PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. PGA Professional Daniel R. Baker, who is the only person in recent history to serve as tournament director of a significant PGA of America, USGA and PGA Tour event, has been named Director of New Business Development for The PGA of America.
Baker, 40, a native of Newtown, Conn., joined The PGA of America National Headquarters staff in June after a two-year term as senior director for Octagon in Norwalk, Conn. A 1988 graduate in economics from Wake Forest University, Baker was elected to PGA membership in 1992.
Among Bakers new duties will be cultivating new sponsorships and the activation of existing sponsorships for the worlds largest working sports organization.
Bakers 15-year professional golf career has carried him from assistant professional ranks (1988-92) to serve as tournament and marketing director (1996-97) for the Walker Cup at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y., to tournament director at the 1999 Ryder Cup at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., where he managed on-site programs; and to tournament director in charge of marketing, media, sales and operations at the Canon Greater Hartford Open/Buick Championship (1999-2005) in Hartford, Conn., the second largest attended golf event on the PGA Tour, which listed its average annual attendance of more than 300,000 spectators during that period.
Baker was instrumental in raising $4 million in sponsorships from 37 corporations to organize the 2003 Greater Hartford Open and broadcast the event on network television without a title sponsor.
Baker has been a part of the game of golf since he was age 10, when he began caddying at Rock Ridge Country Club near his home in Newtown, Conn. He managed outside operations by the age of 16 and by 18 was named golf shop manager. Following college graduation, Baker competed on mini-tours in Florida for one year before entering the PGA of Americas apprentice program.
His professional career began as an assistant professional at Old Town Club in Winston-Salem, N.C., and moved to assistant professional posts at Ridgewood Country Club in Danbury, Conn., and Boca Grove Country Club in Boca Raton, Fla. In 1993, Baker was named president of Premier Golf Events in West Palm Beach, Fla., where he managed charitable and corporate golf outings.
From 2005 to 2006, Baker was vice president at-large on the Connecticut PGA Section Board of Directors, where he chaired the Communications Committee.
The PGA of America is the worlds largest working sports organization, comprised of 28,000 men and women golf Professionals who are the recognized experts in growing, teaching and managing the game of golf while serving millions of people throughout its 41 PGA Sections nationwide. Since its founding in 1916, The PGA of America has enhanced its leadership position in a $62 billion-a-year industry by growing the game of golf through its premier spectator events, world-class education and training programs, significant philanthropic outreach initiatives, and award-winning golf promotions. Todays PGA Professional is the publics link to the game, serving an essential role in the operation of golf facilities throughout the country.
Contact:
Jamie Carbone
561/624-8446
jcarbone@pgahq.com
