
1958 – PGA Championship changes to a stroke-play format. Arnold Palmer plays in his
first PGA Championship, wins his first Masters, and finishes the year as the leading money-
winner.
1963 – Jack Nicklaus wins his first PGA Championship.
1974 – Deane Beman succeeds Joseph Dey as commissioner of the PGA Tour.
1975 – The Tournament Players Division is renamed the PGA Tour.
1980 – Jack Nicklaus wins his fifth PGA Championship, and Arnold Palmer wins his debut in
the PGA Seniors’ Championship.
1985 – For the first time since 1957 the USA loses the Ryder Cup to Europe at the Belfry.
1987 – The European Team defeats the American team on US soil for the first time ever.
1989 – Ben Hogan Tour starts as part of a joint program between the PGA Tour and PGA
Sections, which would become the Nike Tour, Nationwide Tour, now the web.com Tour.
1991 – Unknown rookie John Daly stuns the golf world by capturing the PGA Championship.
Later that year Bernhard Langer misses a six-foot par putt on the 18th hole, and the US
wins “The War by the Shore,” its first Ryder Cup victory since 1983.
1997 – Tiger Woods wins the PGA Player of the Year award in his first full year on tour.
1999 – The United States stages the biggest comeback in Ryder Cup history to defeat Europe
14 1/2 to 13 1/2. Payne Stewart dies in a jet accident.
2001 – The Ryder Cup is postponed in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, which
resumes in even-numbered years.
2007 – Patriot Golf Day starts. Inspired by PGA Professional Capt. Dan Rooney, Patriot Golf
Day supports the families of veterans who have been injured or perished in the line of duty
and has raised millions of dollars every year!
WOW – PROUD TO BE A PGA MEMBER AND CAN’T WAIT FOR THE NEXT
100! Let’s Play Golf America!!

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