PGA Frisco is Officially Open for Business

The PGA of America complex in Frisco, Texas, is a monument to all that’s great about golf. But it’s also a monument to all the people who make the sport what it is, from the nearly 28,000 PGA Members and Associates, to weekend warriors to the LPGA and PGA TOUR Professionals we watch every week.

Sandy Cross, the PGA of America’s Chief People Officer, is one of the individuals behind that very human philosophy, and her fingerprints are all over the recently completed PGA of America’s home in Frisco, Texas.

Walk through the facility and look around, and you instantly see Cross’s influence in things like the preponderance of windows and natural light and the airy, creative interior design scheme. It’s also evident in how the PGA of America’s leaders and staff members refer to the facility.

“We call this ‘Home,’” says Cross. “We don’t call it ‘headquarters.’ This is the Home of the PGA of America and the home of PGA Professionals.”

When initial construction planning began, Cross wanted to help create an atmosphere of warmth for all PGA Members, Associates and Staff, a vibrant hub for American Golf that people would be excited to work for or visit.

“An example of that is when you walk into the lobby, you see the big digital board with pictures of PGA Members,” Cross says. “When a PGA Member comes through the door with their RFID-enabled membership card, or maybe the card’s embedded on their phone, technology will know that they have arrived, and they’ll be welcomed on the big screen. It will be very personal. And a lot of elements of their time here will be curated. It is very, very Member-centric.”

Another thing Cross is proud of is the fact that for the first time the PGA of America’s Education Center will be housed under the same roof as the rest of the organization. That includes classrooms for Associates working toward PGA Membership as well as advanced coaching facilities, like an indoor short game practice area, 11 standard and four simulated hitting bays and a practice green wired with motion-capture sensors. 

That’s all a step up from what was available at the PGA’s previous teaching center, but the real key is having everything in one place, says Cross. Now, better connections can be forged between PGA employees and members (or prospective members) while they’re in town for training.

“I intentionally come through the front doors every morning so that I can see the PGA associates, the next generation of PGA members, in class studying,” Cross says. “It’s super rewarding and super energizing. It reminds me every day of what we do and why we do it.” 

Cross sees the facility as symbolizing the PGA of America’s mission of promoting the PGA Member and growing the game. It’s the culmination of years of efforts designed to make golf and the PGA as an organization as accessible as possible, and that’s certainly a word you could use to describe the new PGA offices — accessible. The complex isn’t the least bit stuffy; it’s a place where you can pour yourself a coffee, grab a club and spend a few minutes casually hitting golf balls on the first-floor concourse. Or, you can step right outside and putt on the massive 72,000 square feet green called “the Dance Floor,” play a quick 9 on the lighted par-3 course, or walk two of the premier Championship Courses in the United States — the Beau Welling-designed Fields Ranch West Course and the Gil Hanse-designed Fields Ranch East Course.

It's a paradise, and, as Cross says, its doors are wide open for business – to PGA Members and current and future PGA Staff.  So come on home.