Asia’s first-ever conference dedicated to the golf teaching and playing professional is well on its way to setting a new milestone for the Asian golf industry.
The PGA Conference of Asia, scheduled to be staged at the Bangkok International Convention Centre at the plush Centara Grand Hotel in Centralworld, Bangkok, will feature about 20 world class speakers over the two day event on April 30 to May 1.
Presented under the theme “Quality Coaching – Asia’s Road to Golf Glory!” the revolutionary conference is being organised and produced by the Asia Pacific Golf Development Conferences Pte Ltd, (APGDC) the same organisation that owns and produces the highly acclaimed annual Asia Pacific Golf Summit.
“An event of this nature has been needed in Asia for a long time and we thought that given our stake-holdership in the game of golf in Asia, we would take the lead to organise and stage an event especially designed to cater to the needs of the teaching golf professional,” explained Mike Sebastian, managing director of APGDC.
“The primary thrust of the conference is to help elevate the status of the teaching professional in Asia because this individual has a huge role to play to grow the game of golf along the right path as golf expands rapidly in Asia,” Sebastian pointed out. “If Asia is to develop the game of golf well, then it makes a lot of sense for all of us to take the necessary steps to help golf coaches in the region to hone up on their teaching skills so that we can all play golf well regardless of the level of our game,” he added.
The keynote address at the two-day conference will be delivered by the Executive Chairman of the Asian Tour, Kyi Hla Han. “I view this conference as a development along the right path – if we are to stay sharp, especially in the professional game, we need to invest in our golf coaches – there is no short cut to success. Quality coaches mean quality players regardless of whether we are to develop amateurs, club players, juniors or professionals – we need good golf coaches,” Kyi Hla emphasized.
Among some of the top coaches confirmed for the conference are:
- Tim Mahoney, Director of Golf Education, Troon Golf, USA who is ranked amongst the top golf coaches in America.
- Brian Moog – the man who coached South Korean giant-killer Y.E. Yang to demolish Tiger Woods and win Asia’s first ever Major.
- Dr. Paul Hurrion, ranked as one of the world’s top putting gurus and putting coach to Padraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy.
- Dr. Mac Powell, Dean of the Golf Academy of the National University, San Diego.
- Blaik Shew, former CEO of Hank Haney’s International Junior Golf Academy.
One of the many highlights of the conference will be the Asia-Pacific launch of the Swing Catalyst, a computer enabled teaching aid that is going to take the teaching of golf to a whole new level.
Bangkok-based teaching coach, Tony Meechai, who is involved in the organisation of the conference said, “This is an awesome show – never before have we had the luxury of being addressed by so many world class experts in golf coaching. This is really a once in a life time opportunity and I sincerely hope that all teaching professionals in Asia will make an effort to attend this conference.”
It is hoped that the PGA Conference of Asia will become an annual event headquartered in Bangkok. “It makes a lot of sense to locate an event like this in Bangkok because it has everything required to stage a successful event,” said Georgina Wong, executive director of APGDC.
The PGA Conference of Asia is being held under the auspices of the Thailand Conventions and Exhibitions Bureau (TCEB), sanctioned by the Sports Authority of Thailand and hosted by the PGA of Thailand.
Registration is now open at www.pgaasiaconference.com and interested delegates can register to attend on-line.