The Birth of the PGA: How Professional Golf Took Shape
There is a version of golf we’re all familiar with.
Big tournaments. Packed leaderboards. Millions on the line.
But here’s the thing…..professional golf didn’t always look like that.
In fact, it almost didn’t exist at all.
⛳ Before the PGA, Golf Was… Kind of a Mess
If you go back to the early 1900s, golf in America was still trying to figure itself out.
There were tournaments and talented players but there wasn’t anything connecting it all together.
You’d have to be in the right place at the right time to compete in a tournament.
Most “professional golfers” weren’t full-time competitors. They were club pros - teaching lessons, maintaining courses, and squeezing in tournaments when they could.
Which is a very different version of professional athlete than what we picture today.
Rodman Wanamaker stepped in to design a system.
As a businessman, he understood organized competition and had already suppported other sports.
So in 1916, he proposed two things:
Create an organization for professional golfers
Create a championship worth competing for
That’s how the Professional Golfer’s Association of America (PGA) and the PGA Championship were born.
The Original 35
In April of 1916, 35 professional gathered in New York to make it official.
Most were club pros and already part of the game, just not part of anything unified.
At the time, organizations like the United States Golf Association existed, but they focused on amateur golf and the rules of the game, not professionals.
So the incentive to join was simple:
Stability
Opportunity
Recognition
For the time, being a “professional golfer” actually meant something.
🏆 A Trophy That Still Exists Today
Before the first championship was even played, Wanamaker made sure there was something worth winning.
He funded the event and donated the trophy, the Wanamaker Trophy.
And it’s still awarded today!
One of the most iconic trophies in golf wasn’t name after a player - it was named after the guy who believed the game could be bigger.
And speaking of winning…the first PGA Championship took place in 1916 with the first winner being Jim Barnes.
Two crazy things about that:
He earned $500
He won through match play
The money is significantly less than what players compete for today AND match play is a wild concept compared to modern golf.
It was never about the money. It was more about representation.
Fast forward to today, and the game is completely different.
A typical PGA Tour event starts with roughly 144 players with only 65 making the cut after two round. So basically everyone else goes home without a paycheck.
Let me touch on the PGA Tour real quick because there can be some confusion behind the PGA Tour, PGA of America, and the PGA Championship.
PGA of America is the organization for club professionals and hosts the PGA Championship
PGA Tour is the organization where top players compete weekly
The idea behind the PGA wasn’t just to create tournaments. It was to create a way to measure the game.
🎧 Want the Full Story?
Take a listen to episode 3 of the podcast for the full story behind the PGA because this is just a quick snapshot!
In the full episode, I break down:
how the PGA actually formed
why those 35 professionals mattered
and how we got from scattered events to modern professional golf
Thanks for being here and enjoying in golf history with me.
xoxo,
Sammy Jo
