The staff at the Gateway PGA is excited about the 2010 Season. We had a very busy conclusion to 2009 and continue to stay very busy for the start of 2010. To keep you informed of what to expect in 2010, we have highlighted some of the key changes that will be taking place. Please feel free to contact the staff if you have any questions or concerns about these implementations. The changes we are making are to better serve, communicate, and deliver programs to our members and our patrons. We hope that you see a benefit in these efforts and we will continue to strive for unparalleled member service.
PGA ADMIN PROGRAM The PGA Admin program is set-up by the National PGA body to help sections with their efforts in communications, programming, financial tracking and reporting, website development, and member related services. This extension of our staff is free to the section and actually helps us in lowering expenses on several different direct and indirect levels. The PGA Admin staff will help the section in everything from website related content/updating to preparing the financial statements for our association.
WEBSITE
While keeping our same website address (www.gatewaypga.org) we will be switching our website provider. Nemex Incorporated is the number one website provider for sections of the PGA. Their knowledge of section affairs will help us in creating a dynamic look, feel, and benefit to our members. The usability of this website will be very evident and will provide section members, and our guests, with an increase in information and resources. The new website will allow us to take advantage of state-of-the-art technology while seeing a direct cost savings. The section will no longer be responsible for paying a monthly host fee. Our new site has been built and is currently in the development stage. The new site will be active in about two weeks time. The other benefit of going to Nemex will be in the form of allowing our staff to work with the PGA Admin team towards consistently providing new content, features, and capabilities.
JUNIOR GOLF The Gateway PGA Junior Golf Program is going on the BlueGolf tournament program for 2010. This will allow our junior golfers, and their parents, the ability to sign-up on-line as well as view interactive schedules, tee times, results, stats, and more. We feel that our juniors, and the parents of our program, will see a large benefit in the additional features that BlueGolf will deliver. Switching to this program does bring a cost to the section, not only with the software but also with increase in credit card transaction fees. The Gateway Junior Program has raised the tournament entry fees by $5 a tournament to offset this cost. BlueGolf will also allow seamless integration with our new website.
TOURNAMENT PROGRAM The Gateway Tournament Program is currently working with some of our exclusive golf courses and clubs to cement a permanent rotation for our Section Championship and PNC. This will give our courses/professionals flexibility and advanced notification for solidifying these championship dates while giving our players the best venues for our major competitions. The section staff has also implemented a "Partners Program" for the sponsors and contributors of our section. This program is set-up on different commitment levels and adds tremendous return on investment to our partners. We have also added a partners appreciation event in October in which our golf professionals will be asked to play with a group of our 2010 "Partner" participants. The 2010 schedule is coming together and there is more news in store in the coming weeks.